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Chris Smith
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- The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed a few weeks ago that coronavirus is transmissible through the air, responding to research from hundreds of scientists. The group stopped short of supporting face mask mandates, however.
- Now, a new study proves what we all feared: The coronavirus samples collected from aerosols in rooms with COVID-19 patients are indeed infectious.
- Face masks, social distancing, and handwashing can protect against coronavirus in droplets and airborne spread.
The novel coronavirus spreads mainly via droplets, which are particles of saliva that you can eject when coughing, sneezing, and even just speaking. They can reach other people and surfaces with ease. That's why we've been advised for so long to wash our hands often, practice social distancing, and wear face masks. But researchers also proved that some of the droplets are a lot smaller than we initially thought. The water evaporates after these droplets are ejected from someone's mouth, and they become aerosols that can float in the air for much longer than large droplets. Rather than landing immediately on surfaces, they can travel over greater distances so they're much more dangerous than large droplets.
An increasing body of research on the matter prompted 239 scientists to urge the World Health Organization (WHO) to acknowledge airborne transmission. The WHO did say there's increasing evidence of airborne COVID-19 spread via aerosols, but it maintained its stance that droplet transmission is prevalent. The WHO stopped short of urging governments to institute measures for handling airborne transmission, which could include face mask mandates and changes to air ventilation indoors.
Two important questions need to be addressed when it comes to airborne transmission, and a new study just answered one of them. We have no idea what quantity of novel coronavirus in aerosols is enough to cause an infection, but researchers have now proven that coronavirus in aerosols is infectious.
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Scientists just proved the scariest thing about the coronavirus originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 23 Jul 2020 at 11:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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