Team Studies Outdoor Air Movement and the Effects on Spread of Respiratory Diseases

A team of scientists at University of Houston Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences examined air movement outdoors and its effects on the spread of respiratory diseases like COVID-19. The findings published online in Science of The Total Environment.

“While most studies have looked at how air circulates indoors, we wanted to explore the outdoor environment where ventilation is different,” said Hadi Zanganeh Kia, an atmospheric sciences Ph.D. student in the UH Air Quality Forecasting group led by Dr. Yunsoo Choi, associate professor of atmospheric science. “We simulated the movement of a sneeze in areas where the air doesn’t circulate well, called ‘hot spots.’” Kia was the first author on the paper.

Others on the paper were Choi, Delaney Nelson, Jincheol Park, and Arman Pouyaei, all with UH EAS.

“This study is an important application using computational fluid dynamics modeling, and it highlights the importance of understanding the dynamics of outdoor air movement and its role in the spread of respiratory diseases, including COVID-19,” Choi said.

Check out the full article here