Air-19: Reliable monitoring of air quality and microorganisms in postpandemic municipality building

Nowadays, the link between air pollution and covid-19 is proven beyond doubt in the literature with key pollutants being particulate matter and CO2. Our team has been involved in the development of reliable air quality sensing devices using low-cost sensors measuring particulate matter, differential pressure, humidity, and temperature. We have developed a new measuring device, that detects with high reliability CO, CO2, humidity, and temperature but also viruses in ambient air. The new architecture consumes less power and supports the integration of industrial CO2 sensors operating at 12 to 24 volts and using the industrial 4-20mA protocol. Furthermore, five novel near-real-time indices were developed to model risks that endanger public health indoors: a) risk of infection, b) ventilation efficiency, c) aggregated exposure d) AQI and e) congestion. Real-time data streams from six devices (three PM ones and three C2O2O ones, in pairs) that were deployed at a municipality building in the center of Athens, Greece, during a 5-month-long pilot application were used for the indices calculation also generating real-time warnings. Results show that congestion exceeds the limits frequently in the cashier area on the third floor during visitor hours while outdoor pollutants penetrate indoors from a busy road.