Duration of SARS-CoV-2 positive in quarantine room environments: A perspective analysis

Abstract

Objective To explore the duration of SARS-CoV-2 remained in the environment of quarantine hotels. Methods 39 Patients by RT-PCR were included. We collected the clinical features, laboratory test results, smear sample information, and quarantine room information. Genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were launched. We analyzed the factors associated with environmental contamination. Result Among 39 COVID-19 cases, 10 were asymptomatic and 37 were imported from aboard. 271 swab samples of environmental surfaces related to observational patients were collected. 18 swab samples from 7 patients were positive. The highest contaminated rate occurred in Cup (100%), followed by hand sink (12.82%) and toilet seat and flush (7.89%), telephone (5.56%), bedside table (5.56%), floor drain (5.41%), etc. It showed environmental surface contamination was associated with the clinical cyclical threshold values of patients ( P = 0.01) and the sampling interval time after the cases left the room( P = 0.03). Duration of contamination on environmental surfaces was associated with the wet status of sampling site ( P = 0.01). Conclusion Our findings revealed that environmental contamination might be attributed to the viral load of patients' respiratory tract and the sampling interval time after the cases left the room. Moist surfaces are prone to remain SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive. Our study highlighted the importance of strict strategy to chemical disinfection in the quarantine rooms.

Environmental sampling of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Delta variant in the inpatient wards of a hospital in Nanjing

“…Our research showed that the Delta VOC was positive in samples mainly from toilets and bedside tables. The positive rates and surface distribution characteristics are in line with those previously reported (19,20). The environmental contamination by asymptomatic cases with positive anal swab results was also mainly concentrated in toilets, and there could have been a chain of transmission with mobile phones as a medium (14).…”

SARS-CoV-2 Detection Rates from Surface Samples Do Not Implicate Public Surfaces as Relevant Sources for Transmission

“…It was during an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak investigation on a ferry boat [40], during a COVID-19 outbreak on a cruise ship [49], during a COVID-19 outbreak in a nursing home [40], and during a local COVID-19 outbreak [50]. No specific information regarding the local or national epidemiological situation during the study period was found in four of the studies [51][52][53][54].…”

“…In one study, 50% of the 428 samples were taken before the cleaning and disinfection, and the other half was taken after the disinfection procedure [51]. No specific information regarding any prior treatment of surfaces was found in three studies [50,52,53]. The public availability of hand sanitizers was not described in any of the studies [40,[49][50][51][52][53][54].…”

Investigating SARS-CoV-2 persistent contamination in different indoor environments

“…The viable period of Human coronavirus 229 E (HCoV) in tap water was 10 days at 23 °C and more than 100 days at 4 °C, which was proved by virus culture in a previous study ( Gundy et al, 2008 ). The water cup was the most frequently contaminated site (2/2, 100 %) in another study conducted in China ( Liu et al, 2021 ). In this study, the water cup was also identified with contamination in room-temperature environments (1/2, 50 %), which is understandable because the patient's saliva has a high viral load and water in the cup may also play an important part in virus persistence.…”