Simple safety measures reduce musical COVID-19 transmission

Date:
August 27, 2021
Source:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Summary:
Researchers have found that while playing musical instruments can
emit the same levels of potentially COVID-laden airborne particles
as singing, simple safety measures, such as masking instruments,
social distancing and implementing time limits, significantly
reduce this risk.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe in 2020, musicians around
the world were desperate for the answers to two pressing questions:
Can playing musical instruments transmit COVID-19? And if so, what can
be done?

==========================================================================
Now, halfway through 2021, the first official research results are in --
and it's good news: The show can go on.

Published today in the journal ACS Environmental Au, University of
Colorado Boulder and University of Maryland researchers have found that
while playing musical instruments can emit the same levels of potentially COVID-laden airborne particles as singing, simple safety measures, such
as masking instruments, social distancing and implementing time limits, significantly reduce this risk.

"COVID has shown people that aerosol transmission of respiratory diseases
is something that happens. But just because it goes into the air doesn't
mean that everyone is going to contract this disease. We found that
there are ways to mitigate these aerosols in a space and ways to reduce
your risk," said Tehya Stockman, lead author of the paper and graduate
student in mechanical engineering.

This research began in earnest in 2020 at CU Boulder and the University of Maryland to find out if playing musical instruments carried the same risks
of COVID-19 transmission as singing is shown to have. While there have
been no reported outbreaks from instrumental ensembles, these published findings echo the researchers' initial hypotheses and recommendations
that were eagerly accepted early on in the pandemic by musicians and
performing groups worldwide.

"I want to acknowledge the courage of the music directors and the
teachers to go ahead and follow our suggestions in the face of all of
this adversity, fear and worry," said Shelly Miller, co-author of the
study and professor of mechanical and environmental engineering. "That
really meant a lot to us because they trusted our very good research
methods, our researchers and the evolution of science as it moves
from: we don't know, to, let's find out, to OK -- now we know this."
These findings not only apply to the specific musical applications in
which they have been tested, they also further validate that masking
works as an effective mitigation technique, and ventilation and social distancing are important to reduce transmission, said Miller. Miller said
she hopes these findings will further inspire a paradigm shift focused
on mitigation measures and ventilation in order to reduce airborne
transmission of infectious diseases.



========================================================================== Mitigation matters The researchers tested three mitigation strategies
on a variety of woodwind, reed and brass instruments, as well as with
two singers and an actor. They evaluated these strategies, different
lengths of performance time and the differences between indoor and outdoor locations by measuring aerosols, carbon dioxide levels and visualizing
the flow of the air using various modeling techniques.

First, they found that masks work -- even on instruments -- and the
quality of the filtering material and their fit are important. Masks worn securely over a singer's mouth and nose, as well as bell covers (made of
MERV13 filter material) placed over the ends of instruments significantly decreased the speed and amount of particles produced from both sources.

For woodwind and reed instruments, they found that the amount of air
that escapes from the keyholes does not significantly contribute to any increased risk. This means that clarinetists and flautists do not have
to place a bag around their entire instrument to play safely.

Second, time together matters. To keep risk low (at 10% chance of transmission), instrumentalists should spend less than 30 minutes indoors
and less than 60 minutes outdoors playing together at a time. No matter
the amount of social distancing, "infection risk continuously increases
with the duration regardless of the distance to the singer or the player,"
the researchers found.



==========================================================================
They also found that spacing out does pay off: Leaving several feet of
distance between players and singers reduces aerosol concentrations,
which are highest closest to each person producing them. And while
playing outdoors is best, a layered approach with all the other mitigation measures makes it much safer to play indoors.

Finally, no Plexiglass or face shields are needed. The airborne particles
that transmit COVID-19 can easily flow around these barriers and mix
with the air in a room.

Quantifying carbon dioxide So how then, can a musician or audience member
now know it's safe to attend a concert? Carbon dioxide has been shown
to be great indicator of how well ventilated - - or not -- an indoor
space is, and therefore its level of risk for catching COVID-19.

But in this study, the researchers showed that when somebody wears
a mask, carbon dioxide passes through the mask with the air that a
person is exhaling, but the particles which can carry the virus get
stuck. This means that when someone puts on a mask or a bell cover,
the carbon dioxide emissions continue, but the particle emissions (which
could carry the virus) are reduced.

"Carbon dioxide concentration is a measure of the ventilation in the
room. But if everybody's wearing a mask, the carbon dioxide in that
room is still going to be high, but the respiratory droplets that may
contain the virus are going to be much lower," Marina Vance, co-author
on the study and assistant professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Environmental Engineering Program. "So
in that case, it's not a direct representation of your risk." So,
if a concert hall requires all audience members to wear masks and that
all performers place a bell cover on their instrument, the risk of COVID transmission in that room would be reduced -- even if the measured carbon dioxide levels are high. But carbon dioxide is still a great proxy for
risk indoors in restaurants, where most people are not masked and are
often speaking loudly.

Such direct application of this research to real-life scenarios has been
an extremely rewarding experience for Vance and the other researchers.

"The best part of the study was that all of this technical knowledge
and all of this scientific understanding was getting translated almost
in real-time and getting into the hands of the people that needed it the
most. I've never been a part of anything like that," said Vance. "It was nerve-wracking, exciting and important all at once." The safe return of
music When lead author Stockman first learned to play clarinet years ago,
she didn't do so with the intent to advance scientific research. But her personal musical experience allowed the work to advance quickly, as she performed calibration tests by herself in the lab during the pandemic.

She understands the frustrations of musicians who may need to follow
these protocols. She also knows how important it is to keep people safe.

"What we've shown is that there's easy measures to take that make life
still be relatively normal -- and you don't have to fear the air,"
said Stockman.

This sentiment is echoed by co-authors Mark Spede, national president of
the College Band Directors National Association and director of bands at Clemson University, and James Weaver, director of Performing Arts and
Sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations,
who point out that the mitigation strategies tested in this study can
be implemented not only during the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, but in
the face of any future pathogen that may come along.

"Although we may not know how the end of the pandemic will play out,
this important study has allowed performing arts educators to advocate
for the safe return of live music to the classroom," said Spede.

This research was conducted in partnership and collaboration with the
National Federation of State High School Associations and College Band Directors National Association.

Additional authors on this publication include: Abhishek Kuma, Lingzhe
Wang, Sameer Patel, Darin Toohey and Jean Hertzberg of CU Boulder; and
Shengwei Zhu, Don Milton and Jelena Srebric of the University of Maryland.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_Colorado_at_Boulder. Original written by Kelsey
Simpkins. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Tehya Stockman, Shengwei Zhu, Abhishek Kumar, Lingzhe Wang,
Sameer Patel,
James Weaver, Mark Spede, Donald K. Milton, Jean Hertzberg, Darin
Toohey, Marina Vance, Jelena Srebric, Shelly L. Miller. Measurements
and Simulations of Aerosol Released while Singing and Playing
Wind Instruments. ACS Environmental Au, 2021; DOI: 10.1021/
acsenvironau.1c00007 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210827121440.htm

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