Coronavirus: Can It Be Transmitted via Air-Conditioning Outlets and Ducts?

Coronavirus is now suspected to have been spread through air-conditioning ducts, as three COVID-19 patients were tested positive in Singapore hospitals. It was later on found out that the mildly infected room was spreading the virus through the ducts and air vents.

Some clues to the coronavirus in cruise ships were spread because no one bothered to check the AC units in the ship which had them festering in it, thereby infected more than through direct contact.

No one in the hospitals were aware that the COVID-19 contagion can spread through the duct, as it can survive longer outside the host, making it more lethal with several ways of delivery to any host cell.

One of the patients was misdiagnosed as having "mild symptoms" of the virus. Further investigation revealed that the air duct was connected to the patient's room. The duct was contaminated by viral substances in the vent that spread droplets into other rooms.

The study from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) was published after 142 Britons are on the Princess Cruise ship near the California coast yesterday for further testing.

It had the distinction of having the most clustered group of coronavirus cases with more than 700 positively infected people on the ship that was docked in the Yokohama port last month.

Also read: Coronavirus Airborne? Increased Chances of Infection Possible

Ever since the virus scare, many health officials are eyeing these cruise ships and a few false alarms were registered but no positive detection of the coronavirus.

The Diamond Princess in two-weeks was the most serious case of 705 positive infections, all at the same time. Conditions like the air-conditioning vents can contain the coronavirus, which hosted and spread the virus all over the ship, without even getting noticed as one of the reasons for infection.

A British national died after contracting the virus on the cruise ship Diamond Princess, but not immediately. Indicating a delay in the actual infection, before it was active then killing the patient.

Last Thursday, an elder patient with many health problems, was the first one to die from the coronavirus in the UK, after getting a positive infection.

Buildings and cruise ships do not get direct ventilation, so air is recirculated in the air-conditioning vents and systems.

After the quarantine in Japan, coaches with Britons from the coronavirus cruise ship arrived at Arrowe Park Hospital at the Wirral, when sent back to the UK.

Remarks from James G. Dwyer, from Purdue University in Indiana, related to the telegraph that most air-conditioning systems are not made to filtrate air particles smaller than 5,000 nanometers or more.

The actual size of the virus is not identified, no one knows if the COVID-19 virus is as small or bigger.

Professor Dwyer added that the un-filtrable COVID-19 is the same size as coronavirus. Hence, the aircon system would be transmitting the virus everywhere in the cruise ship. One solution is getting fresh air without recirculation.

Airliners have the Etihad air-con systems that filter air, just like a hospital amphitheatre that is very airtight. Compared to cruise ships, planes have a better air filter to lessen coronavirus infection though confine areas like a plane cabin still have a risk of infection.