Study on ventilation rates and assessment of infection risks of COVID-19 in an outpatient building

A modified Wells-Riley model combining the airborne route and close contact route was proposed to predict the infection risks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in main functional spaces of an outpatient building in Shenzhen, China. The personnel densities and ventilation rates in the 20 waiting rooms, outpatient hall and hospital street were on-site measured. The average fresh air volume per person and occupant area per person in the 20 waiting rooms were 77.6 m(3)/h and 6.47 m(2)/per, satisfied with the Chinese standard. The average waiting time of the occupants was 0.69 h. Thus, assuming the proportion of infected people in the outpatient building was 2%, the daily average infection probabilities of COVID-19 in the 20 waiting rooms were 0.19–1.88% with a reasonable setting of the quanta produced by an infector (q = 45 quanta/h) and the effective exposure dose of pathogen per unit close contact time (β = 0.05 h(−1)). The design of the semi-closed hospital street with a height of 24 m improved its natural ventilation with a fresh air volume per person of 70–185 m(3)/h and further dilute the viral aerosol and decreased the infection risk to a negligible level (i.e., below 0.04% with an infector proportion of 2%). The assessment method provides real-time prediction of indoor infection risk and good assist in spread control of COVID-19.