#COVID19 Journal Club: “Recognizing and controlling airborne transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 in indoor environments”

This is a nice and clear (and short) editorial by Joseph Allen and Linsey Marr; “Recognizing and controlling airborne transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 in indoor environments“.  Basically they summarize the evidence for airborne transmission and suggest some mitigation strategies.  Definitely worth a read.  Abstract below: Sharing indoor space has been confirmed as a major risk factor …

#COVID19 Preprint Journal Club “Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by inhalation of respiratory aerosol in the Skagit Valley Chorale superspreading event”

Another paper highlighting the importance of the aerosols in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  This one is by a number of awesome folks in the field including Shelly Miller and Linsey Marr who have been some of the leading voices in understanding the airborne/aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2.  Most people have probably heard of “that choir event …

#COVID19 Journal Club: “Can indoor sports centers be allowed to re-open during the COVID-19 pandemic based on a certificate of equivalence?”

More great information from Linsey Marr who has been at the forefront of some of the best science and discussions about SARS-CoV-2, especially on the risk of airborne transmission.  This article isn’t a study, but a detailed description of the science of SARS-CoV-2 in built environments and specific recommendations for indoor sports centers (but could …

#COVID19 Journal Club: Kind of strange “study” that’s not really about SARS-CoV-2

So here’s a bit of an odd “study”, published as a letter in the Journal of Hospital Infection about which the authors put out a press release as well.  The title is “COVID-19 pandemic, let’s not forget surfaces”.  No abstract since it’s a letter. Basically the authors took DNA from cauliflower mosaic virus, and inoculated …

#COVID19 Journal Club: “Collection of SARS-CoV-2 Virus from the Air of a Clinic within a University Student Health Care Center and Analyses of the Viral Genomic Sequence”

  This article (“Collection of SARS-CoV-2 Virus from the Air of a Clinic within a University Student Health Care Center and Analyses of the Viral Genomic Sequence”) caught my attention initially because of the air sampling aspect, but upon reading the Abstract I was struck by something else.  Here they did air sampling in a …

#COVID19 Preprint Journal Club: “How can airborne transmission of COVID-19 indoors be minimised?”

This is a must-read article for folks thinking about mitigating the risk of COVID-19 indoors.  A venerable author list, including many experts on all aspects of indoor ventilation, pathogen transmission, aerosol science, etc.  Since it is a review, it’s hard to summarize.  Basically they argue that the current status of the science on indoor microbiology …

#COVID19 Journal Club: Cluster of Coronavirus Disease Associated with Fitness Dance Classes, South Korea

Only somewhat related to the Built Environment, but still some mention of occupant density and airflows within a confined space.  This short article is a description of an outbreak of COVID-19 in South Korea that took place in several fitness dance classes there.  Key point; “Vigorous exercise in confined spaces should be minimized during outbreaks”.  …

Correction for “2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Built Environment Considerations To Reduce Transmission”

In this post I’m going to share the published (relatively minor) corrections to our review on COVID19 and the Built Environment and use that as a hook to argue for the value of peer review. I’ve posted previously on our rush effort to get this paper out as quickly as possible, it was only about …

Coronavirus Environmental Testing Service #COVID19

So our collaborators from the Biology of the Built Environment (BioBE) Center at the University of Oregon have been working hard to get their environmental sampling qRT-PCR assays for SARS-CoV-2 up and running.  I’m sure we’ll be posting more about their results as they develop. But they are now offering their testing as a service …