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THURSDAY, June 25, 2020<\/p>\n
COVID-19<\/a> patients with no symptoms are as likely as those with symptoms to contaminate many surfaces in their rooms, researchers report.<\/p>\n The investigators sampled the surfaces and air of six negative pressure non-intensive care unit rooms with 13 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19<\/a> patients — two of whom had no symptoms — who had returned from overseas and were in an isolation ward in Chengdu, China. In a negative pressure room, a machine pulls air into the room and then filters that air before moving it outside.<\/p>\n Samples were collected from surfaces such as bedrails, door handles, light switches, foot flush<\/a> buttons, sink rims, sink and toilet bowls and drains, bedside tables, bedsheets, pillows, equipment belts on the wall, floors and air exhaust outlets.<\/p>\n Of the 112 surface samples collected, 44 (39.3%) were positive for the new coronavirus (SARS<\/a>-Cov-2). All of the air samples were found to be negative, according to the study published June 24 in the journal mSphere<\/i>.<\/p>\n “In a single room with an asymptomatic patient, four sites including bedrail, pillow, bedsheet and the air exhaust outlet were SARS<\/a>-CoV-2-positive,” the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n “This highlights that asymptomatic COVID-19<\/a> patients can contaminate their surroundings and therefore make persons who have direct contact with them such as their family members and health care workers be exposed to SARS<\/a>-CoV-2,” they said.<\/p>\n The findings also show the importance of thorough cleaning of areas occupied by COVID-19<\/a> patients, the researchers said.<\/p>\n “Placement of COVID-19<\/a> patients in rooms with negative pressure may bring a false feeling of safety, and rigorous environment cleaning should be emphasized,” study author Dr. Zhiyong Zong, from the Department of Infection Control at West China Hospital, said in a journal news release.<\/p>\n Also, the study found “that patient surroundings in this non-ICU negative pressure isolation ward for COVID-19<\/a> patients with mild disease or no symptoms were extensively contaminated by SARS<\/a>-CoV-2,” Zong and colleagues wrote.<\/p>\n The results suggest that isolation of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients at home may put their families at risk, and that shelter hospitals may be a better option, the authors said.<\/p>\n — Robert Preidt<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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