13 Jan Yale Develops Fresh Air Clip To Measure Personal Exposure to COVID-19 Virus

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Pollitt

Krystal Pollitt, PhD, P.Eng.
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences)
Assistant Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Yale School of Public Health 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: People infected with COVID-19 can release SARS-CoV-2 virus in aerosol and droplets when they exhale. This can be from coughing or sneezing but also when they speaker or just breathe. While the larger droplets can settle to the ground quickly (seconds to minutes), smaller aerosol can remain in the air in longer periods (minutes to hours). SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted by inhaling aerosol or droplets containing infectious virus. The Fresh Air Clip enables detection of droplet and aerosol containing virus.

The Fresh Air clip

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? How expensive might these devices be?

Response: The Fresh Air Clip is a wearable device that can be used to assess exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in the air. With this clip we can detect low levels of virus copies that are well below the estimated SARS-CoV-2 infectious dose. The highest number and level of exposures were found in indoor restaurant settings. 

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: The Fresh Air clip was developed to evaluate a person’s exposure to airborne virus. The clip serves to identify exposure events early, allowing for rapid action to be taken to get tested or quarantine, preventing viral spread should the participant not have had this early detection of exposure.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: We are looking to expand use of the Fresh Air Clip and are exploring how best to scale application in workplaces, schools, and with community members.

Citation: 

Darryl M. Angel, Dong Gao, Kayley DeLay, Elizabeth Z. Lin, Jacob Eldred, Wyatt Arnold, Romero Santiago, Carrie Redlich, Richard A. Martinello, Jodi D. Sherman, Jordan Peccia, Krystal J. Godri Pollitt. Development and Application of a Polydimethylsiloxane-Based Passive Air Sampler to Assess Personal Exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 2022; DOI: 1021/acs.estlett.1c00877

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Last Updated on January 13, 2022 by Marie Benz MD FAAD