Vacuum exhausted isolation locker (VEIL) to reduce inpatient droplet/aerosol transmission during COVID-19 pandemic

Tilvawala Gopesh; Alex M Grant; Jessica H Wen; Teresa H Wen; Ernesto Criado-Hidalgo; William J Connacher; James R Friend; Timothy A Morris

doi:10.1017/ice.2020.1414

Vacuum exhausted isolation locker (VEIL) to reduce inpatient droplet/aerosol transmission during COVID-19 pandemic

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2022 Jan;43(1):105-107. doi: 10.1017/ice.2020.1414. Epub 2021 Jan 11.

Authors

Tilvawala Gopesh¹, Alex M Grant², Jessica H Wen¹, Teresa H Wen¹, Ernesto Criado-Hidalgo¹, William J Connacher¹, James R Friend¹, Timothy A Morris³

Affiliations

¹ Medically Advanced Devices Laboratory, Center for Medical Devices Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California - San Diego, La Jolla, California.
² Prototyping Laboratory, Qualcomm Institute, University of California - San Diego, La Jolla, California.
³ Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, University of California - San Diego, San Diego, California.

Abstract

The vacuum-exhausted isolation locker (VEIL) provides a safety barrier during the care of COVID-19 patients. The VEIL is a 175-L enclosure with exhaust ports to continuously extract air through viral particle filters connected to hospital suction. Our experiments show that the VEIL contains and exhausts exhaled aerosols and droplets.

MeSH terms

Aerosols
COVID-19*
Humans
Inpatients
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2
Vacuum

Substances

Aerosols