Pilot Evaluation of Possible Airborne Transmission in a Geriatric Care Facility Using Carbon Dioxide Tracer Gas: Case Study

Abstract

Background: Although several COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred in older adult care facilities throughout Japan, no field studies focusing on airborne infections within these settings have been reported. Countermeasures against airborne infection not only consider the air change rate (ACR) in a room but also the airflow in and between rooms. However, a specific method has not yet been established by Japanese public health centers or infectious disease-related organizations.

Objective: In April 2021, 59 COVID-19 cases were reported in an older adult care facility in Miyagi, Japan, and airborne transmission was suspected. The objective of this study was to simultaneously reproduce the ACR and aerosol advection in this facility using the carbon dioxide (CO₂) tracer gas method to elucidate the specific location and cause of the outbreak. These findings will guide our recommendations to the facility to prevent recurrence.

Methods: In August 2021, CO₂ sensors were placed in 5 rooms where airborne infection was suspected, and the CO₂ concentration was intentionally increased using dry ice, which was subsequently removed. The ACR was then estimated by applying the Seidel equation to the time-series changes in the CO₂ concentration due to ventilation. By installing multiple sensors outside the room, advection outside the room was monitored simultaneously. Aerosol advection was verified using computer simulations. Although the windows were closed at the time of the outbreak, we conducted experiments under open-window conditions to quantify the effects of window opening.

Results: The ACR values at the time of the outbreak were estimated to be 2.0 to 6.8 h^-1 in the rooms of the facility. A low-cost intervention of opening windows improved the ventilation frequency by a factor of 2.2 to 5.7. Ventilation depended significantly on the window-opening conditions (P values ranging from .001 to .03 for all rooms). Aerosol advection was detected from the private room to the day room in agreement with the simulation results. Considering that the individual who initiated the infection was in the private room on the day of infection, and several residents, who later became secondarily infected, were gathered in the day room, it was postulated that the infectious aerosol was transmitted by this air current.

Conclusions: The present results suggest that secondary infections can occur owing to aerosol advection driven by large-scale flow, even when the building design adheres to the ventilation guidelines established in Japan. Moreover, the CO₂ tracer gas method facilitates the visualization of areas at a high risk of airborne infection and demonstrates the effectiveness of window opening, which contributes to improved facility operations and recurrence prevention.

Keywords: ACR; CFD; air change rate; airborne transmission; care home; computational fluid dynamics; mobile phone; nursing home; ventilation frequency.