Re:A paradigm shift to combat indoor respiratory infection
by Enginerrrd on Friday May 14, 2021 @09:56AM
(#27154349)
As an civil / environmental engineer, I can assure you that particle size and average settling time is INCREDIBLY important to consider and will cover basically all of your supposed edge cases to the point of being statistically irrelevant. You would handle those edge cases by simply including a safety factor in the required residence time of the average particle within the system considered (or equivalently, you'd specify a certain log removal of pathogens). The end result of all your edge cases that you seem to think are so important is something like: "Ok, 1 in 100,000 may still get sick with this design. Good enough."
You can make the same arguments for drinking water, and yet, as long as you follow the rules, it is unbelievably safe, despite the fact that no one gave a shit about turbulence along the baffles in the treatment tank.
How long it remains airborne is beside the point. Does that physics grad know how long/if the virus can survive once it dries up? Do they know how long it will survive exposure to light? Do then know whether the virus can cling to dust particles?
Even brownian motion is only half the story. Does the physics grad understand airflow in office spaces? Do they understand how fast air moves when a person coughs? How much turbulence is caused by opening an office door? Plenty of things can stay airborne for extended periods because of aerodynamics without regard to brownian motion (snow/rain/dust/salt etc). That physics grad better come with minors in aerodynamics, kinesiology, microbiology ... even some basic meteorology would be helpful.