Environmental contamination and evaluation of healthcare-associated SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk in temporary isolation wards during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Wee, Liang En Arora, Shalvi Ko, Karrie Kwan-Ki Conceicao, Edwin Philip Coleman, Kristen K. Tan, Kwee Yuen Tohid, Hatijah Binti Liu, Qinnan Tung, Grace Li Teng See, Shawn Wee Jin Suphavilai, Chayaporn Ling, Moi Lin Venkatachalam, Indumathi
Copyright Year	2022
Abstract	BackgroundTemporary isolation wards have been introduced to meet demands for airborne-infection-isolation-rooms (AIIRs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental sampling and outbreak investigation was conducted in temporary isolation wards converted from general wards and/or prefabricated containers, in order to evaluate the ability of such temporary isolation wards to safely manage COVID-19 cases over a period of sustained use.MethodsEnvironmental sampling for SARS-CoV-2 RNA was conducted in temporary isolation ward rooms constructed from pre-fabricated containers (N = 20) or converted from normal-pressure general wards (N = 47). Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was utilized to ascertain health care-associated transmission when clusters were reported amongst HCWs working in isolation areas from July 2020 to December 2021.ResultsA total of 355 environmental swabs were collected; 22.4% (15/67) of patients had at least one positive environmental sample. Patients housed in temporary isolation ward rooms constructed from pre-fabricated containers (adjusted-odds-ratio, aOR = 10.46, 95% CI = 3.89-58.91, P = .008) had greater odds of detectable environmental contamination, with positive environmental samples obtained from the toilet area (60.0%, 12/20) and patient equipment, including electronic devices used for patient communication (8/20, 40.0%). A single HCW cluster was reported amongst staff working in the temporary isolation ward constructed from pre-fabricated containers; however, health care-associated transmission was deemed unlikely based on WGS and/or epidemiological investigations.ConclusionEnvironmental contamination with SARS-CoV-2 RNA was observed in temporary isolation wards, particularly from the toilet area and smartphones used for patient communication. However, despite intensive surveillance, no healthcare-associated transmission was detected in temporary isolation wards over 18 months of prolonged usage, demonstrating their capacity for sustained use during succeeding pandemic waves.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC9613445&blobtype=pdf
ISSN	01966553
Journal	American Journal of Infection Control [Am J Infect Control]
Volume Number	51
DOI	10.1016/j.ajic.2022.09.004
PubMed Central reference number	PMC9613445
Issue Number	4
PubMed reference number	37010998
e-ISSN	15273296
Language	English
Publisher	Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Publisher Date	2022-10-28
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. © 2022 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Subject Keyword	SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 Environmental contamination Hospitals Fomites Health care-associated
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Infectious Diseases Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health Epidemiology Health Policy