Thread by @PatrickHorve

Do you spend time inside? OF COURSE YOU DO! You should check out our paper that looks at the amount of #coronavirus #sarscov2 #COVID19 in rooms with COVID+ individuals

nature.com/articles/s4159…

🧵🧵🧵🧵 (1/18)

We had the opportunity to track individuals as they occupied the isolation dormitory on the
@uoregon campus for testing positive for #COVID19 (2/18)

We collected environmental surface swabs, petri settling plates, and active air samples using the
@thermofisher #AerosolSense

nytimes.com/2021/03/24/hea… (3/18)

We were most interested in how individuals emit virus throughout their time in the isolation room and the potential implications that this may have for transmission and for those caring for #COVID19 positive individuals at home (4/18)

We looked at a few locations inside the isolation rooms of these individuals, including:
1. Their phone
2. Their computer keyboard
3. The bathroom floor
4. The return air grille

We also sampled the air in the room since we know that #COVIDisAirborne

(5/18)

We found that the amount of virus (Ct value) significantly increased as time progressed. This same trend was also observed in active air samples and samples close to the subject (phone swabs, computer swabs, and the nearest settling plate (6/18)

We were also interested in how the presence of symptoms (self-reported) impacted the amount of detectable virus in the room.

We found that some symptoms were associated with increased levels of virus:
1. Coughing
2. GI symptoms
3. Loss of smell
4. Sore Throat

(7/18)

We also found that any symptom presence at all was associated with increased levels of virus in the room in all sample types (8/18)

Lastly, we investigated the impact that increased ventilation had on overall viral abundance. There was natural variation in the ACH (ventilation rate) of the isolation rooms

We found that increased ventilation was associated with decreased levels of #SARSCoV2 (9/18)

Opening windows is a super easy way to increase the amount of fresh air coming into a space while! The isolation rooms had operable 🪟. Subjects were asked whether or not they had windows open or closed and these entries were split into two groups (open v. closed 🪟)

(10/18)

We found that rooms with open windows had significantly lower levels of virus! (11/18)

Our study had a variety of limitations:
1. We only included young adults (18-24 year olds)
2. Symptom and window data were self-reported
3. We did not measure how much of the virus present in the room was viable

(12/18)

We add to the mounting evidence that #COVIDisAirborne and can be monitored through environmental surveillance programs to support awareness and safety.  (13/18)

We observe that indoor bioaerosols can be consistently measured with a high-flow bioaerosol sampler and demonstrate utility in biosurveillance and to assess mitigation effectiveness (14/18)

It is really important to take into account that all of this was done at the end of #Alpha and beginning of the #Delta variant waves (15/18)

Ideally, individuals would:
1. Physically distance and avoid shared air spaces with #COVID19 individuals
2. Ensure positive individual wear a mask
3. Building operators should monitor indoor air for pathogenic bioaerosols and increase ventilation
(16/18)

This project was a huge effort and couldn't have been done without everyone involved!
@Wymelenberg
@plantavenger
@GeorgiaMacCrone
@HoomanParhizkar
@thermofisher
@thermosci
@uoregon
@UO_IHBE
@mark_fretz

(17/18)

And (those not on @Twitter): Garis Bowles, Andreas Olsen-Martinez, Dale Northcutt, Vincent Moore, Lili Barnatan (18/18)

We would like to thank @EmilyAnthes
for her article about this work's #preprint in
@nytimes!

nytimes.com/2021/09/05/hea…

And thanks to @Merz @SSMERSHE @Bun_E_Kirwin @mervetepePhD @adithyaR_YXE for pressuring me into making this thread!