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

Abstract

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.