COVID-19 & Beyond: Well Living Lab Safe Indoor Environment Program
July 3, 2020 - In June 2020, the Well Living Lab conducted an extensive and comprehensive review of COVID-19 documentation being used by a variety of businesses and organizations nationwide. Consistent themes and highlights evolved from this review and helped to inform the context for our COVID-19 & Beyond: Well Living Lab Safe Indoor Environment Program, which launched in June 2020. Click here to view themes and highlights.
The goal of this program is to generate evidence to optimize both the physical (e.g., ventilation, office layout, barrier implementation) and psychosocial (e.g., stress, resiliency, well-being, performance) conditions of the work environment in the COVID-19 era. The Well Living Lab research team has identified the most pressing COVID-19-related knowledge gaps through discussions with experts at Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota as well as our Well Living Lab Scientific Advisory Council.
As a result of these discussions, and in close collaboration with key partners at Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota, our multidisciplinary research team will focus the COVID-19 & Beyond: Well Living Lab Safe Indoor Environment Program on three key aims most pertinent to reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission and ensuring employee health and well-being as they return to work: 1) air, 2) surface, and 3) behavior.
With reconfigurable office modules, a large suite of environmental sensors, and advanced data analytic and storage technology, the Well Living Lab is uniquely suited to rigorously evaluate virus transmission mitigation strategies that will optimize office space design, operation, and human behavior and ensure workplaces are conducive to employee health, safety, and performance.