I'd be less focused on the poor person who had air in their costume." No one to blame, says doctorĬhin-Hong doesn't blame the costume-wearer, either. "This is just further evidence that the air is important. "There's no other way people caught it except for through the air," Prather told the San Francisco Chronicle. Kimberly Prather, an atmospheric chemistry professor at University of California San Diego, cautioned that the virus can easily spread in an indoor setting, inflatable costume or no. We added a fourth W in the last few months, which is watching the wind." "Early in the pandemic, we just had the three W's - wearing a mask, washing your hands and watching your distance. And when they become fine, they become lighter and can sort of float around the air like dandelions," he said. When you press it, these droplets become very fine. "It's kind of like liquid in the hairspray can. That's because when you move air around, it turns droplets into smaller particles called aerosols, he said, pointing to a December study out of South Korea that found air conditioning systems increased the spread of coronavirus in restaurants, even when customers were seated more than two metres apart. Shared dorms in Toronto shelters put users at risk of airborne COVID-19 transmission, critics warn.Scientists urge provinces to take action to curb aerosol spread of COVID-19.The hospital did not say whether the person in the costume has since tested positive - but Chin-Hong says the fans likely played a role in spreading the virus, no matter where it came from. We are reinforcing with our staff that we do not allow these devices in our facilities." "Obviously this is a highly unusual situation involving a well-intentioned staff member acting on their own without advance notice or approval. "Any exposure, if it occurred, would have been completely innocent, and quite accidental, as the individual had no COVID symptoms and only sought to lift the spirits of those around them during what is a very stressful time," the hospital said. u8NV6OeBvl- spokesperson for Kaiser said in an email the hospital is moving quickly to test any potentially exposed patients and staff and clean the facilities. Kaiser reaching out to patients who may have been exposed. Kaiser is investigating if outbreak is linked to employee wearing this Air powered costume Christmas Day. Kaiser now confirms 44 emergency dept.staff members at its San Jose Medical Center have tested positive for Covid. "The fact that you have to continuously generate air pressure inside suggests that that leak is actually an important feature - and it comes back to haunt when you think about COVID transmission." And the reason why the fan blows continuously is because there's no perfect seal between the costume and the outside," he said. "These inflatable costumes, they are generated by these fans that blow continuously. And tragic in another sense in that we've been so starved of joy and light and laughter during these bleak months that an inflatable costume would potentially be the cause of this is really saddening." 'Fans that blow continuously'Ĭhin-Hong, a professor at the University of California San Francisco, is not affiliated with the hospital where the outbreak occurred, and is not a part of the investigation into its cause.īut he says an inflatable costume makes a lot of sense as a vector for spread, given what we know about the airborne virus. "Tragic in the sense that so many people were infected, and including somebody who died.
Peter Chin-Hong, a San Francisco infectious diseases specialist, told As It Happens host Carol Off. NBC Bay Area reporter Marianne Favro identified the costume on Twitter as an inflatable Christmas tree. The hospital says it is investigating whether an "air-powered costume" may have contributed to the spread of the virus after a staff member wore one briefly in the emergency room on Dec. 3, according to a hospital statement. One person died from COVID-19 complications. A coronavirus outbreak at a San Jose, Calif., hospital may have started when a staff member wore an inflatable costume to cheer people up on Christmas Day.įorty-four staff members at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center tested positive for COVID-19 between Dec.
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