3 Chinese families infected by COVID-19 due to air conditioner in restaurant: Study

Beijing, Apr 15: A study has said that air conditioning aided the transmission of coronavirus infection between people in a restaurant.

The study has been published in an early release article in the peer-reviewed, Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal.

During January 26-February 10, 2020, an outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease in an air-conditioned restaurant in Guangzhou, China, involved 3 family clusters. The airflow direction was consistent with droplet transmission. To prevent the spread of the virus in restaurants, we recommend increasing the distance between tables and improving ventilation, the article said.

From January 26 through February 10, 2020, an outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVD-19) affected 10 persons from 3 families (families A-C) who had eaten at the same air-conditioned restaurant in Guangzhou, China. One of the families had just travelled from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. We performed a detailed investigation that linked these 10 cases together. Our study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Guangzhou Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

On January 23, 2020, family A travelled from Wuhan and arrived in Guangzhou. On January 24, the index case-patient (patient A1) ate lunch with 3 other family members (A2-A4) at restaurant X. Two other families, B and C, sat at neighbouring tables at the same restaurant. Later that day, patient A1 experienced onset of fever and cough and went to the hospital. By February 5, a total of 9 others (4 members of family A, 3 members of family B, and 2 members of family C) had become ill with COVID-19.

The only known source of exposure for the affected persons in families B and C was patient A1 at the restaurant. We determined that virus had been transmitted to 1 member of family B and 1 member of family C at the restaurant and that further infections in families B and C resulted from within-family transmission.

From our examination of the potential routes of transmission, we concluded that the most likely cause of this outbreak was droplet transmission, the study also said.

You can read the complete report here: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0764_article