Pilot Study Demonstrates Benefits of Nursing Home Air Purification on COVID-19 Outcomes

Improving indoor air quality is one potential strategy to reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in any setting, including nursing homes, where staff and residents have been disproportionately and negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We used an interrupted time series design to compare trends in weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths before and after installation of ultraviolet air purification in 84 nursing homes in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina from September 31, 2020 to December 27, 2020. Compared to pre-installation, weekly COVID-19 cases per 1,000 residents (-1.69, 95%CI: -4.32, 0.95) and the weekly probability of reporting any COVID-19 case (-0.02, 95%CI: -0.04, 0.00) declined in the post-installation period. We did not find any difference pre- and post-installation in COVID-19-related mortality (0.00 95%CI: -0.01, 0.02). Our findings from this small number of nursing homes in the southern US demonstrate the potential benefits of air purification in nursing homes on COVID-19 outcomes. We recommend a stronger experimental design to estimate the causal effect of installing air purification devices like this one on improving COVID-19 outcomes in nursing homes.Improving indoor air quality is one potential strategy to reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in any setting, including nursing homes, where staff and residents have been disproportionately and negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We used an interrupted time series design to compare trends in weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths before and after installation of ultraviolet air purification in 84 nursing homes in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina from September 31, 2020 to December 27, 2020. Compared to pre-installation, weekly COVID-19 cases per 1,000 residents (-1.69, 95%CI: -4.32, 0.95) and the weekly probability of reporting any COVID-19 case (-0.02, 95%CI: -0.04, 0.00) declined in the post-installation period. We did not find any difference pre- and post-installation in COVID-19-related mortality (0.00 95%CI: -0.01, 0.02). Our findings from this small number of nursing homes in the southern US demonstrate the potential benefits of air purification in nursing homes on COVID-19 outcomes. We recommend a stronger experimental design to estimate the causal effect of installing air purification devices like this one on improving COVID-19 outcomes in nursing homes.