1.Housing and Indoor Factor Influencing Spread of COVID-19 – A Review
Hakimah Yusop ; Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh
International Journal of Public Health Research 2023;13(no.2):1707-1713
Introduction:
There has been growing recognition linking spread of COVID-19 with
environmental factors. One of the environmental factors with robust
epidemiological literature supporting its role in diseases is the housing or built
environment. COVID-19 spread has been found to occur mostly at homes
through secondary household transmission. As most people spend more times
inside homes during the pandemic, household remains an important site of
COVID-19 spread. The aim of this study is to examine how housing and indoor
factors affect the transmission and spread of COVID-19.
Methods:
This review employed a comprehensive search strategy to gather a broad range
of scholarly articles and grey literature to provide a comprehensive
understanding of the housing-related aspects of COVID-19 transmission.
Results:
Three electronic databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed) were
searched using specific keywords related to COVID-19, housing, residents,
neighborhoods, and indoor environments. Additionally, a supplementary
literature survey was conducted to include relevant grey literature sources
Conclusions
This article summarizes the housing indoor factors involved in COVID-19
transmission, including the role of transmission from contaminated household
surfaces. Indoor transmission of COVID-19 is found to be more likely due to
contact transmission and close-contact aerosol transmission in a crowded,
confined, and poorly ventilated indoor environment, related to poor housing
condition. Whilst role of spread through contaminated household surfaces is of
low probability. Based on this review, it can be suggested that besides the
existing measures including avoiding crowding, close contacts and proper
ventilation, specific standards for indoor environmental quality control and
housing condition might be required. Housing is a public health issue and
healthy housing is of universal concern.

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