Concordance of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Aerosols From a Nurses Station and in Nurses and Patients During a Hospital Ward Outbreak

Accepted for Publication: April 22, 2022.

Published: June 8, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.16176

Correction: This article was corrected on June 30, 2022, to fix an error in the placement of a row of Ward B breakroom data in Table 3, which also affected some other summed values in the text and table; to clarify the number of individuals involved in the outbreak in the Outbreak Investigation section (the original text misleading said that 108 HCP and patients were involved, when in reality 11 HCP and 8 patients were infected); and to add a missing funding source for Dr Stern from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2022 Stern RA et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Eric Garshick, MD, MOH, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, 1400 VFW Pkwy, West Roxbury, Boston, MA 02132 (eric.garshick@va.gov).

Author Contributions: Drs Stern and Garshick had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Stern, Charness, Gupta, Koutrakis, Martins, Lemos, Dowd, Garshick.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Stern, Charness, Gupta, Linsenmeyer, Madjarov, Martins, Lemos, Dowd, Garshick.

Drafting of the manuscript: Stern, Charness, Gupta, Garshick.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Stern, Charness, Koutrakis, Linsenmeyer, Madjarov, Martins, Lemos, Dowd, Garshick.

Statistical analysis: Stern, Gupta, Linsenmeyer, Garshick.

Obtained funding: Koutrakis, Garshick.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Stern, Gupta, Koutrakis, Linsenmeyer, Martins, Dowd, Garshick.

Supervision: Stern, Gupta, Garshick.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Charness reported having stock in Pfizer and receiving royalties from UpToDate outside the submitted work. Dr Gupta reported holding stock in Pfizer, Moderna, and Abbott Laboratories and receiving royalties from UpToDate outside the submitted work. Dr Garshick reported receiving royalties from UpToDate outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: This project was supported by Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds from the Department of Veterans Affairs (Dr Garshick). Dr Stern was supported by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant RD-835872 to the Harvard/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Air, Climate & Energy Center and by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health grant T32 ES007068.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The US Department of Veterans Affairs and EPA were not involved in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Disclaimer: The contents are solely the responsibility of the grantee and do not necessarily represent the official views of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, EPA, or US government. Furthermore, the EPA does not endorse the purchase of any commercial products or services mentioned in the publication.

Additional Contributions: We thank Stephen Ferguson, Mikhail Wolfson, and Joy Lawrence for assisting with sampler production and the sampling protocol. We also thank Erin McHugh, Emma Busenkell, and Cathy L. Zhang for assistance with conducting sampling. We gratefully acknowledge the leadership and clinical staff of VABHS for assistance and advice. There was no financial compensation for these contributions.