SARS-CoV-2 Remained Airborne for a Prolonged Time in a Lockdown Confined Space
Abstract Airborne transmission of COVID-19 plays an important role for the pandemic. However, nucleic acid based evidence of direct association of COVID-19 with environmental contamination is lacking. Here, we investigated a COVID-19 outbreak with two fast food employees infected, in which a travele...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Aerosol and Air Quality Research |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.210131 |
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| author | Xinyue Li Xiao Qi Jianxin Ma Yang Pan Tian Tian Yue Zhang Zhen Li Wenjing Li Lingli Sun Lu Zhang Zheng Zhang Quanyi Wang Maosheng Yao |
| author_facet | Xinyue Li Xiao Qi Jianxin Ma Yang Pan Tian Tian Yue Zhang Zhen Li Wenjing Li Lingli Sun Lu Zhang Zheng Zhang Quanyi Wang Maosheng Yao |
| author_sort | Xinyue Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Airborne transmission of COVID-19 plays an important role for the pandemic. However, nucleic acid based evidence of direct association of COVID-19 with environmental contamination is lacking. Here, we investigated a COVID-19 outbreak with two fast food employees infected, in which a traveler despite of a 14-day quarantine turned positive after check in with a hotel, using environmental SARS-CoV-2 sampling, epidemiological tracing, viral RNA sequence as well as surveillance method. Out of 25 positive environmental air and surface swab samples (N = 237) collected, SARS-CoV-2 was found to have remained airborne (5640–7840 RNA copies m−3) for more than 4 days in a female washroom. After aging for 5 days in the air, no viable virus was detected. The traveler did not have any contacts with the two employees; however, genome sequencing showed that SARS-CoV-2 variants from three patients and two environmental surface samples belonged to 20B viral clade, sharing a nucleic acid identity of more than 99.9%. We concluded that the outbreak was triggered by SARS-CoV-2 contaminated environments, where the employees inhaled the virus from the air or touching facility surfaces where the traveler did not have any physical contacts with. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8fb56ba895754bc5837f1d7a0c0ff684 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1680-8584 2071-1409 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Springer |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Aerosol and Air Quality Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-8fb56ba895754bc5837f1d7a0c0ff6842025-02-09T12:18:45ZengSpringerAerosol and Air Quality Research1680-85842071-14092022-01-012221910.4209/aaqr.210131SARS-CoV-2 Remained Airborne for a Prolonged Time in a Lockdown Confined SpaceXinyue Li0Xiao Qi1Jianxin Ma2Yang Pan3Tian Tian4Yue Zhang5Zhen Li6Wenjing Li7Lingli Sun8Lu Zhang9Zheng Zhang10Quanyi Wang11Maosheng Yao12State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking UniversityCenter for Disease Control and Prevention of Chaoyang District of BeijingCenter for Disease Control and Prevention of Chaoyang District of BeijingBeijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing Research Center for Preventive MedicineCenter for Disease Control and Prevention of Chaoyang District of BeijingCenter for Disease Control and Prevention of Chaoyang District of BeijingCenter for Disease Control and Prevention of Chaoyang District of BeijingCenter for Disease Control and Prevention of Chaoyang District of BeijingCenter for Disease Control and Prevention of Chaoyang District of BeijingState Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking UniversityCenter for Disease Control and Prevention of Chaoyang District of BeijingBeijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing Research Center for Preventive MedicineState Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking UniversityAbstract Airborne transmission of COVID-19 plays an important role for the pandemic. However, nucleic acid based evidence of direct association of COVID-19 with environmental contamination is lacking. Here, we investigated a COVID-19 outbreak with two fast food employees infected, in which a traveler despite of a 14-day quarantine turned positive after check in with a hotel, using environmental SARS-CoV-2 sampling, epidemiological tracing, viral RNA sequence as well as surveillance method. Out of 25 positive environmental air and surface swab samples (N = 237) collected, SARS-CoV-2 was found to have remained airborne (5640–7840 RNA copies m−3) for more than 4 days in a female washroom. After aging for 5 days in the air, no viable virus was detected. The traveler did not have any contacts with the two employees; however, genome sequencing showed that SARS-CoV-2 variants from three patients and two environmental surface samples belonged to 20B viral clade, sharing a nucleic acid identity of more than 99.9%. We concluded that the outbreak was triggered by SARS-CoV-2 contaminated environments, where the employees inhaled the virus from the air or touching facility surfaces where the traveler did not have any physical contacts with.https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.210131COVID-19Airborne transmissionEnvironmental transmissionGenetic evidences |
| spellingShingle | Xinyue Li Xiao Qi Jianxin Ma Yang Pan Tian Tian Yue Zhang Zhen Li Wenjing Li Lingli Sun Lu Zhang Zheng Zhang Quanyi Wang Maosheng Yao SARS-CoV-2 Remained Airborne for a Prolonged Time in a Lockdown Confined Space Aerosol and Air Quality Research COVID-19 Airborne transmission Environmental transmission Genetic evidences |
| title | SARS-CoV-2 Remained Airborne for a Prolonged Time in a Lockdown Confined Space |
| title_full | SARS-CoV-2 Remained Airborne for a Prolonged Time in a Lockdown Confined Space |
| title_fullStr | SARS-CoV-2 Remained Airborne for a Prolonged Time in a Lockdown Confined Space |
| title_full_unstemmed | SARS-CoV-2 Remained Airborne for a Prolonged Time in a Lockdown Confined Space |
| title_short | SARS-CoV-2 Remained Airborne for a Prolonged Time in a Lockdown Confined Space |
| title_sort | sars cov 2 remained airborne for a prolonged time in a lockdown confined space |
| topic | COVID-19 Airborne transmission Environmental transmission Genetic evidences |
| url | https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.210131 |
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