ReviewClinical microbiology reviews2020
SARS-CoV-2 and Health Care Worker Protection in Low-Risk Settings: a Review of Modes of Transmission and a Novel Airborne Model Involving Inhalable Particles.
Review in Clinical microbiology reviews, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 32 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Are medical procedures that induce coughing or involve respiratory suctioning associated with increased generation of aerosols and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection? A rapid systematic review.The Journal of hospital infection · 2021Pooled it
- SARS-CoV-2 and the role of close contact in transmission: a systematic review.F1000Research · 2021Pooled it
- High levels of eicosanoids and docosanoids in the lungs of intubated COVID-19 patients.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2021Trial
- Characterization of aerosols generated during suspected aerosol-generating procedures in healthcare settings.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2026Article
- Rapid virucidal activity of an air sanitizer against aerosolized MS2 and Phi6 phage surrogates for non-enveloped and enveloped vertebrate viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Dynamics of respiratory virus spread indoors suggest a holistic approach for exposure risk mitigation.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2025Article
- Postpandemic Evaluation of the Eco-Efficiency of Personal Protective Equipment Against COVID-19 in Emergency Departments: Proposal for a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- A Comprehensive Sampling Study on SARS-CoV-2 Contamination of Air and Surfaces in a Large Meat Processing Plant Experiencing COVID-19 Clusters in June 2020.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2023Article
- Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Air and on Surfaces in Rooms of Infected Nursing Home Residents.Annals of work exposures and health · 2023Article
- Review
- SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in secondary school settings in the Netherlands during fall 2020; silent circulation.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Microstructural evaluation and recommendations for face masks in community use to reduce the transmission of respiratory infectious diseases.Computer methods and programs in biomedicine · 2022Article
- COVID-19 clusters in a teaching hospital during the second wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in France: A descriptive study and lessons learned for waves to come.American journal of infection control · 2022Article
- An overview of COVID-19 in solid organ transplantation.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2022Review
- The Rapid Adaptation and Optimisation of a Digital Behaviour-Change Intervention to Reduce the Spread of COVID-19 in Schools.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Behaviour of aerosols and their role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2; a scoping review.Reviews in medical virology · 2022Article
- Source terms for benchmarking models of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via aerosols and droplets.Royal Society open science · 2022Review
- Viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in droplets and bioaerosols directly captured during breathing, speaking and coughing.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Failure to Detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the Air During Active Labor in Mothers Who Recently Tested Positive.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Nanomaterials to combat SARS-CoV-2: Strategies to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been intense debate over SARS-CoV-2's mode of transmission and appropriate personal protective equipment for health care workers in low-risk settings. The objective of this review is to identify and appraise the available evidence (clinical trials and laboratory studies on masks and respirators, epidemiological studies, and air sampling studies), clarify key concepts and necessary conditions for airborne transmission, and shed light on knowledge gaps in the field. We find that, except for aerosol-generating procedures, the overall data in support of airborne transmission-taken in its traditional definition (long-distance and respirable aerosols)-are weak, based predominantly on indirect and experimental rather than clinical or epidemiological evidence. Consequently, we propose a revised and broader definition of "airborne," going beyond the current droplet and aerosol dichotomy and involving short-range inhalable particles, supported by data targeting the nose as the main viral receptor site. This new model better explains clinical observations, especially in the context of close and prolonged contacts between health care workers and patients, and reconciles seemingly contradictory data in the SARS-CoV-2 literature. The model also carries important implications for personal protective equipment and environmental controls, such as ventilation, in health care settings. However, further studies, especially clinical trials, are needed to complete the picture.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.