New Crown Pneumonia｜Yuan Guoyong: Luquan Building may have air cracks

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Written by: Zheng Cuibi, Zheng Qiuling

2020-06-13 19:07

The outbreak of new coronavirus pneumonia in Hong Kong continues. The 33-year-old man diagnosed today (13th) belongs to the Luquanlou group of Liyuan Village and lives in 810 units. It is the neighbor of the first patient in the group. The patient was admitted to the hospital with a fever, but nasopharyngeal swabs, throat swab samples, deep throat saliva samples, and fecal samples were all negative. The doctor did bronchoscopy for him, and the bronchial secretion samples taken were positive.

Yuan Guoyong, Chair Professor of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, said that the patient’s upper respiratory tract was not infected, but the lower respiratory tract was infected, reflecting that he might inhale very small virus particles and become infected by "airborne". So today he and the Deputy Director of the Environment Bureau Xie Zhanhuan visited Luquan Building again to understand what environmental factors could cause this situation.

Xie Zhanhuan pointed out that there was a preliminary suspicion that there may be micro cracks in the canal of the unit, plus the negative pressure generated when the exhaust fan was turned on, the water point was atomized, and floated out through the crack, becoming particles that can infect the lower respiratory tract. The government plans to conduct experiments with universities to confirm whether the suspicions are true.

Yuan Guoyong suspected that the newly diagnosed male patient inhaled very small virus particles and was infected by "airborne transmission". (Photo by Zheng Qiuling)

Yuan Guoyong said that the new coronavirus can infect the entire respiratory tract, and is generally transmitted through the fly. So most of them first infected people's upper respiratory tract, namely the nasopharynx and throat, but patients diagnosed today failed to find the virus in the upper respiratory tract, but the lower respiratory tract was positive. The situation is worrying. Yuan Guoyong suspected that the patient inhaled not the fly, but the atomized virus particles. "If the (particles) are smaller than 5 microns, it is called airborne infection. There is this patient, that is, airborne infection may be true It happened."

Xie Zhanhuan pointed out that there was a preliminary suspicion that there may be micro cracks in the canal of the unit, plus the negative pressure generated when the exhaust fan was turned on, the water point was atomized, and floated out through the crack, becoming particles that can infect the lower respiratory tract. (Photo by Zheng Qiuling)

Xie Zhanhuan pointed out that there was a preliminary suspicion that there may be micro cracks in the canal of the unit, plus the negative pressure generated when the exhaust fan was turned on, the water spot was atomized, and floated out through the crack, becoming particles that can infect the lower respiratory tract. The government plans to work with the Hong Kong University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to conduct experiments in the Luquan Building to confirm whether the suspicions are true, such as knowing whether there are tiny cracks in the canal. Xie Zhanhuan emphasized that the authorities cannot rule out other possible transmission channels, including lifts, letter boxes, and exhaust fans.

Asked whether other residents of Luquan Building should be arranged to enter the quarantine center, Xie Zhanhuan said that the current confirmed person is still located near the source unit (812 units). The authorities have evacuated the residents of unit 10 and 12 in the whole building, and the building canal There is no major damage, and the authorities have cleaned and disinfected the building. I believe that the environmental factors that can spread the poison have been dealt with, so there is no need to evacuate other residents.

Regarding the diagnosis of another resident, Mr. Huang, a resident of the 5th floor of Luquan Building, said that he bluntly "did not worry too much." (Photo by Zheng Qiuling)

Ms. Pan, a resident of Luquan Building, lives on the 8th floor, but is far away from the affected units. She has lived at the site since the 1970s. She has also been very worried since the outbreak group. She has been negative for the virus test for male households. After a positive diagnosis, the authorities will study the possibility of "airborne transmission." She said after hearing that "airborne transmission is really amazing." Worries can be prevented. Currently, she will strengthen her household hygiene and wear gloves when going out. For manure canal air throat is one of the possible transmission routes, Ms. Pan pointed out that her toilet does not have an exhaust fan and will not cause a negative pressure environment.

Another Mr. Huang, who lives in Unit 30 on the 5th floor, said that he knew that Yuan Guoyong had inspected again, and he bluntly said, "I don’t worry about it any more." When entering or leaving the building's public location, first avoid direct contact with your hands. When going in and out, you will use a paper towel to press 𨋢 and so on.

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