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We have been planning to stay at a family member's house while they are away - they have just had COVID (10 and 13 days since their symptoms started - they have been symptom-free for 3-4 days, but are still testing positive on antigen tests). They are planning to leave several hours before we come to stay. They have said that they extensively cleaned their home. Questions:-Is there a risk of aerosol transmission if they leave and we enter their house 7-10 hours later? We can ask them to open the windows when they leave. Should we stay out of the household for longer than that period?-What is the latest on surface transmission? Just wondering if I should also get a professional cleaner to come in as well. Thank you!
Airborne transmission is much more important than contact transmission for Covid, so the cleaning of surfaces is not as important. The plan to have windows open will bring more “fresh” air from outside into the home, this is called ventilation and is a good measure. You can also cleanse or “sanitize” the air by using filtration (with HEPA filtering) or using ultraviolet light inactivation (so called UV germicidal lights). I believe having several windows open throughout the house, facilitated by fans to actively move the air, to ensure that fresh air is brought into all parts of the house will be effective—active ventilation. I would allow for at least 1-2 hours of ventilation, but you may go longer if you have a large house or have concerns about adequacy of ventilation due to fewer fan units.
