Air Passing Through HVAC Systems Provides Early Warning of COVID-19
Study paves way for earlier detection of the coronavirus in buildings
November 11, 2021
HVAC systems not only keep facility residents comfortable, they also can signal whether indoor air is harboring viruses. Researchers at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, found a new way to detect whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus is in a building by testing the air passing through ventilation systems, WITN-TV reports.
The study, which was published in The American Journal of Infection Control, set out to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 could be detected through HVAC systems in students dorms. Researchers collected samples from two large student dorms and an isolation suite housing students that had tested positive for COVID-19 several times per week for more than three months beginning in January 2021.
Researchers collected 248 air samples and sent them to a lab for analysis. The testing revealed the presence of SARS-COV-2 in the isolation suite air samples 100% of the time. In the dorms where students were not already in COVID-19 isolation, researchers were able to detect the virus in the air samples 75% of the time when students on the same floor later tested positive via nasal swab.
The researchers believe implementing building air sampling on a broader scale could allow for earlier detection of the virus, particularly in shared spaces.
