![]() Patients suspected or known to have COVID were unable to be isolated in the nursing facility. During the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, with both nursing facilities and hospitals often overwhelmed in regions that experienced the greatest prevalence of COVID, these hospital resources were not available. Instead, nursing facilities tend to transfer patients suspected of an infectious disease transmitted by small particle aerosols to a hospital for care and isolation in an AIIR for the duration of the period the patient may be contagious. However, as was seen in Italy, the US and in other countries, the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic often quickly saturated the capacity of hospitals to provide an AIIR for all patients known to have or suspected of COVID-19.īeyond acute care hospitals, nursing facilities typically have little to no capacity to provide an AIIR for patients. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that hospitalized persons be placed in a single person room with the door kept closed, and that an airborne infection isolation room (AIIR), also known as a negative pressure room, be used for such patients who may require an aerosol generating procedure in an effort to contain potentially infectious aerosols from patients known or suspected of an active infection due to SARS-CoV-2. While the mode of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from person to person remains unknown, it is expected that the primary route of transmission is by respiratory droplets and possibly small aerosols. Similar to other highly pathogenic coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with outbreaks of healthcare associated infections in nursing homes and hospitals. Worldwide, SARS-CoV-2 has caused over 18 million infections and has led to nearly 700,000 deaths as of Aug. The outcome of this paper can be widely used by hospital facilities managers when attempting to retrofit a general patient room into an airborne infection isolation room. Also, it was shown that the best location of a single portable air purifier unit is inside the isolation room and near the patient's bed. Results suggested that the temporary anteroom alone could prevent the migration of nearly 98% of the surrogate aerosols into the adjacent corridor. Moreover, the optimal location of the portable unit, as well as the effect of negative pressurization and door opening on the containment of surrogate aerosols were assessed. Using an aerosolization system with a surrogate oil-based substance, we evaluated the effectiveness of the temporary plastic anteroom and the portable air purifier unit. This paper describes an innovative temporary anteroom in addition to a portable air purifier unit to turn a general patient room into an isolation space. As a result, hospital systems, especially those at an epicenter of this outbreak, have initiated task forces to identify and implement various approaches to increase their isolation capacities. hospitals admitting COVID-19-positive cases. The outbreak of COVID-19, and its current resurgence in the United States has resulted in a shortage of isolation rooms within many U.S.
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