key: cord-1041176-iows98ec authors: Sanchez Espinoza, E. P.; Farrel Cortes, M.; Vasconez Nogueira, S.; Vincente de Paula, A.; Guimaraes, T.; Santos Vilas Boas, L.; Park, M.; Carvalho da Silva, C.; Morales, I.; Vieira Perdigao Neto, L.; Tozetto-Mendoza, T. R.; Boszczowski, I.; Sabino, E.; Mendes-Correa, M. C.; Shafferman Levin, A. S.; Figueiredo Costa, S. title: Are Mobile Phones part of the chain of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the hospital? date: 2020-11-04 journal: nan DOI: 10.1101/2020.11.02.20224519 sha: 0c08026367e5e281deb54c42bc3e00e353919d6f doc_id: 1041176 cord_uid: iows98ec SARS-CoV-2 cross-transmission has become an concern in hospitals. We investigate healthcare workers(HCWs) knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 cross-transmission and conceptions whether the virus can remain on HCWs mobile phones(MPs) and be part of the chain of transmission. A cross-sectional study was conducted at a COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit of a teaching-hospital. Fifty-one MPs were swabbed and a questionnaire about hand hygiene and MP use and disinfection was applied after an educational campaign. Although most of HCWs believed on the importance of cross-transmission and increased hand hygiene adhesion and MP disinfection during the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in two MPs(culture of the samples was negative). Implementation of official hospital policies to guide HCWs regarding disinfection and care of personal MP are needed. 11 LIM52 Virology Laboratory, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. . . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a perpetuity. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. ; https://doi. org/10.1101 org/10. /2020 Address: Av. Dr. Enéas Carvalho de Aguiar, 470 -Cerqueira César, São Paulo -SP, is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.02.20224519 doi: medRxiv preprint 3 Abstract 47 SARS-CoV-2 cross-transmission has become an concern in hospitals. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.02.20224519 doi: medRxiv preprint raising the concern about cross-transmission 2 . Even though SARS-CoV-2 has been found in 73 MPs of patients with COVID-19 3 , they have not been portrayed as source of transmission in 74 the hospital. This is a cross-sectional study performed at an adult Intensive Care Unit(ICU) of a teaching 77 hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The ICU has 11 separated patient-rooms. Healthcare workers(HCWs) use scrubs, N95-respirators and surgical-cap inside of the unit and 79 add a surgical-gown, face shield and gloves when entering a patient's room. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. Fifty-one of the fifty-three HCWs working in the unit participated on the survey and responded 133 the questionnaire. Nine(18%) had covered their MP with kitchen-plastic film in an attempt to 134 facilitate disinfection. Eleven(16%) did not recall the educational campaign and three(6%) 135 answered that it did not change their behaviour. Only four(8%) did not believe that the virus 136 could remain on MPs and one(4%) did not believe that the virus could remain on the hands; 137 98% referred washing their hands more since the pandemic(Table1). is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.02.20224519 doi: medRxiv preprint is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101 https://doi.org/10. /2020 Little is known about virus on MPs or its potential for cross-contamination. A study of MPs 160 from HCWs of a Paediatric unit 6 found virus RNA in 38.5% of the cases(42∕109); 161 predominantly Norovirus(n=39). Two samples from a CPAP helmet used by COVID-19 patients, were positive by the RT-163 PCR[1] from patients who had 10 or more days of symptoms and were positive despite the fact 164 that surfaces were cleaned twice a day 1 . is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.02.20224519 doi: medRxiv preprint 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 182 We will like to thank all the health workers and scientists fighting anonymously every day 183 during the pandemic. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint The copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.02.20224519 doi: medRxiv preprint SARS-CoV-2 RNA contamination of 203 inanimate surfaces and virus viability in a health care emergency unit Covid-19 and mobile phone 206 hygiene in healthcare settings SARS-CoV-2 environmental contamination associated with 208 persistently infected COVID-19 patients. Influenza Other Respi Viruses Virus isolation from the first patient with SARS-211 CoV-2 in Korea A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in 213 Contamination of healthcare workers' 215 mobile phones by epidemic viruses Detection of Severe Acute Respiratory 217 Syndrome Coronavirus 2 RNA on Surfaces in Quarantine Rooms. Emerging Infectious 218 Diseases Predicting infectious SARS-CoV-220 2 from diagnostic samples The effects on biological materials of is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprintThe copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.02.20224519 doi: medRxiv preprint is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprintThe copyright holder for this this version posted November 4, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.02.20224519 doi: medRxiv preprint