Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

September 1, 2020

Outbreak of COVID-19 in a Nursing Home Associated with Aerosol Transmission as a Result of Inadequate Ventilation. Clinical Infectious Diseases

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  • Inadequate ventilation may promote aerosol transmission, as suggested by an outbreak in one of the wards of a Dutch nursing home that was recently renovated with a ventilation system that only circulates outside air when the indoor CO2 concentration is below a certain concentration. Over 6 days, this ward reported 17 (81%) residents and 17 (50%) mask-equipped healthcare workers were positive for COVID-19, while all 106 healthcare workers and 95 residents of the other 6 wards that were ventilated with outside air tested negative (compared to a national weekly prevalence of 0.8%).

de Man et al. (Aug 28, 2020). Outbreak of COVID-19 in a Nursing Home Associated with Aerosol Transmission as a Result of Inadequate Ventilation. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1270