Airborne SARS-CoV-2 RNA detected during deliveries with unmasked patients

Abstract

Summary: Background: Healthcare workers in obstetric clinics may be exposed to airborne SARS-CoV-2 when treating patients with COVID-19. Method: In this study, performed during the midst of the pandemic, air samples were collected in delivery rooms during childbirth and analysed for SARS-CoV-2 RNA content. Result: Six of 28 samples collected inside delivery rooms were positive for SARS-CoV-2, but none in anterooms or corridors. Five of the six positive samples were from the same occasion. Discussion: This indicates that some patients could be major sources of exhaled virus, although the individual variation is large, and it is thus difficult to predict the risk of infection.

Keywords

• SARS-CoV-2
• Aerosols
• Childbirth
• COVID-19