Aerosol and Surface Distribution of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Hospital Wards, Wuhan, China, 2020

Abstract

of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had been reported globally since December 2019 (1), severely burdening the healthcare system (2). The extremely fast transmission capability of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has aroused concern about its various transmission routes.The main transmission routes for SARS-CoV-2 are respiratory droplets and close contact (3). Knowing the extent of environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 wards is critical for improving safety practices for medical staff and answering questions about SARS-CoV-2 transmission among the public. However, whether SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted by aerosols remains controversial, and the exposure risk for close contacts has not been systematically evaluated. Researchers have detected SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces of objects in a symptomatic patient's room and toilet area (4). However, that study was performed in a small sample from regions with few confirmed cases, which might not reflect real conditions in outbreak regions where hospitals are operating at full capacity. In this study, we tested surface and air samples from an intensive care unit (ICU) and a general COVID-19 ward (GW) at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China (Figure 1). The StudyFrom February 19 through March 2, 2020, we collected swab samples from potentially contaminated objects in the ICU and GW as described previously (5). The ICU housed 15 patients with severe disease and the GW housed 24 patients with milder disease. We also sampled indoor air and the air outlets to detect aerosol exposure. Air samples were collected by using a SASS 2300 Wetted Wall Cyclone Sampler (Research International, Inc., https://www.resrchintl.com) at 300 L/min for of 30 min. We used sterile premoistened swabs to sample the floors, computer mice, trash cans, sickbed handrails, patient masks, personal protective equipment, and air outlets. We tested air and surface samples for the open reading frame (ORF) 1ab and nucleoprotein (N) genes of SARS-CoV-2 by quantitative real-time PCR. (Appendix, https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/EID/ article/26/7/20-0885-App1.pdf).Almost all positive results were concentrated in the contaminated areas (ICU 54/57, 94.7%; GW 9/9, 100%); the rate of positivity was much higher for the ICU (54/124, 43.5%) than for the GW (9/114, 7.9%) (Tables 1, 2). The rate of positivity was

Incidence of COVID-19 and Connections with Air Pollution Exposure: Evidence from the Netherlands

“…The study found that SARS-CoV-2 can survive up to three days on some surfaces, like plastic and steel, and that aerosol transmission is plausible since the virus can remain viable and infectious in the air for hours. These findings echo those of Chen et al (2004) on environmental contamination with SARS-CoV-1, and are consistent with evidence for aerosol distribution of SARS-CoV-2 found by Guo et al (2020), but are inconsistent with the current WHO stance that SARS-CoV-2 is not transported by air. However, the possibility of airborne transmission would call for different mitigation efforts to prevent spreading and is thus an important area of study.…”

Social Distancing in the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…In the case of a safe distance to avoid spread, recommendations originate from modelling, simulations and lessons learnt from outbreaks of other viruses. Recent work by Guo et al suggests that maybe none of these distances is fully protective for Covid-19 with spread of up to 4 m reported in a hospital setting although it is not clear if particles travelling this far are infectious [1].…”

SARS-CoV-2 spillover into hospital outdoor environments

“…Inside the adjusting tank of Jinyintan Hospital and Huoshenshan Hospital, SARS-CoV-2 in aerosols was found at a level of 285 copies/m 3 and 603 copies/m 3 , respectively ( Table 1 and Table S1). They were of comparable levels to SARS-CoV-2 detected in intensive care units (ICU) 3,22 and exhibited high transmission potential via aerosol deposition. On the contrary, aerosol SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in downstream wastewater To further examine whether the aerosol and soil SARS-CoV-2 was derived from wastewater treatment sector, we analyzed SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in waters from different treatment tanks.…”