Humidity and COVID-19 in data centers

Data center managers have gone to some lengths to avoid transmission of the COVID-19 virus in their facilities. Fortunately, many factors help keep transmission rates low in data centers: few staff are required; most jobs do not require close physical interaction with colleagues; and air filtration may help to reduce, if not necessarily eliminate, airborne transmission.

Presently, researchers are still debating the extent to which the virus can be transmitted through the air. Early in July, over 200 scientists wrote the World Health Organization, asking it to officially acknowledge that coronavirus transmission could be airborne. (Airborne transmission requires tiny particles containing infectious microorganisms stay suspended in the air for long periods of time. This is distinct from droplet transmission, which requires relatively close proximity and shorter time frames.) If this is the case, it means maintaining a 2-meter (approximately 6-foot) distance from others may be a less effective means of preventing transmission, especially indoors, than previously thought.