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Coronavirus

Ranking Spaces by Their COVID-19 Infection Risk

 Here's a look based on what we know at this point of the pandemic as to what uses present the greatest risk of infection.

Because of the myriad health care effects associated with the coronavirus pandemic, many of us are leery about stepping foot inside of a variety of spaces.

A survey taken in early October by polling firm Morning Consult found just 31 percent of American adults continue to socialize in public places, up from a low of 8 percent in mid-April. In that same vein, a survey done in August by Delos, which oversees the WELL Building Standard, showed that 58 percent of Americans wouldn’t feel comfortable being in shared spaces within at least six months. In the Delos survey, 66 percent of Americans indicated it would be at least six months before they’d feel comfortable returning to stadiums, with 59 percent expressing the same sentiment about gyms.

“We all need to realize that the COVID-19 crisis is not going away overnight. It will not be the last harmful superbug, and many will find that companies and industries that get this right will attract new customers for the long term,” says facility safety and efficiency consultant Scott Milne, owner of Rocky Mountain Efficiency Group and author of Win the War on Covid-19.

However, in the months since the pandemic began, scientists have been able to establish what type of scenario is most likely to lead to a COVID-19 infection. And that entails spending at least 15 minutes or longer within six feet of an infected person up to two days prior to them experiencing symptoms or testing positive for the virus if they remain asymptomatic, according to the CDC. The risk goes up if the interaction takes place within an enclosed space.

So, what are the riskiest spaces for exposure to the coronavirus?

 Here's a look based on what we know at this point of the pandemic as to what uses present the greatest risk of infection.

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