During the COVID-19 pandemic, non-pharmaceutical interventions were key to mitigate the impact, like keeping distance, washing hands, wearing facemasks and cleaning surfaces. These interventions will remain the key throughout many epidemics and pandemics. Many mitigation strategies target the modes of virus transmission via direct contact, indirect contact and via large or small droplets.

There is still a lot unknown about the contribution of various transmission routes, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. In this frontrunner project we want to gain a greater understanding of the contribution of various routes of transmission of respiratory viruses in order to work on strategies to reduce that spread.

From left to right: Ron Fouchier, Philomena Bluyssen, Hanneke Gelderblom, Tess Homan, Arghyanir Giri, Suzanne Mijnhardt, Kaïn Saygan, Sander Herfst, Frank Buitenwerf, Inge Wouters, Marion Koopmans, Pieter Fraaij and Anja Schreijer.

During the kick-off that took place on March 7th, the 4 subprojects were presented by the PhD students and the PI’s. There was a vivid discussion between the participants from which it became clear that exchanging perspectives helps to improve the quality of each individual project. All participants went home inspired, with a lot of new insights and new ideas for their own research project and for important crossovers between the different projects.

Read more about the Frontrunner Project: Predicting, measuring and quantifying airborne virus transmission.

Date: March 13, 2023