Measurement of small droplet aerosol concentrations in public spaces using handheld particle counters

G Aernout Somsen; Cees J M van Rijn; Stefan Kooij; Reinout A Bem; Daniel Bonn

doi:10.1063/5.0035701

Measurement of small droplet aerosol concentrations in public spaces using handheld particle counters

Phys Fluids (1994). 2020 Dec 1;32(12):121707. doi: 10.1063/5.0035701.

Authors

G Aernout Somsen¹, Cees J M van Rijn², Stefan Kooij², Reinout A Bem³, Daniel Bonn²

Affiliations

¹ Cardiology Centers of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
² Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Pediatric Intensive Care, Emma Children's Hospital, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract

We measure aerosol persistence to assess the risk of transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in public spaces. Direct measurement of aerosol concentrations, however, has proven to be technically difficult; we propose the use of handheld particle counters as a novel and easily applicable method to measure aerosol concentrations. This allows us to perform measurements in typical public spaces, each differing in volume, the number of people, and the ventilation rate. These data are used to estimate the relation between the aerosol persistence time and the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2.