key: cord-1054974-pyhkcah1
authors: Moses, Francis W.; Gonzalez-Rothi, Ricardo; Schmidt, Gene
title: COVID-19 Outbreak Associated with Air Conditioning in Restaurant, Guangzhou, China, 2020
date: 2020-09-03
journal: Emerg Infect Dis
DOI: 10.3201/eid2609.201749
sha: 5199af52092d40c8f4ceddb91f87a9277f4e9805
doc_id: 1054974
cord_uid: pyhkcah1

nan

A wall-mounted ductless system blows air directly onto those closest to it, potentially disseminating infectious droplets or aerosols along the airflow. Lu et al. use arrows to point out the airflows emanating from and returning to the AC unit, delineating a possible trajectory of putative airborne droplets. This trajectory coincides with the seating distribution of other persons at the restaurant who later became ill (1) . We agree that the AC probably contributed to the upstream and downstream airborne spread of the virus.

The type of AC system required to mitigate airborne transmission is neither affordable nor architecturally feasible for many buildings or regions. To prevent the spread of coronavirus disease in indoor spaces, we need work-around solutions in addition to distancing and fresh air exchange. Viable, low-cost possibilities might include operating AC on low fan settings and installing units near the ceiling, which would channel airflow towards the ceiling instead of directly onto patrons. Other methods might include installing high-efficiency particulate air filters, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (which can disinfect some airborne coronaviruses such as mouse hepatitis virus and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus) (2), or a combination of these methods.

COVID-19 outbreak associated with air conditioning in restaurant

Efficacy of an automated multiple emitter whole-room ultraviolet-C disinfection system against coronaviruses MHV and MERS-CoV