Insights into SARS-CoV-2 transmission, vaccines, and genome sequencing.
Scientists in Quebec have successfully isolated infectious particles of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from air samples collected from hospital rooms of COVID-19 patients and kept frozen for more than a year. The study provides insight into a scientific field that has been little explored since the beginning of the pandemic: airborne transmission of the virus causing COVID-19. The findings can be used to prepare for the next pandemic, be it SARS-CoV-2 or another respiratory virus, and can also be adapted to closed environments other than hospitals, such as schools, to test air quality and evaluate the effectiveness of protection measures against airborne transmission of viruses.