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. 2022 May 17;14(5):1075.
doi: 10.3390/v14051075.

SARS-CoV-2 in Environmental Samples of Quarantined Households

Manuel Döhla  1   2 , Bianca Schulte  3 , Gero Wilbring  1 , Beate Mareike Kümmerer  3 , Christin Döhla  1 , Esther Sib  1 , Enrico Richter  3 , Patrick Frank Ottensmeyer  3 , Alexandra Haag  1 , Steffen Engelhart  1 , Anna Maria Eis-Hübinger  3 , Martin Exner  1 , Nico Tom Mutters  1 , Ricarda Maria Schmithausen  1 , Hendrik Streeck  3
Affiliations

SARS-CoV-2 in Environmental Samples of Quarantined Households

Manuel Döhla et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

The role of environmental transmission of SARS-CoV-2 remains unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate whether viral contamination of air, wastewater, and surfaces in quarantined households result in a higher risk for exposed persons. For this study, a source population of 21 households under quarantine conditions with at least one person who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA were randomly selected from a community in North Rhine-Westphalia in March 2020. All individuals living in these households participated in this study and provided throat swabs for analysis. Air and wastewater samples and surface swabs were obtained from each household and analysed using qRT-PCR. Positive swabs were further cultured to analyse for viral infectivity. Out of all the 43 tested adults, 26 (60.47%) tested positive using qRT-PCR. All 15 air samples were qRT-PCR-negative. In total, 10 out of 66 wastewater samples were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (15.15%) and 4 out of 119 surface samples (3.36%). No statistically significant correlation between qRT-PCR-positive environmental samples and the extent of the spread of infection between household members was observed. No infectious virus could be propagated under cell culture conditions. Taken together, our study demonstrates a low likelihood of transmission via surfaces. However, to definitively assess the importance of hygienic behavioural measures in the reduction of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, larger studies should be designed to determine the proportionate contribution of smear vs. droplet transmission.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; airborne transmission; environment; quarantine; smear infection.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. This study complies with the ethical guidelines of the declaration of Helsinki by the “world medical association” from 1964 and its subsequent revisions. The ethics committee of the Medical Faculty of the University of Bonn was involved and approved the procedures and the publication of the results (reference no. 085/20).

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