CDC has recommended a safe 6-foot social distancing, so that one does not contract the coronavirus, but researchers say that its not enough.
Portland State University dean, Richard Corsi who is also president of the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate, said after studying the spread of coronavirus and recommended 20 feet as the safe distance when outdoors. Lack of proper ventilation indoors demands more distancing he said to Oregonlive. "It's just been driving us nuts," Corsi said.
A study published in the Journal of American Medicine by a researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that coronavirus can travel almost 27 feet indoors during a sneeze. The virus could remain afloat in air for hours.
Scientists said that virus in saliva and mucus droplets are as small as 1/200th the width of a human hair, it can enter the air even when someone speaks or breathes. Another study published in the New England Journal of Medicine further found the coronavirus could stay in the air and remain infectious for three hours.
The CDC previously said that that 25 percent of those infected by novel coronavirus were asymptomatic and has spread it unknowingly among communities. This made the federal agency on Friday to recommend that all Americans to wear face masks or homemade ones as opposed to its previous stand. However, the CDC still goes by the six feet guideline.
WHO critiqued
Washington's Skagit county health officials in a statement to the LA times told that tiny particles suspended in the air were the reason for COVID-19 outbreak. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has told the public that they should remain three feet away from each other not sharing the same household, which is less than CDC's recommendation. Scientists have been critical of this. "WHO's recommendation is based on research done in the 1930s," tweeted an expert.
Corsi said that there could be "turbulent mixing" in the airflow outdoors, dispersing the virus droplets even if there's no wind. Some may fall to the floor quickly, while some tiny particles remain afloat.
He recommends 20ft social distancing when someone is coughing and 10ft when they are not. In case of runners, he said that they breathe heavily and could expel more virus in the air, thus advises on a 10 second pause before one crosses the runner's path. The Do-it-yourself masks can't stop tiny droplets entering the loose gaps of the mask, he said.
