One Year Weekly Size-Resolved Air Sampling of SARS-CoV-2 in Hospital Corridors and Relations to the Indoor Environment

• Published in: Indoor air Vol. 2024; pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Thuresson, Sara, Fraenkel, Carl-Johan, Sasinovich, Sviataslau, Medstrand, Patrik, Alsved, Malin, Löndahl, Jakob
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden Hindawi 27.03.2024; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Aerosol particles; Aerosols; Air sampling; Airborne particulates; Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide concentration; Clinical Medicine; Corridors; COVID-19; Disease control; Disease transmission; Environmental Health and Occupational Health; Environmental impact; Environmental monitoring; Health Sciences; Hospitals; Hälsovetenskap; Indoor air quality; Indoor environments; Infectious diseases; Infectious Medicine; Infektionsmedicin; Klinisk medicin; Low concentrations; Masks; Medical and Health Sciences; Medical personnel; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Nucleotide sequence; Pandemics; Patients; Polymerase chain reaction; Relative humidity; Reverse transcription; Seasonal variations; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Transcription; Viral diseases; Viruses; Weekly; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Sweden
• ISSN: 0905-6947; 1600-0668
• DOI: 10.1155/2024/5578611

Background. Airborne SARS-CoV-2 plays a prominent role in COVID-19 transmission. Numerous studies have sampled air from patient rooms, but airborne spread to other hospital areas such as corridors is less investigated. Methods. Size-fractionated aerosol particles were collected weekly, with 12 hours of sampling time daily, in corridors at two infectious disease wards in southern Sweden between March 2020 and May 2021. Samples were analysed with real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Indoor temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 concentration were monitored during the sampling period. Results. 20 of the 784 collected samples contained SARS-CoV-2 RNA, although in low concentrations. Positive air samples were found in sizes between 0.14 and 8.1 μm, but none >8.1 μm. 45% were found in submicron particles. No clear seasonal pattern was observed among the positive samples. There was no significant difference in the positivity rate of the samples between the two wards. Conclusions. SARS-CoV-2 was only detected in 2.6% of the aerosol samples, which indicates that the spread of airborne virus from patient rooms to the corridor was limited.