Table 1.
Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 contamination among the environmental samples taken from patients with mild/moderate and severe/critical COVID-19.
| Sample | Grouped by disease severity |
Grouped by seroconversion |
Grouped by PCR tests |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mild (n = 15) | Severe/critical (n = 9) | IgM(+)/IgG(+) (n = 18) | IgM(−)/IgG(+) (n = 5) | IgM(−)/IgG(−) (n = 1) | PCR(−) (n = 14) | PCR(+) (n = 10) | |
| Days from onset (median, IQR) | 45 (36–50) | 48 (36–52) | 48 (43–52) | 35 (34–47) | 22 (22–22) | 47.0 (35–52) | 46 (37–48) |
| Positive RT-PCR test for throat specimen, positive/total (%)a | 7/15 (46.6%) | 3/9 (33.3%) | 8/18(44.4%) | 2/5 (40.0%) | 0/0 (0.0%) | – | – |
| Body fluids, positive/total (%) | |||||||
| Sputum | – | 2/5 (40.0%) | 1/1 (100.0%) | 1/4 (25.0%) | – | 0/3 (0.0%) | 2/2 (100.0%) |
| Salivab | 1/31 (3.2%) | 1/5 (20.0%) | 1/35 (2.9%) | 0/1 (0.0%) | – | 1/1 (100.0%) | 1/35 (2.9%) |
| Air near patients, positive/total (%) | 0/2 (0.0%) | 1/10 (10.0%) | 0/4 (0.0%) | 1/8 (12.5%) | – | 1/6 (16.7%) | 0/6 (0.0%) |
| Low-touch surfaces, positive/total (%) | 0/17 (0.0%) | 1/22 (4.5%) | 1/25 (4.0%) | 0/13 (0.0%) | 0/1 (0.0%) | 1/22 (4.5%) | 0/17 (0.0%) |
| High-touch surfaces, positive/total (%) | 2/83 (2.4%) | 7/122 (5.7%) | 5/140 (3.6%) | 4/61 (6.6%) | 0/4 (0.0%) | 6/119 (5.0%) | 3/86 (3.5%) |
| Hands of patients, positive/total (%) | 2/14 (14.3%) | – | 2/12 (16.7%) | 0/2 (0.0%) | – | 2/7 (28.6%) | 0/7 (0.0%) |
| Masks, positive/total (%) | 0/28 (0.0%) | 0/8 (0.0%) | 0/32 (0.0%) | 0/4 (0.0%) | – | 0/18 (0.0%) | 0/18 (0.0%) |
| Ventilator circuit, positive/total (%) | – | 1/7 (14.3%) | 0/4 (0.0%) | 1/3 (33.3%) | – | 0/6 (0.0%) | 1/1 (100.0%) |
| PPE of HCP, positive/total (%) | – | 0/54 (0.0%) | 0/42 (0.0%) | 0/12 (0.0%) | – | 0/52 (0.0%) | 0/2 (0.0%) |
| Total surface sample, positive/total (%)c | 4/142 (2.8%) | 9/213 (4.2%) | 8/255 (3.1%) | 5/95 (5.3%) | 0/5 (0.0%) | 9/224 (4.0%) | 4/131 (3.1%) |
SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; IQR, interquartile range; PPE, personal protective equipment; HCP, healthcare personnel. Fisher’s exact test: p-value = 0.577 between mild patients and severe/critical patients; p-value = 0.358 between patients with both antibodies positive (IgM(+)/IgG(+)) and only IgG-positive (IgM(−)/IgG(+)); p-value = 0.775 between patients with PCR test positive and PCR test negative.
The test result on the day of environmental sampling or 2 days before and after the sampling date.
Thirty-one patients only had saliva samples tested.
Total surface included low-touch surfaces, high-touch surfaces, hands of patients, masks, ventilator circuit, and PPE of HCP.