Is There A 'Safer' Day Of The Week to Attend The Office?

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29 March 2022

In terms of virus transmission risk, are there days that are “safer” to attend the workplace than others?

According to the Infogrid Air Quality Index, only a quarter of working days in 2022 have been at “low” virus risk, and Wednesdays are the day with the lowest virus transmission risk for those seeking to go into the office.

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The Impact of Winter on Indoor Air Quality

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. 

Wednesday “Safest” Day

Further findings from the Air Quality Index show that in the last six weeks, Wednesday has 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 6 months of was 29 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 in other cities in the UK.

William Cowell de Gruchy, CEO of Infogrid, said: “It has been really interesting to see how indoor virus transmission risk is no worse in London, despite the capital’s well-known air quality issues. The findings would suggest that buildings in London are better ventilated than those in the rest of the country, reducing the risk of spreading the virus.”

How is Virus Transmission Risk Calculated?

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 in office buildings and workplaces and in this use case it utilised sensors from Airthings to show how indoor air quality changes over time.

The data was collected between September 2021 and February 2022.

Picture: Image Credit: PX Fuel

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 29 March 2022

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