SARS‐CoV‐2 indoor environment contamination with epidemiological and experimental investigations
2022
Oksanen, Lotta‐Maria A. H. | Virtanen, Jenni | Sanmark, Enni | Rantanen, Noora | Venkat, Vinaya | Sofieva, Svetlana | Aaltonen, Kirsi | Kivistö, Ilkka | Svirskaite, Julija | Pérez, Aurora Díaz | Kuula, Joel | Levanov, Lev | Hyvärinen, Antti‐Pekka | Maunula, Leena | Atanasova, Nina S. | Laitinen, Sirpa | Anttila, Veli‐Jukka | Lehtonen, Lasse | Lappalainen, Maija | Geneid, Ahmed | Sironen, Tarja | Ilmatieteen laitos | Finnish Meteorological Institute
SARS- CoV- 2 has been detected both in air and on surfaces, but questions remain about the patient-specific and environmental factors affecting virus transmission. Additionally, more detailed information on viral sampling of the air is needed. This prospective cohort study (N= 56) presents results from 258 air and 252 surface samples from the surroundings of 23 hospitalized and eight home- treated COVID-19 index patients between July 2020 and March 2021 and compares the results between the measured environments and patient factors. Additionally, epidemiological and experimental investigations were performed. The proportions of qRT- PCR- positiveair (10.7% hospital/17.6% homes) and surface samples (8.8%/12.9%) showed statisti-cal similarity in hospital and homes. Significant SARS- CoV- 2 air contamination was observed in a large (655.25 m3) mechanically ventilated (1.67 air changes per hour, 32.4– 421 L/s/patient) patient hall even with only two patients present. All positive air samples were obtained in the absence of aerosol- generating procedures. In four cases, positive environmental samples were detected after the patients had devel-oped a neutralizing IgG response. SARS- CoV- 2 RNA was detected in the following particle sizes: 0.65– 4.7 μm , 7. 0– 12.0 μm, >10μm, and <100 μm. Appropriate infectioncontrol against airborne and surface transmission routes is needed in both environ-ments, even after antibody production has begun.
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