Widespread contamination of SARS‐CoV ‐2 on highly touched surfaces in Brazil during the second wave of the COVID ‐19 pandemic

  1. Severino Jefferson Ribeiro da Silva
  2. Jessica Catarine Frutuoso do Nascimento
  3. Wendell Palôma Maria dos Santos Reis
  4. Caroline Targino Alves da Silva
  5. Poliana Gomes da Silva
  6. Renata Pessôa Germano Mendes
  7. Allyson Andrade Mendonça
  8. Bárbara Nazly Rodrigues Santos
  9. Jurandy Júnior Ferraz de Magalhães
  10. Alain Kohl
  11. Lindomar Pena

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Abstract

Although SARS‐CoV‐2 surface contamination has been investigated in health care settings, little is known about the SARS‐CoV‐2 surface contamination in public urban areas, particularly in tropical countries. Here, we investigated the presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 on high‐touch surfaces in a large city in Brazil, one of the most affected countries by the COVID‐19 pandemic in the world. A total of 400 surface samples were collected in February 2021 in the City of Recife, Northeastern Brazil. A total of 97 samples (24.2%) tested positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 by RT‐qPCR using the CDC‐USA protocol. All the collection sites, except one (18/19, 94.7%) had at least one environmental surface sample contaminated. SARS‐CoV‐2 positivity was higher in public transport terminals (47/84, 55.9%), followed by health care units (26/84, 30.9%), beach areas (4/21, 19.0%), public parks (14/105, 13.3%), supply centre (2/21, 9.5%), and public markets (4/85, 4.7%). Toilets, ATMs, handrails, playgrounds and outdoor gyms were identified as fomites with the highest rates of SARS‐CoV‐2 detection. Taken together, our data provide a real‐world picture of SARS‐CoV‐2 dispersion in highly populated tropical areas and identify critical control points that need to be targeted to break SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission chains.

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  1. Version published to 10.1111/1462-2920.15855
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.06.14.21258894: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsField Sample Permit: The time of collection and climate conditions of the day were recorded during sampling.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Cells: African monkey green kidney-derived cell line Vero CCL-81 was used for virus isolation from positive environmental samples.
    Vero
    suggested: None
    SARS-CoV-2 isolation: Vero CCL-81 cells were cultured in 12-well plates at a density of 2 × 105 cells/well.
    Vero CCL-81
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    For data analysis, the QuantStudio software v1.5 was used with baseline and threshold automatic.
    QuantStudio
    suggested: None
    Data analysis: GraphPad Prism software version 5.01 for Windows (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, California, USA) was used to plot most graphics.
    GraphPad Prism
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)
    GraphPad
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.06.14.21258894v1 on medRxiv