Aerodynamic Characteristics and RNA Concentration of SARS-CoV-2 Aerosol in Wuhan Hospitals during COVID-19 Outbreak

Yuan Liu; Zhi Ning; Yu Chen; Ming Guo; Yingle Liu; Nirmal Kumar Gali; Li Sun; Yusen Duan; Jing Cai; Dane Westerdahl; Xinjin Liu; Kin-fai Ho; Haidong Kan; Qingyan Fu; Ke Lan

This study is an experimental investigation on the concentration and aerodynamic characteristics of airborne SARS-CoV-2 aerosol in different areas of two hospitals: the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, designated for treatment of severe symptom COVID-19 patient during the disease outbreak and the Wuchang Fangcang Field Hospital, one of the first temporary hospitals which was renovated from an indoor sports stadium to quarantine and treat mildly symptom patients, and outdoor public areas in Wuhan during the coronavirus outbreak. We further classified the sampling locations into three categories according to their accessibility by different groups: 1) Patient Areas (PAA), where the COVID-19 patients have physical presence. These include the Intensive Care Units (ICU), Coronary Care Units (CCU) and ward rooms inside Renmin Hospital, a toilet and staff workstations inside Fangcang Hospital; 2) Medical Staff Areas (MSA), the workplaces in the two hospitals exclusively accessed by the medical staff who had direct contact with the patients and 3) Public Areas (PUA), which were venues open for the general public. The description and characteristics of sampling sites are shown in Table S1 .