June 2, 2020

Quantitative Assessment of the Risk of Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Prospective and Retrospective Applications

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Transmission

• [pre-print, not peer reviewed] Buonanno et al. present a 4-step approach for quantitatively assessing infection risk in the presence of an asymptomatic COVID-19 subject in naturally–ventilated indoor environments, asserting that exposure time should be no longer than 20 minutes to limit the individual risk of infection to no more than 1%. After retrospectively assessing prior outbreaks such as in a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, and a choir rehearsal in Mount Vernon, WA, the authors claim that outbreaks can only be explained by airborne transmission as the primary route of infection. 

Buonanno et al. (June 2, 2020). Quantitative Assessment of the Risk of Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Prospective and Retrospective Applications. Preprint downloaded June 2 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.01.20118984