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Planning for classroom physical distancing to minimize the threat of COVID-19 disease spread

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  • Alan T Murray

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 is a respiratory illness spread between people. A primary weapon for reducing or eliminating this disease involves physical distancing to thwart transmission. Efforts to keep the economy moving include enacting physical distancing strategies that will increase the safety of workplaces, schools, businesses, etc. Given that education is a critical economic sector that impacts essentially all other sectors in some way, this paper details a planning approach for classroom physical distancing supported by spatial optimization. Devising a configuration of desks and/or workspaces that are physically distant is a type of dispersion problem that can be formalized mathematically and solved. Planning efforts for a university campus serve to illustrate how spatial optimization can support safety enhancements.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan T Murray, 2020. "Planning for classroom physical distancing to minimize the threat of COVID-19 disease spread," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0243345
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243345
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Richard L. Church & Alan Murray, 2018. "Location Covering Models," Advances in Spatial Science, Springer, number 978-3-319-99846-6, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alan T. Murray & Susan Burtner, 2023. "Physical distancing as an integral component of pandemic response," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Larry J. LeBlanc & Thomas A. Grossman & Michael R. Bartolacci, 2024. "Managing the Hyflex Scheduling Activity Using Excel Dynamic Arrays," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 201-219, May.
    3. Mohammad Reza Bazargan-Lari & Sharareh Taghipour & Arash Zaretalab & Mani Sharifi, 2022. "Production scheduling optimization for parallel machines subject to physical distancing due to COVID-19 pandemic," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 503-527, June.

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