COVID-19 Transmission: Estimating Risk in Indoor Settings
Event Details
The Duke Center on Risk in Science and Society Presents:
COVID-19 Transmission: Estimating Risk in Indoor Settings
Part of the Perspectives on Planetary Risk series
Friday, Nov. 13, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm (Eastern)
Jose Jimenez will review the importance of aerosols for disease transmission, a topic he has been working on with the world’s leading aerosol scientists since March 2020. He will summarize the scientific evidence showing that COVID-19 transmission is driven by aerosols, with a smaller fraction from surface transmission, and with a minor contribution of ballistic “WHO” droplets (only important when coughing and sneezing). Prasad Kasibhatla will discuss how this knowledge of aerosol -driven transmission can be used to derive quantitative estimates of COVID-19 transmission risk in indoor settings using a web-based risk assessment tool (http://covid-exposure-modeler-data-devils.cloud.duke.edu/) he has developed in collaboration with Jose Jimenez and colleagues at Duke. The discussion and audience questions will be moderated by Jonathan Wiener.
Panelists:
Jose-Luis Jimenez is a Professor of Chemistry and a Fellow of CIRES at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT. His research group focuses on advanced real-time aerosol measurements and their application to aircraft and laboratory studies, and on mathematical modeling. He is a Highly Cited Researcher and a Fellow of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
Prasad Kasibhatla is a Professor of Environmental Chemistry in the Nicholas School of the Environment (with a secondary appointment in the Civil and Engineering Department in the Pratt School of Engineering) at Duke University. His research focuses on developing a quantitative understanding of the factors that determine the chemical composition of the atmosphere using numerical models in conjunction with surface, airborne, and satellite-based measurements of atmospheric chemical composition.
Moderator:
Jonathan Wiener is the William R. and Thomas L. Perkins Professor of Law, Professor of Environmental Policy, and Professor of Public Policy, at Duke University. He is also the Co-Director of the Duke Center on Risk, in Science and Society, and Past President of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA).