RAPID: Multiphase flow physics driving respiratory infectious disease transmission

当前的新冠肺炎冠状病毒疫情生动地展示了在一个高度互联的世界中，一起局部事件所引发的严重全球危险。一个关键的公共卫生挑战是宿主到宿主传播事件的立即减少，特别是直接照顾新冠肺炎患者的一线医护人员。这类患者经常不得不接受导致呼吸道排放的医疗程序，从而将医护人员置于危险境地。这个快速项目旨在通过在患者床边开发、测试和部署基于流体动力学的解决方案，基本上可以吸收患者的排放物，保护医护人员和其他人员，从而减少新冠肺炎在这种产生气雾剂的医疗程序中从宿主到宿主的传播。这个快速项目旨在通过首先可视化和量化与新冠肺炎患者相关的呼气、咳嗽和气雾剂产生的医疗程序中呼吸道排放的多阶段性质，来开发这种非药物遏制方法。在量化的基础上，该项目将对本地应用的多相流动控制的影响进行建模和量化，以控制、转移和收集患者的病原体排放，从而减少对医疗保健提供者的暴露。最后，该项目将开发快速原型系统，用于在临床相关环境中的患者床边部署。该项目对医疗保健专业人员和公众的好处取决于具体和可操作的非药物干预措施的快速发展，以遏制呼吸道传染病在宿主之间的传播，特别是对处于这一历史性浩劫第一线的医护人员的保护。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The current COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak vividly demonstrates the acute global danger emanating from a local event in a hyperconnected world. A key public health challenge is the immediate reduction in host-to-host transmission events, particularly in front-line healthcare workers taking direct care of COVID-19 patients. Such patients often have to undergo medical procedures that induce respiratory emissions and thereby put healthcare workers at risk. This RAPID project aims to reduce the host-to-host transmission of COVID-19 during such “aerosol” emission-producing medical procedures by developing, testing, and deploying fluid-dynamics-based solutions at the patient’s bedside that can essentially syphon off the emissions coming from a patient and protect healthcare workers and other personnel.This RAPID project seeks to develop such non-pharmacologic containment approaches by first visualizing and quantifying the multiphase nature of respiratory emissions during exhalations, coughs, and aerosol-generating medical procedures pertinent to COVID-19 patients. Based on that quantification, the project will model and quantify the impact of locally applied multiphase flow control for containing, diverting, and collecting the pathogen-laden emissions from the patient and thus reduce exposure to healthcare providers. Finally, the project will develop rapid prototype systems for deployment at the patient’s bedside in clinically relevant settings. The benefits of the project to healthcare professionals and the public rest with the rapid development of concrete and actionable non-pharmacological interventions to curb host-to-host transmission of respiratory infectious diseases and in particular protection of healthcare workers at the frontline of this historic pandemic.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.