Evidence-based guidance for mitigating COVID-19 virus droplet transmission and surface contamination

这项拟议的研究将与一家主要的个人防护装备制造商(加拿大3M公司)和一家专门从事仪器和医疗器械设计的公司(Corus产品设计公司)合作，将西方公司的工程师和病毒学家聚集在一起，在耗资1,600万美元的新的生物遏制3级Impakt实验室开发和实施一种新型的气雾室，通过新的脉冲发生器可以产生新冠肺炎的气雾剂，这种气雾剂可以近似模仿咳嗽和喷嚏的气雾剂。不同材料的样本，包括个人防护装置，将被放置在舱内，以检查病毒液滴在不同温度和湿度条件下在其表面的传输和沉积。这种更现实的方法消除了与当前使用吸管或注射器将液滴直接放置在表面的做法相关的粘附性和穿透性偏差，这对任何个人防护设备去污程序的后续有效性有影响。加拿大尤其迫切需要在不同的环境条件下进行可靠的新冠肺炎传播和表面去污实验，因为来自其他国家的证据表明，室内空调公共空间(例如购物中心)可能会在夏季促进传播。与3M加拿大公司的合作将使与个人防护设备的使用和净化相关的研究结果能够有效地传达给产品用户和监管机构，而Corus产品设计公司将帮助开发该设施的最终版本，然后他们将销售给世界各地的研究实验室，以及测试方法和程序，以确保此类研究和测试以标准化的方式进行，并与新冠肺炎和任何未来的病毒一起进行。

The proposed research, in collaboration with a major manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) (3M Canada) and a company specializing in instrumentation and medical device design (Corus Product Design), brings together engineers and virologists at Western to develop and implement a novel aerosolization chamber in the new $16 million biocontainment level 3 ImPaKT lab that will allow aerosols of COVID-19 to be produced, via a new pulsed generator, that closely mimic those from coughs and sneezes. Samples of different materials, including PPE, will be placed in the chamber to examine the transport and deposition of viral droplets on their surface under different temperature and humidity conditions. This more realistic approach removes the adhesion and penetration bias associated with the current practice of directly placing droplets on the surface using pipettes or syringes, which has implications on the subsequent effectiveness of any PPE decontamination procedures. There is particular urgency for Canada in undertaking reliable COVID-19 transmission and surface decontamination experiments, under different ambient conditions, because there is evidence from other countries that indoor air-conditioned public spaces (e.g. shopping malls) may promote transmission during the summer months. The collaboration with 3M Canada will allow the research findings related to the use and decontamination of PPE to be effectively communicated to product users as well as to regulatory bodies, whilst Corus Product Design will assist in the development of the final version of the facility that they will then market to research laboratories world-wide, together with test methodologies and procedures, to ensure that such research and testing is conducted in a standardized manner, with COVID-19 and any future viruses.