Corona: office more dangerous than cinema?
Christine Albert studied German linguistics and literature as well as Scandinavian studies at the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg. She is currently doing a traineeship at Hubert Burda Media and is writing, among other things, for
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.The concentration of aerosols that can transmit the coronavirus is usually lower in certain movie theaters than in an office. This is the result of a study by the Hermann Rietschel Institute of the Technical University of Berlin for the Main Association of German Film Theaters HDF Kino.
Two halls of the Alhambra cinema in Berlin-Wedding were examined, in which a maximum of 342 and 148 seats can be used. With a minimum distance due to the corona measures, the possible number of visitors is 85 and 35 people. The compared office has 16 places, eight of which can be used at a distance.
Risk factor speaking
Important criteria for the amount of aerosols are the length of stay, the question of whether one speaks or only breathes, and the type of room ventilation. Values were calculated for both cinemas with scenarios of 45 to 180 minutes each with speaking or just breathing. In addition, different numbers of infected people in the hall were assumed for the cinemas. Speaking was charged for the office, with an infected person in the room.
If you only breathe in the cinema, the number of aerosols in an infected person in the hall is still well below that in the office where people are speaking, even with an excessively long film. If there is talk in the cinema and there are more infected people among the visitors (in the smaller room 15, in the larger room 34), the values are close to or above the compared office with an infected person.
Cinema ventilation makes breathing air "cleaner"
According to the study, the cinema values are also related to the displacement ventilation found in the cinemas; according to the data, the proportion of fresh air in the examined halls was 100 percent. It means that the stale air is warmed up by the cinema-goers and collects under the ceiling. "The air in the breathing area of the people is therefore cleaner than the air with the same air change in a room with mixed ventilation", such as in the compared office.
At the same time, the investigation restricts: "In all considerations, it must be noted that the aerosol concentration in the person's immediate exhalation volume flow is significantly higher and the considerations cannot be applied to this area." In addition, no statement about the survivability of the viruses in the room air, which depends on temperature and humidity, is permissible.
You can find out what you know about corona infection by air, what risk factors there are and what can help in our article on corona aerosols.
Kino Association wants to reduce the distance rules
The cinema association is now calling for the distance regulation on which the investigation is based to be reduced from 1.5 meters across Germany. Cinemas can currently only use a maximum of 20 percent of their capacity, which has a negative effect on the release dates of new films. But cinemas are only able to survive the crisis with greater utilization and new films. (approx / dpa)
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