The trajectory for COVID-19 remains uncertain, however, some scientists expect cases to rise significantly due to an increase of social mixing. With this in mind, a study has explored the factors which increase transmission risk.
A new study published in the journal Buildings and Cities, looked at two factors which increase the risk of Covid transmission.
According to Cornell, urban planning architectural and public health researchers, long commute times and household crowding could be the causes for increasing the risk of being infected with COVID-19.
Neighbourhoods that had populations with predominantly longer commute times to work – from about 40 minutes to an hour – were more likely to become infectious disease hotspots, the research warned.
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Senior author Timur Dogan, assistant professor of architecture in the College of Architecture and Planning, said: “We are trying to determine how the built environment influences coronavirus propagation.
“We found that high residential density and high percentage of people commuting by public transit do not relate to a higher COVID-19 case rate.
“Household overcrowding and longer commute times appears to impair the pandemic resilience of individual families, medically vulnerable communities and cities, as a whole.”
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Current evidence suggests that Covid spreads mainly between people who are in close contact with each other, typically within one metre.
A person can be infected when aerosols or droplets containing the virus are inhaled or come directly into contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth.
The virus is also known to spread in poorly ventilated and/or crowded indoor settings, where people tend to spend longer periods of time.
This is due to aerosols remaining suspended in the air or traveling farther than one metre.
The study was published to offer guidance for short-term responses in the safe recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
Crowding indicators, which include the number of units per building and the number of occupants per room, correlate with coronavirus transmission, according to the paper.
Neighbourhood residential density, on the other hand, was not related to the daily COVID-19 case rate as high density often entails other beneficial urban features that are advantageous for pandemic resilience.
Any situation in which people are in close proximity to one another for long periods of time increases the risk of transmission, said the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It added: “Indoor locations, especially settings where there is poor ventilation, are riskier than outdoor locations.
“The three Cs are a useful way to think about this.
“They describe settings where transmission of the COVID-19 virus spreads more easily and include crowded places, close-contact settings or confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation.”
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