Integrated environment-occupant-pathogen information modeling to assess and communicate room-level outbreak risks of infectious diseases

Microbial pathogen transmission within built environments is a main public health concern. The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) adds to the urgency of developing effective means to reduce pathogen transmission in mass-gathering public buildings such as schools, hospitals, and airports. To inform occupants and guide facility managers to prevent and respond to infectious disease outbreaks, this study proposed a framework to assess room-level outbreak risks in buildings by modeling built environment characteristics, occupancy information, and pathogen transmission. Building information modeling (BIM) is exploited to automatically retrieve building parameters and possible occupant interactions that are relevant to pathogen transmission. The extracted information is fed into an environment pathogen transmission model to derive the basic reproduction numbers for different pathogens, which serve as proxies of outbreak potentials in rooms. A web-based system is developed to provide timely information regarding outbreak risks to occupants and facility managers. The efficacy of the proposed method was demonstrated by a case study, in which building characteristics, occupancy schedules, pathogen parameters, as well as hygiene and cleaning practices are considered for outbreak risk assessment. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by computationally integrating building, occupant, and pathogen information modeling for infectious disease outbreak assessment, and communicating actionable information for built environment management.