Viable SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant detected in aerosols in a residential setting with a self-isolating college student with COVID-19

William B Vass; John A Lednicky; Sripriya Nannu Shankar; Z Hugh Fan; Arantzazu Eiguren-Fernandez; Chang-Yu Wu

doi:10.1016/j.jaerosci.2022.106038

Viable SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant detected in aerosols in a residential setting with a self-isolating college student with COVID-19

J Aerosol Sci. 2022 Sep:165:106038. doi: 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2022.106038. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Authors

William B Vass¹, John A Lednicky^{2

3}, Sripriya Nannu Shankar¹, Z Hugh Fan^{4

5}, Arantzazu Eiguren-Fernandez⁶, Chang-Yu Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
² Department of Environmental and Global Health, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
³ Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
⁴ Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
⁵ Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
⁶ Aerosol Dynamics Inc., Berkeley, CA, 94710, USA.

Abstract

The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of SARS-CoV-2 emerged in India in October of 2020 and spread widely to over 145 countries, comprising over 99% of genome sequence-confirmed virus in COVID-19 cases of the United States (US) by September 2021. The rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant coincided with a return to in-person school attendance, straining COVID-19 mitigation plans implemented by educational institutions. Some plans required sick students to self-isolate off-campus, resulting in an unintended consequence: exposure of co-inhabitants of dwellings used by the sick person during isolation. We assessed air and surface samples collected from the bedroom of a self-isolating university student with mild COVID-19 for the presence of SARS-CoV-2. That virus' RNA was detected by real-time reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (rRT-qPCR) in air samples from both an isolation bedroom and a distal, non-isolation room of the same dwelling. SARS-CoV-2 was detected and viable virus was isolated in cell cultures from aerosol samples as well as from the surface of a mobile phone. Genomic sequencing revealed that the virus was a Delta variant SARS-CoV-2 strain. Taken together, the results of this work confirm the presence of viable SARS-CoV-2 within a residential living space of a person with COVID-19 and show potential for transportation of virus-laden aerosols beyond a designated isolation suite to other areas of a single-family home.

Keywords: Air sampling; Infectious; Virus culture; rRT-qPCR.

Abstract

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