Covid-19 Virus airborne: US CDC

TNI Bureau:   Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve continued to learn more and more about COVID-19, including how it spreads and how to protect ourselves. When it comes to spread, in particular, the health experts have expected for many months that this novel coronavirus may be airborne.

Now, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has accepted that the corona virus is really airborne and can be transmitted from person-to-person in certain situations particularly in enclosed spaces and areas which are poorly ventilated.

In this regard, the CDC issued a fresh advisory mentioning that the virus spreads by three primarily ways-inhalation, deposition and touching. When one inhales the air carrying very small fine particles containing the COVID-19 virus, one gets infected.

Along with inhalation, deposition or getting infected when one is ‘coughed at’ is also another means of COVID-19 transmission. Besides, the virus can be passed from person-to-person via handshakes or touching contaminated surfaces and then touching our eyes, nose or mouth. So, to protect from infection, one should wear mask and maintain social distancing of at least six feet.

To be considered airborne, it does not mean that it is in the air and wherever you are, you can catch it. The health experts say, if there is Covid-19 positive person in a small room or an enclosed place which lacks ventilation and the person coughs or sneezes, there are increased chances of spreading the disease from one person to another because the droplets stay in the air for 30 minutes to 1 hour and can travel farther than 1 metre.

“If someone is smoking a cigarette in a corner of a large room, and you are standing in another corner, you can smell the cigarette smoke. This is how the virus currently behaving. It scatters from one part of the room to another and if one person is infected in that room, it is likely that others sharing the same space will get infected if they are unmasked,” top level health experts confirmed.

To prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission, one has to maintain physical distancing, use well-fitting masks, stay in well-ventilated room and avoid crowded indoor spaces.