Speaking to someone when infected with COVID-19 could be as dangerous as coughing near them due to tiny droplets known as aerosol particles, new research has shown.
COVID-19 can be spread via a number of routes, but research has shown that transmission is most common from aerosol droplets emitted when an infected person breaths, speaks or coughs.
Talking can spread Covid as much as coughing. Tiny aerosols of the virus emitted when speaking linger in air for longer than larger droplets from a cough https://t.co/pHOq3FBdyO Speaking to friends when infected with the coronavirus could be as dangerous as coughing near them
— Reiner Grißhammer (@erlesen) January 21, 2021
This heightened transmission route, experts say, could help explain why the virus spreads more easily indoors or when there is poor ventilation.
Large droplets fall and do not pose a large risk of transmission, but aerosols can carry the virus over distances greater than 2 meters and remain for longer.
Experts at Cambridge University have conducted studies to assess the risk of COVID-19 spread from large droplets and aerosols.
Their results suggest that it takes just a couple of seconds for expelled particles to travel beyond 2 meters, posing significant challenges for mitigating this risk of transmission.
“You need masks, you need distancing and you need good ventilation so these particles don’t build up in an indoor space and they’re safely removed,” said Prof. Pedro Magalhaes de Oliveira, an expert in fluid mechanics at Cambridge University and the study’s co-author.
The team concluded that it is unsafe to stand without a mask 2 meters away from an infected person who is talking or coughing, with both situations posing a heightened infection risk.
This risk is especially high in unventilated spaces, such as indoor settings with closed windows.
The team said the total amount of COVID-19 aerosol that is spread from 30 seconds of speaking is higher than just one cough, and it remains for up to an hour.
A #COVID19-positive person speaking to someone is as dangerous as coughing near them, new Cambridge University research shows. https://t.co/i9sYeQpsPJ pic.twitter.com/8CEYFSxc3j
— Arab News (@arabnews) January 21, 2021
The team added that in small spaces and without ventilation, this might be enough to cause COVID-19.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
