The first peer-reviewed scientific paper based on the analysis of the data collected in the CSU study — Reducing Bioaerosol Emission and Exposures in the Performing Arts: A Scientific Roadmap for a Safe Return from COVID-19 has been published and is led by John Volckens, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering and environmental health at Colorado State University. USITT is a major supporter of this timely scientific research into exposure routes of coronavirus. Additional major support for this research comes from Yamaha Corporation.

The paper is available at Environmental Science and Technology Letters via open access. 

The work is a companion study to research being done at the University of Colorado and University of Maryland. Preliminary findings from those two studies were recently shared in a webinar sponsored by the National Association of Schools of Music. Colorado State shared their work in that webinar, but the data set of this ongoing research was too small to indicate any official preliminary findings at that time.

The study is being conducted in the unique, simulated environmental testing facility at Colorado State that was constructed to study human aerosol emissions and exposures in a clean, versatile environment. The project’s goal is to produce a dataset accessible to the performing arts community and to develop guidelines for various strategies to control emissions and reduce exposures to infectious particles such as those that spread COVID-19.