Developing Modern Agent Technologies in Combating Covid-19 Exposure: An Application in a Healthcare Facility

This study aims to identify the impact of adherence to Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPI) such as facemask type Cotton Fabric Mask and social distancing on the rate of COVID-19 exposure in waiting areas inside an emergency department. As a methodology, a Multi-Agent Simulation approach was used to model and capture the flow of patients inside the emergency department in this research. Each agent represents a physical entity, including its attributes defined. These agents will collaborate based on the defined rules to achieve the best mimic of the system being modeled. This methodology aims to quantitatively evaluate the performance of preventive measures based on the agent's proximity and exposure time. The number of infections was affected by the application of the facemask. Infections were reduced when facemask adherence and social distancing were applied. The study showed that the application of social distancing has a similar effect to a 20% adherence of agents wearing a facemask. The model also reveals that more agents adhere to the facemask, and the time required to get an agent to the state exposed increases. Waiting areas are a potentially significant contributor to transmission.