CONSIDERATION ON THE ROLE VENTILATION AND AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS DURING COVID-19 TIMES: SOURCE CONTROL, VENTILATION, AIR DISTRIBUTION

Abstract

Due to the undergoing pandemic the advanced ventilation strategies should be further developed, aiming at reducing cross infection risk and combining the consideration of thermal comfort and energy saving. Besides air dilution methods, other distribution schemes relying on transport of pollutants and the protection of the breathing zone should be considered and current standards must be improved to explicitly consider infection control. In the same time, we must not forget that the use of monitors displaying the state of indoor air quality could be a good indicator of enough ventilation rate. The scope of this paper is to analyze the current and major issues related to COVID-19 and to argue some strategies and best practices regarding indoor air and mechanical ventilation, as well as HVAC systems operation.