Digital twin for COVID-19 in Nursing home

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the global population in drastic ways. In the EU/EEA and the UK, older people are facing the most serious threats and challenges of COVID-19. Nursing homes, a type of Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF), are high-risk setting for COVID-19, owing to both the advanced age and frequent chronic underlying health conditions of the residents and the movement of health care personnel. A recent systematic and meta-analysis of 172 studies across 16 countries and six continents shows that the risk of transmission of viruses can be reduced by setting a physical distancing of 1 m or more and/or wearing a face mask2. Conceivably, these two methods could minimize the virus spread that would have occurred through direct/indirect droplet contacts and airborne aerosol particles3. However, these two methods are challenged particularly for the elderly with hearing difficulty and breathlessness in LTCF. Thus, it is urgent to search for a more effective alternative measures to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in LTCF. The hypothesis of DiCoV proposal is that efficient ventilation of LTCF could substantially reduce the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2. This is based on recent studies showing that the transmission is mainly mediated via aerosols than via fomites, and that typically poorly ventilated and populated spaces, like nursing homes and public transport, are core sites of the viral transmission