Evaluation of Steam Heat as a Decontamination Approach for SARS-CoV-2 when Applied to Common Transit Related Materials.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of steam heat for inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 when applied to materials common in mass transit installations.

METHODS AND RESULTS: SARS CoV-2 (USA-WA1/2020) was resuspended in either cell culture media or synthetic saliva, inoculated (approximately 1 × 106 TCID50) onto porous and nonporous materials and subjected to steam inactivation efficacy tests as either wet or dried droplets. The inoculated test materials were exposed to steam heat ranging from 70-90°C. The amount of infectious SARS-CoV-2 remaining after various exposure durations ranging from 1 to 60 seconds was assessed. Higher steam heat application resulted in higher inactivation rates at short contact times. Steam applied at 1 inch distance (∼90°C at the surface) resulted in complete inactivation for dry inoculum within 2 seconds of exposure (excluding two outliers of 19 test samples at the 5 second duration) and within 2 to 30 seconds of exposure for wet droplets. Increasing the distance to 2 inches (∼70°C) also increased the exposure time required to achieve complete inactivation to 15 or 30 seconds for materials inoculated with saliva or cell culture media, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Steam heat can provide high levels of decontamination (>3 log reduction) for transit-related materials contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 using a commercially available steam generator with a manageable exposure time of 2 to 5 seconds.