Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 RNA Persistence across Indoor Surface Materials Reveals Best Practices for Environmental Monitoring Programs

Salido, Rodolfo A.; Cantu, Victor; Clark, Alex E.; Leibel, Sandra L.; Foroughishafiei, Anahid; Saha, Anushka; Hakim, Abbas; Nouri, Alhakam; Lastrella, Alma L; Castro-Martínez, Anelizze; Plascencia, Ashley; Kapadia, Bhavika; Xia, Bing; Ruiz, Christopher A; Marotz, Clarisse; Maunder, Daniel; Lawrence, Elijah S; Smoot, Elizabeth W; Eisner, Emily; Crescini, Evelyn S; Kohn, Laura; Vargas, Lizbeth Franco; Chacón, Marisol; Betty, Maryann; Machnicki, Michal; Wu, Min Yi; Baer, Nathan A; Belda-Ferre, Pedro; Hoff, Peter De; Seaver, Phoebe; Ostrander, R. Tyler; Tsai, Rebecca; Sathe, Shashank; Aigner, Stefan; Morgan, Sydney; Ngo, Toan T; Barber, Tom; Cheung, Willi; Carlin, Aaron F.; Yeo, G; Laurent, Louise C.; Fielding-Miller, Rebecca; Knight, Rob

doi:10.1128/msystems.01136-21

Cited by 16 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…We estimated surface viral load, in viral genomic equivalents (GE’s), from Cq’s using published regression curves ( 17 ) and mapped resulting viral loads onto 3D renderings of each apartment. High-touch surfaces had the highest viral load across all apartments, followed by floor samples and then high-use objects (fridge, sinks, toilets, and beds) ( Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-CoV-2 Distribution in Residential Housing Suggests Contact Deposition and Correlates with Rothia sp.

et al. 2022

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Surface sampling for detecting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is increasingly being used to locate infected individuals. We tested which indoor surfaces had high versus low viral loads by collecting 381 samples from three residential units where infected individuals resided, and interpreted the results in terms of whether SARS-CoV-2 was likely transmitted directly (e.g., touching a light switch) or indirectly (e.g., by droplets or aerosols settling).

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-CoV-2 Distribution in Residential Housing Suggests Contact Deposition and Correlates with Rothia sp.

et al. 2022

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“…In all three apartments, the rate of detection was highest in the bedroom (72% on average vs 47% overall). We estimated surface viral load, in viral Genomic Equivalents (GE’s), from Cq’s using published regression curves ( 17 ) and mapped resulting viral loads onto 3D renderings of each apartment. High-touch surfaces, including handles and switches, had highest viral load across all apartments, followed by floor samples and then high-use objects (fridge, sinks, toilets, beds) ( Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-CoV-2 Distribution in Residential Housing Suggests Contact Deposition and Correlates with Rothia sp

Cantu

Salido

Huang

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Monitoring severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on surfaces is emerging as an important tool for identifying past exposure to individuals shedding viral RNA. Our past work has demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) signals from surfaces can identify when infected individuals have touched surfaces such as Halloween candy, and when they have been present in hospital rooms or schools. However, the sensitivity and specificity of surface sampling as a method for detecting the presence of a SARS-CoV-2 positive individual, as well as guidance about where to sample, has not been established. To address these questions, and to test whether our past observations linking SARS-CoV-2 abundance to Rothia sp. in hospitals also hold in a residential setting, we performed detailed spatial sampling of three isolation housing units, assessing each sample for SARS-CoV-2 abundance by RT-qPCR, linking the results to 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences to assess the bacterial community at each location and to the Cq value of the contemporaneous clinical test. Our results show that the highest SARS-CoV-2 load in this setting is on touched surfaces such as light switches and faucets, but detectable signal is present in many non-touched surfaces that may be more relevant in settings such as schools where mask wearing is enforced. As in past studies, the bacterial community predicts which samples are positive for SARS-CoV-2, with Rothia sp. showing a positive association.

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“…We have already demonstrated that viral signals from COVID-19 patients in indoor environments commonly accumulate on high-touch surfaces and the floors in front of features with high interaction times [8]. Additionally, SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been demonstrated to persist for up to a week on several indoor surface types [7, 10], making it difficult to understand exactly when an infected individual came into contact with a surface or if consecutive positives are from new deposition events. Thus, an effective post-sampling cleaning procedure needs to be established in order to increase temporal resolution and ensure that consecutive positives are from new infection events.…”

Section: Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To continue benchmarking proven environmental pipelines [7, 9, 11] and to account for potential interactions, we used a factorial study design covering two swabbing media (SDS, VTM), three cleaning solutions (BZK wipes, wet wipes, RNase Away) and three viral spike-in concentrations (High, Medium, Low). Each condition was performed in triplicate for a total of 54 cards.…”

Section: Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sentinel Cards Provide Practical SARS-CoV-2 Monitoring in School Settings

Cantu

Sanders

Belda-Ferre

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Accurate, high-resolution environmental monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 traces indoors through sentinel cards is a promising approach to help students safely return to in-person learning. Because SARS-CoV-2 RNA can persist for up to a week on several indoor surface types, there is a need for increased temporal resolution to determine whether consecutive surface positives arise from new infection events or continue to report past events. Cleaning sentinel cards after sampling would provide the needed resolution, but might interfere with assay performance. We tested the effect of three cleaning solutions (BZK wipes, wet wipes, RNase Away) at three different viral loads: "high" (4 x 104 GE/mL), "medium" (1 x 104 GE/mL), and "low" (2.5 x 103 GE/mL). RNAse Away, chosen as a positive control, was the most effective cleaning solution on all three viral loads. Wet wipes were found to be more effective than BZK wipes in the medium viral load condition. The low viral load condition was easily reset with all three cleaning solutions. These findings will enable temporal SARS-CoV-2 monitoring in indoor environments where transmission risk of the virus is high and the need to avoid individual-level sampling for privacy or compliance reasons exists.

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Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 RNA Persistence across Indoor Surface Materials Reveals Best Practices for Environmental Monitoring Programs

Cited by 16 publications

References 12 publications

SARS-CoV-2 Distribution in Residential Housing Suggests Contact Deposition and Correlates with Rothia sp.

SARS-CoV-2 Distribution in Residential Housing Suggests Contact Deposition and Correlates with Rothia sp.

SARS-CoV-2 Distribution in Residential Housing Suggests Contact Deposition and Correlates with Rothia sp

Sentinel Cards Provide Practical SARS-CoV-2 Monitoring in School Settings

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