Epidemiologic Evidence for Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during Church Singing, Australia, 2020

Katelaris, Annette; Wells, Jessica; Clark, P. M. S.; Norton, Sophie; Rockett, Rebecca; Arnott, Alicia; Sintchenko, Vitali; Corbett, Stephen; Bag, Shopna

doi:10.3201/eid2706.210465

Cited by 117 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Further, these values can serve as the basis for a detailed numerical analysis of airborne transmission under different settings 8,36 and the estimation of quanta 37,38 , where one quantum is defined as the minimum dose of infectious viruses causing an infection in 63.2% of susceptile persons 39 . It should be noted that in the course of the actual pandemic so far, numerous situations seem to be related to a high probability of aerogenic virus transmission, including choir rehearsals [15][16][17]40 . There is an overwhelming evidence of viable SARS-CoV-2 viruses in indoor air [2][3][4][5]41 .…”

Section: This Study (Particles/sec)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerosol emission in professional singing of classical music

Mürbe

Kriegel

Lange

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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In this study, emission rates of aerosols emitted by professional singers were measured with a laser particle counter under cleanroom conditions. The emission rates during singing varied between 753 and 6093 particles/sec with a median of 1537 particles/sec. Emission rates for singing were compared with data for breathing and speaking. Significantly higher emission rates were found for singing. The emission enhancements between singing and speaking were between 4.0 and 99.5 with a median of 17.4, largely due to higher sound pressure levels when singing. Further, significant effects of vocal loudness were found, whereas there were no significant differences between the investigated voice classifications. The present study supports the efforts to improve the risk management in cases of possible aerogenic virus transmission, especially for choir singing.

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Section: This Study (Particles/sec)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerosol emission in professional singing of classical music

Mürbe

Kriegel

Lange

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…Near immediate limitations on live musical performance were imposed, precipitated in part by the appearance of clusters of COVID-19 associated with several choirs around the world (Charlotte 2020;Miller et al 2020). A recent epidemiological study identified an outbreak where a chorister infected 12 church attendees seated >15 m away who had no close physical contact with the chorister, suggesting airborne transmission (Katelaris et al 2021). Concerns about the risks associated with playing woodwind and brass instruments resulted in the imposition of similar restrictions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerosol and droplet generation from performing with woodwind and brass instruments

McCarthy

Orton

Watson

et al. 2021

Aerosol Science and Technology

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The performing arts have been significantly restricted due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. We report measurements of aerosol and droplet concentrations generated when playing woodwind and brass instruments and comparisons with breathing, speaking, and singing. These measurements were conducted in a room with zero number concentration aerosol background in the 0.5-20 μm diameter size range, allowing clear attribution of detected particles to specific activities. A total of 13 instruments were examined across 9 participants. Respirable particle number concentrations and size distributions for playing instruments are consistent with those from the participant when breathing, based on measurements with multiple participants playing the flute and piccolo as well as measurements across the entire cohort. Due to substantial interparticipant variability, we do not provide a comparative assessment of the aerosol generated by playing different instruments, instead considering only the variation in aerosol yield across all instruments studied. Both particle number and mass concentrations from playing instruments are lower than those from speaking and singing at high volume, and no large droplets >20 μm diameter are detected. Combined, these observations suggest that playing instruments generates less aerosol than speaking or singing at high volumes. Moreover, there is no difference between the aerosol concentrations generated by professional and amateur performers while breathing, speaking, or singing, suggesting conclusions for professional singers may also apply to amateurs.

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“…Accordingly, majority of researchers have focused on coughing and sneezing in their studies. 11 − 15 It is also known that asymptomatic patients, who rarely cough or sneeze, transmit the disease vectors 5 , 16 and may be significant contributors to the overall disease load. 17 Consequently, a few recent studies have specifically studied the transmission during talking as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CFD Simulation of the Airborne Transmission of COVID-19 Vectors Emitted during Respiratory Mechanisms: Revisiting the Concept of Safe Distance

Mariam

Magar²,

Joshi

et al. 2021

ACS Omega

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The airborne transmission of the COVID-19 virus has been suggested as a major mode of transmission in recent studies. In this context, we studied the spatial transmission of COVID-19 vectors in an indoor setting representative of a typical office room. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed to study the airborne dispersion of particles ejected due to different respiratory mechanisms, i.e., coughing, sneezing, normal talking, and loud talking. Number concentration profiles at a distance of 2 m in front of the emitter at the ventilation rates of 4, 6, and 8 air changes per hour (ACH) were estimated for different combinations of inlet–outlet positions and emitter–receptor configurations. Apart from respiratory events, viz., coughing and sneezing characterized by higher velocity and concentration of ejected particles, normal as well as loud talking was seen to be carrying particles to the receptor for some airflow patterns in the room. This study indicates that the ″rule of thumb based safe distance approach″ cannot be a general mitigation strategy for infection control. Under some scenarios, events with a lower release rate of droplets such as talking (i.e., asymptomatic transmission) can lead to a high concentration of particles persisting for long times. For better removal, the study suggests ″air curtains″ as an appropriate approach, simultaneously highlighting the pitfalls in the ″higher ventilation rate for better removal″ strategy. The inferences for talking-induced particle transmissions are crucial considering that large populations of COVID-19-infected persons are projected to be asymptomatic transmitters.

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Epidemiologic Evidence for Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during Church Singing, Australia, 2020

Cited by 117 publications

References 8 publications

Aerosol emission in professional singing of classical music

Aerosol emission in professional singing of classical music

Aerosol and droplet generation from performing with woodwind and brass instruments

CFD Simulation of the Airborne Transmission of COVID-19 Vectors Emitted during Respiratory Mechanisms: Revisiting the Concept of Safe Distance

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