Social-distancing guidelines\u00a0to stay 6 feet from others may be woefully inadequate, one scientist warns \u2014 saying the coronavirus can travel 27 feet and linger for hours.<\/p>\n
MIT associate professor Lydia Bourouiba, who has researched the dynamics of coughs and sneezes for years, warns in\u00a0newly published research\u00a0that the current guidelines are based on outdated models from the 1930s.<\/p>\n
Rather than the assumed safety of 6 feet, Bourouiba warns that \u201cpathogen-bearing droplets of all sizes can travel 23 to 27 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her research,\u00a0published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also warns that \u201cdroplets that settle along the trajectory can contaminate surfaces\u201d \u2014 and \u201cresidues or droplet nuclei\u201d may \u201cstay suspended in the air for hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
She notes a 2020 report from China that showed that \u201cvirus particles could be found in the ventilation systems in hospital rooms of patients with COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bourouiba fears that the current guidelines are \u201coverly simplified\u201d and \u201cmay limit the effectiveness of the proposed interventions\u201d against the deadly pandemic.<\/p>\n
She says it is particularly urgent for health care workers who, she argues in her report, face an \u201cunderappreciated potential exposure range\u201d while treating the sick and dying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s 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,\u201d Bourouiba\u00a0told USA Today.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization \u2014 which\u00a0suggests 3 feet is enough\u00a0to remain safe \u2014 told USA Today it \u201cwelcomed\u201d studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWHO carefully monitors emerging evidence about this critical topic and will update this scientific brief as more information becomes available,\u201d WHO said in a statement to the paper.<\/p>\n\n
Coronavirus could travel 27 feet, stay in air for hours Social-distancing guidelines\u00a0to stay 6 feet from others may be woefully inadequate, one scientist warns \u2014 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\u00a0newly published …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38],"tags":[4083,4108],"yoast_head":"\n