Members of an expert group advising the Government on ventilation are calling for carbon dioxide monitors to be used in the hospitality sector and other workplaces to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission.
Carbon dioxide monitors will be used in schools across the country from September and a ventilation expert said they could be used in other sectors also.
Orla Hegarty, an assistant professor of Architechure at UCD said Covid-19 is a respiratory virus and is caught from breathing.
She said the virus is diluted and dispersed in outdoor environments but in indoor settings, tiny particles can linger in the air and spread especially in small enclosed spaces like toilets, corridors, store rooms and cold rooms.
"People need to think about back areas rather than just the larger rooms in buildings," she said.
"You don't need to share a space with someone, in those conditions you could go into a lift which someone has left an hour before or a cold room where someone was breathing hours earlier." Ms Hegarty added.
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Kim Roberts, assistant professor of Virology at TCD, is also a member of the expert group.
She said a CO2 monitor does not measure the virus in the air but it gives an indication of air quality by measuring the level of exhaled air.
"The prevailing opinion is that a good indication of ventilation in an indoor area is less than 800 parts per million of carbon dioxide," she said.
The Department of Education is spending €4m on carbon dioxide monitors for primary and secondary schools.
The devices will be delivered for the start of the new school term in September
There will be between two and 20 monitors in each primary school and between 20 and 35 in post-primary schools.
