Miller, SL, Nazaroff, WW, Jimenez, JL et al. (7 more authors) (2021) Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by inhalation of respiratory aerosol in the Skagit Valley Chorale superspreading event. Indoor Air, 31 (2). ISSN 0905-6947
Abstract
During the 2020 COVID‐19 pandemic, an outbreak occurred following attendance of a symptomatic index case at a weekly rehearsal on 10 March of the Skagit Valley Chorale (SVC). After that rehearsal, 53 members of the SVC among 61 in attendance were confirmed or strongly suspected to have contracted COVID‐19 and two died. Transmission by the aerosol route is likely; it appears unlikely that either fomite or ballistic droplet transmission could explain a substantial fraction of the cases. It is vital to identify features of cases such as this to better understand the factors that promote superspreading events. Based on a conditional assumption that transmission during this outbreak was dominated by inhalation of respiratory aerosol generated by one index case, we use the available evidence to infer the emission rate of aerosol infectious quanta. We explore how the risk of infection would vary with several influential factors: ventilation rate, duration of event, and deposition onto surfaces. The results indicate a best‐estimate emission rate of 970 ± 390 quanta/h. Infection risk would be reduced by a factor of two by increasing the aerosol loss rate to 5 h−1 and shortening the event duration from 2.5 to 1 h.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Miller, SL, Nazaroff, WW, Jimenez, JL et al. (7 more authors) (2020) Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by inhalation of respiratory aerosol in the Skagit Valley Chorale superspreading event. Indoor Air. ISSN 0905-6947, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12751. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. |
Keywords: | aerosol transmission; infectious disease; pandemic; risk; ventilation; virus |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Sep 2020 12:47 |
Last Modified: | 26 Sep 2021 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/ina.12751 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:165690 |