Why airborne transmission hasn't been conclusive in case of COVID-19? An atmospheric science perspective

Autor: Sunit K. Singh, Akito Shimouchi, Hidekazu Nishimura, Kirpa Ram, Dharmendra Kumar Singh, Chandra Mouli Pavuluri, Sachchida Nand Tripathi, Roseline C. Thakur, Kimitaka Kawamura, Rajesh Singh, Yoshika Sekine
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak
Environmental Engineering
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Air pollution
SARS CoV-2
Review
010501 environmental sciences
Atmospheric sciences
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease-2019
complex mixtures
01 natural sciences
Airborne transmission
RH
Relative humidity (%)
CoV
Coronavirus
T
Ambient temperature
Humans
Environmental Chemistry
Mortality
Waste Management and Disposal
Droplets
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Environmental perspective
SARS-CoV-2
MERS
Middle East respiratory syndrome
technology
industry
and agriculture
COVID-19
PM
Particulate matter
Humidity
Particulates
Droplets
CoV-2 laden droplets (>5 μm) produced during talking
coughing or sneezing
Pollution
Droplet nuclei
Smaller droplets (≤5 μm) laden with CoV-2
3. Good health
Sampling system
Cough
Transmission (telecommunications)
Exhalation
13. Climate action
Environmental science
SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus
t1/2
Half-life of COVID-19 virus
Zdroj: Science of The Total Environment
The Science of the Total Environment
ISSN: 0048-9697
Popis: Airborne transmission is one of the routes for the spread of COVID-19 which is caused by inhalation of smaller droplets1 containing SARS-CoV-2 (i.e., either virus-laden particulate matter: PM and/or droplet nuclei) in an indoor environment. Notably, a significant fraction of the small droplets, along with respiratory droplets, is produced by both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals during expiratory events such as breathing, sneezing, coughing and speaking. When these small droplets are exposed to the ambient environment, they may interact with PM and may remain suspended in the atmosphere even for several hours. Therefore, it is important to know the fate of these droplets and processes (e.g., physical and chemical) in the atmosphere to better understand airborne transmission. Therefore, we reviewed existing literature focussed on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the spread of COVID-19 and present an environmental perspective on why airborne transmission hasn't been very conclusive so far. In addition, we discuss various environmental factors (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.) and sampling difficulties, which affect the conclusions of the studies focussed on airborne transmission. One of the reasons for reduced emphasis on airborne transmission could be that the smaller droplets have less number of viruses as compared to larger droplets. Further, smaller droplets can evaporate faster, exposing SARS-CoV-2 within the small droplets to the environment, whose viability may further reduce. For example, these small droplets containing SARS-CoV-2 might also physically combine with or attach to pre-existing PM so that their behaviour and fate may be governed by PM composition. Thus, the measurement of their infectivity and viability is highly uncertain due to a lack of robust sampling system to separately collect virions in the atmosphere. We believe that the present review will help to minimize the gap in our understanding of the current pandemic and develop a robust epidemiological method for mortality assessment.
Graphical abstract Schematic diagram showing interaction of droplet nuclei with particulate matter, radiation and oxidants in the atmosphere. POA and WSOA are primary organic aerosol and water-soluble organic aerosols components of the particulate matter. Unlabelled Image
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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