HVAC systems could be key to detecting COVID-19 indoors, according to ECU research

Researchers said the HVAC air sampling may be an important COVID-19 surveillance technique, especially for new facilities and for buildings considered as congregate living settings.

"It was an extremely difficult project," said Sinan Sousan, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health.

Researchers said that airborne detection of the virus inside buildings can be a challenge.

The team performed air sampling of HVAC in two five-story dormitories for more than three months during the 2021 spring semester. Their goal was to find out if they could identify the virus from one location for the entire building.

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"We had a number of cases where we detected it in the air, and it was also detected in the students by the random weekly testing that ECU was doing on students," said Rachel Roper, an immunologist with ECU's Brody School of Medicine. "Of course, we couldn't test every student compared to our air testing, but we had a pretty good correlation between the two."

"We sampled air, and we wanted to find out if we can identify the virus from one location for the whole building," said Sousan.

Researchers said they had a 100% detection rate of coronavirus in the HVAC system in the isolation dorm, where there was a known positive case.

"We managed to pick up the virus when the patient was on the same floor as the measurement," said Sousan.

Roper said the project emphasizes the need for better air circulation and filtration in similar settings like cruise ships and hotels.

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"We realized how important it is to bring in outside air because, if a lot of people are sick in the building, the virus can accumulate in the air," she said.

"Any large building would be suitable, especially prisons, dorms, military barracks – anything like that – maybe day care facilities [or] any place where you're concerned about a pathogen spreading," added Roper.

None of the students working on the project got sick, according to researchers, but they did find that someone tested positive for coronavirus a day or two later.

Researchers noted that air testing and human testing didn't take place every day.