Study supports airborne spread of COVID-19 indoors

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-09/uog-ssa092920.php

News Release 29-Sep-2020
JAMA Internal Medicine

New research from the University of Georgia supports growing evidence for airborne transmission of COVID-19 in enclosed spaces.

Researchers were able to link a community outbreak of COVID-19 in China to a source patient who likely spread the virus to fellow bus riders through the bus's air conditioning system.

"The possibility of airborne transmission has long been suspected, but with limited empirical evidence. Our study provided epidemiologic evidence of transmission over long distances, which was likely airborne," said Ye Shen, an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UGA's College of Public Health and lead author on the study.

The study, which was published recently in JAMA Internal Medicine, calls into question the prevailing thought on how COVID-19 can spread.

"It was largely believed that close contact through droplets is a major route of transmission for COVID-19. However, the widely adopted social distancing and hand washing did not effectively prevent the transmission globally. Instead, the number of new COVID-19 cases increased steadily," said Shen.

Shen and his co-authors worked with epidemiologists from two regional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in China to trace infections following a large outdoor worship event in Zhejiang province. Some of the attendees, it turns out, took two buses to the event creating a unique natural experiment for the researchers.

•••••