Coronavirus could travel 27 feet, stay in air for hours: MIT researcher
Social-distancing
guidelines to stay 6 feet from others may be woefully inadequate, one
scientist warns — saying the coronavirus can travel 27 feet and linger for
hours. MIT associate
professor Lydia Bourouiba, who has researched the dynamics of coughs and
sneezes for years, warns in newly
published research that the current guidelines are based on outdated
models from the 1930s.
Rather than the
assumed safety of 6 feet, Bourouiba warns that “pathogen-bearing droplets of
all sizes can travel 23 to 27 feet.” Her research, published
in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also warns that
“droplets that settle along the trajectory can contaminate surfaces” — and
“residues or droplet nuclei” may “stay suspended in the air for hours.” She notes a 2020
report from China that showed that “virus particles could be found in the
ventilation systems in hospital rooms of patients with COVID-19.”
Bourouiba fears that
the current guidelines are “overly simplified” and “may limit the effectiveness
of the proposed interventions” against the deadly pandemic. She says it is
particularly urgent for health care workers who, she argues in her report, face
an “underappreciated potential exposure range” while treating the sick and
dying. “There’s an urgency in
revising the guidelines currently being given by the [World Health
Organization] and the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] on the needs
for protective equipment, particularly for the frontline health care workers,”
Bourouiba told
USA Today.
The World Health
Organization, which suggests
3 feet is enough to remain safe, told USA Today it “welcomed”
studies. “WHO carefully
monitors emerging evidence about this critical topic and will update this
scientific brief as more information becomes available,” WHO said in a
statement to the paper...
https://nypost.com/2020/03/31/coronavirus-could-travel-27-feet-stay-in-air-for-hours-mit-researcher/
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