JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of achieving a society/nation that does not require lockdown using high-performance, low-cost, and comfortable powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs). Now and in the future, airborne diseases such as COVID-19 could still get out of control and lead the world into lockdowns. Finding alternatives to lockdowns, which limit individual freedoms and cause enormous economic losses, is critical. It is evaluated that even a commercial medical PAPR, which is a device that can effectively prevent airborne infections, has the potential to be a means to replace various restrictions imposed by the lockdown. It is also shown that low-cost models and models with measurement control and communication functions can be easily produced. The relationship between the PAPR Wearing Rate and the effective reproduction number Rt reduction is simulated under limited conditions. To quantitatively evaluate the effects of the aerosol shielding performance (air supply and exhaust) of the PAPR on the effective reproduction number Rt. a procedure to be implemented during the next pandemic is proposed. In a situation where an infection explosion is feared, the government determines the state and strength of the lockdown and activates it. At that time, the government will also indicate how PAPR can be substituted for each item in the lockdown. For example, a “curfew order” may be replaced with a “permission to go outside if wearing a PAPR”. For use by the general public as an alternative to lockdown, the current medical PAPR has much room for improvement in terms of optimal control of flow field and internal pressure, cost (unit cost and maintenance cost), housing size and design, and comfort. Improvements in these areas will provide the possibility and direction for the development of a PAPR that is sufficiently high performance, cost effective, and comfortable. A “network system for measuring, recording, and managing the PAPR Wearing Rate of each citizen” and a method for operating a social system using this system are proposed, with the goal of achieving both “efficient operation by the government” and “respect for each citizen's right not to wear the PAPR”. Furthermore, if a safe and comfortable PAPR is realized, many people may be willing to breathe “PAPR-purified air” just as they drink “purified water”. This could lead to a society with strong resistance to airborne diseases.