PhD student University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Respiratory microdroplets are the primary means of transmission for a variety of infectious respiratory illnesses, including influenza, tuberculosis, and most recently COVID-19. Mitigating the spread of contagious respiratory illnesses has taken on renewed urgency in light of the current pandemic. The virus responsible for COVID-19 is carried primarily in respiratory droplets that are expelled by infected individuals when coughing, sneezing, or even talking and breathing. The larger respiratory droplets may land on healthy individuals, resulting in direct transmission. Alternatively, smaller respiratory droplets or their evaporated contents may remain suspended in the air for long periods of time, leading to airborne transmission when they are breathed in by another person. These desiccated nuclei, in combination with the smallest droplets, are referred to as aerosols, and are potent transmission sources on account of two factors: (i) they can remain suspended in the air for several hours, potentially infecting unsuspecting individuals who come into contact with them; and (ii) they can penetrate deep into the airways of individuals who breathe them in, which increases the likelihood of infection even for low pathogen loads. Given the crucial role that such aerosols play in infection transmission, it is necessary to (i) characterize the dispersal of respiratory microdroplets, and (ii) investigate effective ways of mitigating their spread in public settings, including classrooms, shopping centers, theatres, workplaces, and hospitals. Such investigations are critical for ensuring the safety of students, healthcare workers, and most office and commercial workers, who often need to spend long periods of time indoors near other people. This panel session will feature presentations by three panelists who will be presenting an overview of (i) respiratory microdroplets; (ii) generation and transmission of such aerosols in confined spaces; (iii) spatial dispersion of aerosolized droplets emanating from point sources within a typical indoor setting; and (iv) various shielding approaches in containing aerosol spread. List of Panelists • Siddhartha Verma, Assistant Professor, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL • Masoud Jahandar Lashaki, Assistant Professor, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL • Arman Peyravi, Ph.D. student, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
