Aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 due to the chimney effect in two high-rise housing drainage stacks

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials Vol. 421; p. 126799
• Main Authors: Wang, Qun, Li, Yuguo, Lung, David Christopher, Chan, Pak-To, Dung, Chung-Hin, Jia, Wei, Miao, Te, Huang, Jianxiang, Chen, Wenzhao, Wang, Zixuan, Leung, Kai-Ming, Lin, Zhang, Wong, Daniel, Tse, Herman, Wong, Sally Cheuk Ying, Choi, Garnet Kwan-Yue, Lam, Jimmy Yiu-Wing, To, Kelvin Kai-Wang, Cheng, Vincent Chi-Chung, Yuen, Kwok-Yung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 05.01.2022
• Subjects: Aerosols; Air Microbiology; Chimney effect; COVID-19; COVID-19 - transmission; Drainage system; Fecal aerosol; Hong Kong; Housing; Humans; Phylogeny; Research Paper; SARS-CoV-2; Spitting behavior; Hong Kong; COVID-19; Drainage system; Fecal aerosol; Chimney effect; Spitting behavior
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126799

Stack aerosols are generated within vertical building drainage stacks during the discharge of wastewater containing feces and exhaled mucus from toilets and washbasins. Fifteen stack aerosol-related outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in high-rise buildings have been observed in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Currently, we investigated two such outbreaks of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, identified the probable role of chimney effect-induced airflow in a building drainage system in the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We injected tracer gas (SF6) into the drainage stacks via the water closet of the index case and monitored tracer gas concentrations in the bathrooms and along the facades of infected and non-infected flats and in roof vents. The air temperature, humidity, and pressure in vertical stacks were also monitored. The measured tracer gas distribution agreed with the observed distribution of the infected cases. Phylogenetic analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences demonstrated clonal spread from a point source in cases along the same vertical column. The stack air pressure and temperature distributions suggested that stack aerosols can spread to indoors through pipe leaks which provide direct evidence for the long-range aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through drainage pipes via the chimney effect. [Display omitted] •Two vertical outbreaks of COVID-19 were associated with drainage stacks.•Transport and leakage of stack aerosols probably explained the outbreaks.•Phylogenetic analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences demonstrated point source spread.•Tracer gas monitoring agreed with the observed distribution of infected cases.•The chimney effect was the probable primary cause.