• Joshua L Santarpia, Danielle N Rivera, Vicki L Herrera, M Jane Morwitzer, Hannah M Creager, George W Santarpia, Kevin K Crown, David M Brett-Major, Elizabeth R Schnaubelt, M Jana Broadhurst, James V Lawler, St Patrick Reid, and John J Lowe.
• University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA. josh.santarpia@unmc.edu.
• Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 29; 10 (1): 12732.

AbstractThe novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) originated in Wuhan, China in late 2019, and its resulting coronavirus disease, COVID-19, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The rapid global spread of COVID-19 represents perhaps the most significant public health emergency in a century. As the pandemic progressed, a continued paucity of evidence on routes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission has resulted in shifting infection prevention and control guidelines between classically-defined airborne and droplet precautions. During the initial isolation of 13 individuals with COVID-19 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, we collected air and surface samples to examine viral shedding from isolated individuals. We detected viral contamination among all samples, supporting the use of airborne isolation precautions when caring for COVID-19 patients.

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