According to one study, the coronavirus was spread through a ventilation system in an apartment complex in South Korea where many residents of different homes became infected, according to one study.
According to a paper in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, the cluster was examined in August after a new group of new series of COVID-19 cases was identified on various floors of a residential complex in Seoul.
On August 23, a woman living on the sixth floor tested positive, followed by her husband and daughter.
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The next day, a child who lived in the lower unit went to the hospital for a urologic problem and also tested positive for the virus, the researchers wrote.
When another woman living directly below them on the fourth floor was diagnosed with Covid-19, health officials decided to test all 437 residents.
The mother of the infected child also tested living in the upstairs units on the 10th and 11th floors with two more occupants, the researchers said.
Two more cases were later found in other units on the second and 11th floors of the tower.
Those units are not directly above or below each other, but are on the same ical line as each other and share the same ventilation system, the researchers said.
“All patients reported that they were unfamiliar with each other and denied a history of interpersonal,” the researchers wrote.
The researchers said the virus could spread from shared spaces, such as elevators.
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But they noted that all infected residents reported wearing masks outside their apartments – and Bay also refused to use the elevator.
They also noted that “among the occupants of about 200 homes, which could use a single elevator, all patients were found in only two lines of the building.”
“Each line was connected to the bathroom by a single air duct for natural ventilation,” the researchers wrote.
“Our investigation found no other possible contact between cases other than airborne infection through the same air duct in the bathroom.”
The researchers, however, note that there were some limitations to the study because they were unable to take air samples.
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But the findings suggest that the potential risk is guaranteed for further research.
“More people may have to stay indoors during an epidemic to avoid international contact,” the researchers concluded.
“However, some have contracted viral infections through inhalation due to inadequate ventilation systems.”
