Ventilation Frequency and Duration of Chinese Population Opening Window during the COVID-19 Epidemic

ABSTRACT

Confined spaces increase the chance of aerosol infection, and window ventilation plays an important role in reducing the risk of infection and maintaining the fresh air required for human health. In order to analyze the window opening patterns of people in different regions during the COVID-19 outbreak, information on the frequency and duration of window ventilation and the demographic information were obtained through an electronic questionnaire survey, which surveyed 7784 subjects in 31 provinces in China. The ventilation behavior of different population and the main influencing factors were then analyzed. The results shows that (1) During the COVID-19 epidemic, 99.7% of the subjects opened windows for ventilation;Among them, 69.2% of the subjects had more than two times of daily ventilation, and 38.2% had more than three times of daily ventilation, indicating a significant difference in ventilation frequency between different groups. (2) The daily ventilation duration of residents in each region was in the range of 93-126 min, and the ventilation duration for residents in the affected areas was longer. Compared with the non-epidemic period, the ventilation time of residents in all regions decreased significantly during the epidemic period. (3) The influencing factors of ventilation behavior of Chinese population during the epidemic mainly included the epidemic related factors and non-epidemic related factors. Among them, the epidemic related factors included control measures in the community and the distribution of hospitals around the community. The ventilation frequency was higher for the population, who resided in communities with epidemic control measures and nearby designated hospitals. The non-epidemic related factors included the type of dwelling, floor and ambient temperature. Compared with the units or apartments, the ventilation frequency of people living in bungalows was higher than those living in units or apartments. (4) Residents living in the middle floor of a flat or apartment building had the longest ventilation time, while those living on the lower floor had the shortest ventilation time. The window ventilation frequency and duration were positively correlated with the ambient temperature, that is, the ventilation frequency and duration of residents in areas with higher ambient temperature were higher than those in areas with lower ambient temperature. This study indicates that 99.7% of the residents had window ventilation behavior, and the daily ventilation time in various regions was in the range of 93-126 min during the COVID-19 epidemic, which was shorter than that during the non-epidemic period. © 2020, Editorial Board, Research of Environmental Sciences. All right reserved.