Estimate of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 using real time tracking of health care workers.
Hota, B.; Stein, B.; Lin, M.; Tomich, A.; Segreti, J.; Weinstein, R. A.
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BACKGROUNDWhether and to what degree SARS-CoV-2 is spread via the airborne route is unknown. Using data collected from health care worker interactions with hospitalized patients with COVID-19 illness, we calculated the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 via the airborne route. OBJECTIVES/METHODSHealthcare worker interaction with SARS-CoV-2 infected patients were tracked using a real time location system between March 18 and March 31. A value for q, the transmissibility expressed as quanta per hour, was estimated using a well-established model for airborne transmission. RESULTSSARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence among tracked HCWs was 2.21% (0.07-4.35). Transmissibility was estimated to be 0.225 quanta per hour, well below other well-characterized airborne pathogens. Simulations demonstrated that risk of infection is substantially reduced with increased ventilation of rooms. CONCLUSIONSOverall, our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is not well transmitted via the airborne route in controlled conditions. We speculate that SARS-CoV-2 may be only opportunistically airborne, with most transmission occurring via droplet methods. One Sentence SummaryWe calculated the airborne transmissibility (q) of SARS-CoV-2 and the impact of masks and ventilation in a hospital setting.
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