Staying 6-ft apart from a Covid patient isn’t enough!

Covid can infect or transmit when one is more than six feet away from an infected person

Hyderabad: The Covid-19 is not only an airborne disease but also has the ability to infect or transmit when one is more than six feet away from an infected person, the latest advisory from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States, said.

Till now, the understanding among public health specialists was that airborne transmission was the key mode of transmission and it could infect individuals up to six feet. However, Friday’s advisory that one could get infected from more than a distance of six feet should force all to take more precautionary measures.

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“Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from inhalation of virus in the air farther than six feet from an infectious source can occur. Although infections through inhalation at distances greater than six feet from an infectious source are less likely than at closer distances, the phenomenon has been repeatedly documented under certain preventable circumstances,” the CDC said.

In effect, the CDC said that the airborne virus can be inhaled even when one is more than six feet away from an infected person. The virus-laden particles are also airborne for hours and get accumulated in a room, which then is transmitted if somebody inhales them.

Coronavirus continues to remain persistent and stable in the air for many hours. “That’s why, inside closed spaces, ventilation is key. Both ventilation and masks are needed to reduce risk indoors. But most buildings are not ventilated well enough,” noted epidemiologist and Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington DC, Dr Eric Feigl-Ding, on Saturday tweeted.

The CDC said that “infectious persons exhaling virus indoors for an extended time (more than 15 minutes and in some cases hours) leads to virus concentrations in the air space sufficient to transmit infections to people more than six feet away”. Such instances happen in enclosed spaces with inadequate ventilation or air handling, which results in the accumulation of exhaled respiratory fluids, especially fine droplets and aerosol particles that build up in the air space.

What the finding says

• Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says the airborne virus can be inhaled even when one is more than 6 feet away from an infected person
• Such instances usually happen in enclosed spaces with inadequate ventilation
• In such spaces, exhaled respiratory fluids, especially very fine droplets and aerosol particles can build up in the air space
• The universal use of masks has now become much more important
• Proper cross ventilation and masks in enclosed spaces are must
• In enclosed spaces, virus particles have the ability to remain airborne for hours

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