The appearance of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and the subsequent pandemic of COVID-19 has shown biosafety to be one of the biggest challenges of this century. While scientists are still deciphering the transmission behavior of the virus, public health authorities struggle to elaborate strategies to ensure the safety of their citizens post confinement.  As with most respiratory viruses, the environment is an important potential source of contamination. A recent study has found that SARS-CoV-2 can remain viable in aerosols for at least 3 hours, and up to days on surfaces. Reliable environmental air monitoring solutions become critical to safely reopen public areas such as schools or restaurants.

In this white paper, we present best practices for virus monitoring in air samples and describe how experts have used Bertin’s Coriolis air samplers in a
wide range of environments, for the detection of different airborne viruses.