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Close proximity risk assessment for SARS-CoV-2 infection
Open accessAbstract
Although the interpersonal distance represents an important parameter affecting the risk of infection due to respiratory viruses, the mechanism of exposure to exhaled droplets remains insufficiently characterized. In this study, an integrated risk assessment is presented for SARS-CoV-2 close proximity exposure between a speaking infectious subject and a susceptible subject. It is based on a three-dimensional transient numerical model for the description of exhaled droplet spread once emitted by a speaking person, coupled with a recently proposed SARS-CoV-2 emission approach. Particle image velocimetry measurements were conducted to validate the numerical model. The contribution of the large droplets to the risk is barely noticeable only for distances well below 0.6 m, whereas it drops to zero for greater distances where it depends only on airborne droplets. In particular, for short exposures (10 s) a minimum safety distance of 0.75 m should be maintained to lower the risk below 0.1%; for exposures of 1 and 15 min this distance increases to about 1.1 and 1.5 m, respectively. Based on the interpersonal distances across countries reported as a function of interacting individuals, cultural differences, and environmental and sociopsychological factors, the approach presented here revealed that, in addition to intimate and personal distances, particular attention must be paid to exposures longer than 1 min within social distances (of about 1 m).
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“In fact, much of the close transmission is through aerosols, because people release considerable quantities of aerosol in addition to large droplets, especially when talking and coughing,133 and also because aerosol is most concentrated close to the source, like cigarette smoke particles near a smoker.134, 135”
From The Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic (2022) · cites this paper as [135]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Cortellessa, G., Stabile, L., Arpino, F., Faleiros, D. E., van den Bos, W., Morawska, L., & Buonanno, G.
- Affiliations
- Università degli studi di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale (IT)
- Delft University of Technology (NL)
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Buonanno, G.
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-11
- Volume
- 794
- Pages
- 148749
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8242194
- OpenAlex
- W3176696325
- Cited by
- 112
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 9
- FWCI
- 13.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- QUT ePrints (Queensland University of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi di Cassino (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Infection Control and Ventilation
- Health Sciences › Dentistry › General Dentistry › Dental Research and COVID-19
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- Keywords
- SARS-CoV-2, interpersonal distance, exhaled droplets, droplet spread, airborne transmission, respiratory virus transmission, risk assessment, particle image velocimetry, social distancing, exposure duration
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Aerosols, Humans, Risk Assessment, Exhalation
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