IDENTIFYING HIGH-TOUCH SURFACES TO REDUCE RISK OF FOMITE DISEASE TRANSMISSION AT SHARED WORKSPACES

Abstract

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, people are worried of going back to offices in fear of contracting the virus. Disease transmission can occur through several ways and one such medium of transmission is through fomites or contaminated surfaces. Adopting a safe distance and maintaining good hand hygiene to prevent fomite transmission is up to an individual’s responsibility. However, when it comes to the many high-touch surfaces in a building, there may be some doubts as to whether it is contaminated or disinfected. Environmental disinfection of all high-touch surfaces within a facility can be challenging for facilities managers. This study aims to identify types of high-touch surface within a university that is considered to be of higher risk compared to the others to enable a more targeted approach to environmental cleaning and disinfection. Ecological Momentary Assessment was conducted with 6 participants over a period of three days to collect subjective feedback on their perceived surface risks. The location of participants within the building at the moment in which their feedback was submitted was also collected via Bluetooth to pinpoint the location of these surfaces and their corresponding perceived risk. The results show that certain shared public high-touch surfaces and semi-outdoor spaces are perceived to be of higher risk of contamination. The coordinates of the collected feedback are mapped into the floorplan and a distribution of the feedback points within the study’s scope was produced to show how the risk is distributed within the spaces. These will aid facility managers in making data-driven decisions in the operation of buildings.