{"doi":"10.1177/0194599820941838","title":"High‐Efficiency Particulate Air Filters in the Era of COVID‐19: Function and Efficacy","abstract":"<jats:p>Aerosol‐generating procedures in the office represent a major concern for health care–associated infection of patients and health care providers by SARS‐CoV‐2, the causative agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet provided any recommendations for the use of portable air purifiers, air purifiers with high‐efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters have been discussed as an adjunctive means for decontamination of SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols in health care settings. This commentary discusses HEPA filter mechanisms of action, decontamination time based on efficiency and flow rate, theoretical application to SARS‐CoV‐2, and limitations. HEPA filter functionality and prior guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for SARS‐CoV‐1 suggest theoretical efficacy for HEPA filters to decontaminate airborne SARS‐CoV‐2, although direct studies for SARS‐CoV‐2 have not been performed. Any portable HEPA purifier utilization for SARS‐CoV‐2 should be considered an adjunctive infection control measure and undertaken with knowledge of HEPA filter functionality and limitations in mind.</jats:p>","journal":"Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery","year":2020,"id":621274,"datarank":0.7454719949364003,"base_score":4.969813299576001,"endowment":4.969813299576001,"self_citation_contribution":0.7454719949364003,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.7454719949364003,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":143,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":781838,"name":"William C. Yao","orcid":"0000-0002-9845-2165","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1604130,"name":"Mingming Lu","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1604132,"name":"R. Vijayakumar","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":941981,"name":"Ahmad R. Sedaghat","orcid":"0000-0001-6331-2325","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1604129,"name":"David A. Christopherson","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"High‐Efficiency Particulate Air Filters in the Era of COVID‐19: Function and Efficacy","abstract":"<jats:p>Aerosol‐generating procedures in the office represent a major concern for health care–associated infection of patients and health care providers by SARS‐CoV‐2, the causative agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet provided any recommendations for the use of portable air purifiers, air purifiers with high‐efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters have been discussed as an adjunctive means for decontamination of SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols in health care settings. This commentary discusses HEPA filter mechanisms of action, decontamination time based on efficiency and flow rate, theoretical application to SARS‐CoV‐2, and limitations. HEPA filter functionality and prior guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for SARS‐CoV‐1 suggest theoretical efficacy for HEPA filters to decontaminate airborne SARS‐CoV‐2, although direct studies for SARS‐CoV‐2 have not been performed. Any portable HEPA purifier utilization for SARS‐CoV‐2 should be considered an adjunctive infection control measure and undertaken with knowledge of HEPA filter functionality and limitations in mind.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":4.969813299576001,"endowment":4.969813299576001,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"32662746","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W3042366227","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":12.8313,"citation_percentile":0.99063422,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2020,"count":12},{"year":2021,"count":52},{"year":2022,"count":30},{"year":2023,"count":23},{"year":2024,"count":15},{"year":2025,"count":7},{"year":2026,"count":4}],"oa_status":"closed","license":"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0194599820941838","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0194599820941838","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://aao-hnsfjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0194599820941838","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0194599820941838","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32662746","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Infection Control and Ventilation","COVID-19 and healthcare impacts","COVID-19 epidemiological studies"],"mesh_terms":["COVID-19","SARS-CoV-2","Equipment Design","Humans","Infection Control","Disease Transmission, Infectious","Particulate Matter","Pandemics","Air Filters"],"keywords":["HEPA","Air purifier","Air filter","Human decontamination","Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)","Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)","Infection control","Particulates","Medicine","Filter (signal processing)","Environmental science","Intensive care medicine","Disease","Computer science","Engineering","Infectious disease (medical specialty)","Chemistry","Coronavirus","High-efficiency Particulate Air Filter","Covid-19","Sars-cov-2"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-03T13:54:45.793649Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}