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AIRAH has questioned the suitability of hotels for quarantine operations, on the basis that air movement within hotels could have led to transmission of the virus Are hotels suitable COVID-19 quarantine facilities, HVAC&R News 25 November 2020.
This is needlessly spreading fear.
“Evidence to date suggests that, similar to other respiratory viruses, COVID-19 is mainly transmitted by respiratory droplets” said Australia’s Infection Control Expert Group in a statement published 19 October.
Evidence to date doesn’t support transmission via quarantine hotel airstreams. Using data from Victoria’s second wave to illustrate:
Adequate ventilation (mechanical and/or natural) should be among the criteria for suitability of a facility to operate as a quarantine. Building construction and HVAC design/operation are important factors, for example return air from one guest room not entering another, and capacity to operate air handlers on full outside air. However modern facilities shouldn’t need to be single level or have hospital grade HVAC as AIRAH suggests or implies.
Regrettably, some popular press has translated the scientific evidence of aerosol spread in certain poorly ventilated situations into a narrative that “aerosol is the main transmission pathway for COVID”. AIRAH should avoid this pitfall and also communicate in a less speculative and alarmist style.
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