Only a quarter of working days in 2022 have been at ‘low’ virus transmission risk

The findings show that only a quarter of working days in 2022 have had a ‘low’ virus transmission risk, showing the effects of winter on the spread of infections like COVID and the flu.

The Infogrid Air Quality Index is based on data points collected in office buildings and workplaces globally including temperature, humidity, office occupancy and CO2 levels and shows how indoor air quality changes over time.  

The data, collected between September 2021 and February 2022 shows how virus transmission risk increases around Christmas time. Through September and October virus transmission risk remained ‘low’, however once temperature and humidity start to drop in November, the virus transmission risk doubled with 12 days registering ‘medium’ virus risk. 

The impact of Winter is clear as indoor virus transmission risk doubled from September to December 2021 and three quarters of the days in 2022 have been at medium virus transmission risk. 

William Cowell de Gruchy, Infogrid CEO commented: “The virus transmission risk increased in November and has remained high through the winter months. While the virus transmission risk moved from ‘low’ to ‘medium’ risk, that increase was enough to cause an influx of covid cases and hospitalisations which led the government to issuing a work-from-home recommendation.”

Wednesday is the safest day 

Further findings from the Air Quality Index show that in a period of six weeks, Wednesday consistently recorded the lowest virus transmission risk reading of any day of the week. Wednesday was also the day of the week which recorded the fewest days at medium virus transmission risk, making it the ‘safest’ day to be in the workplace.   

The most dangerous day in the last six months of was 29th November 2021 when virus transmission risk spiked, nearly hitting ‘high risk’ of virus transmission. 

There is also a geographic divide in the UK, cities in the North have been found to have consistently higher virus transmission risk compared to towns and cities in the South. Infogrid also found that virus risk in London is no higher or lower than other cities in the UK.

• Virus transmission risk doubled in the UK between September and December 2021 
• Only a quarter of working days in 2022 have been at ‘low’ virus transmission risk  
• North of the UK has consistently higher virus transmission risk than the South 

William Cowell de Gruchy concluded: "The rising covid infection rates shouldn't be a particular surprise to the government. According to data we have collected from office buildings and workplaces across the UK, the virus transmission risk has not meaningfully changed since December. In fact only 25% of the days in January and February indicated a 'low' virus transmission risk.

"As the government has lifted restrictions and mandates, it now falls to employers to ensure they are doing what they can to protect their staff. What that looks like will differ from company to company, but understanding your workplace's indoor air quality and how to reduce virus transmission risk is a good place to start."

For more information visit www.infogrid.io

^{*Virus transmission risk is a metric that combines temperature, humidity and CO2 levels to understand how long a virus can remain airborne and for infections to be transferred. Infogrid collects and analyses data across multiple sensors and in this use case it utilised sensors from Airthings.}