LONDON: Talking to someone when caught with COVID-19 can be as dangerous as coughing near them because of tiny droplets called aerosol grains, a new study has shown.
COVID-19 can be transmitted through several routes, but research has shown that transmission is more common from aerosol droplets released when an infected person breathes, speaks or coughs.
This elevated route of transmission, experts say, could help explain why the virus spreads more easily indoors or when there is poor ventilation.
Large droplets fall off and are not a major hazard for transmission, but aerosols can carry the virus over distances greater than 2 meters and last longer.
Experts at Cambridge University have conducted studies to assess the risk of COVID-19 transmission from droplets and aerosols.
Their findings show that it only takes a second or two for discarded grains to travel more than 2 meters, providing significant challenges in reducing this risk of dispersal. .
“You need masks, you need speed and you need to be well ventilated so that these particles do not accumulate in an indoor space and they are safely removed,” said Dr. Pedro Magalhaes de Oliveira, an expert in linear mechanics at Cambridge University and co-author of the study.
The team concluded that it is unsafe to stand without a mask 2 meters away from a person with a talking or coughing infection, with both conditions being at higher risk.
This risk is especially high in undecorated areas, such as indoor situations with closed windows.
The team said the total amount of COVID-19 aerosol released from 30 seconds of talk is higher than just one cough, and will last for up to an hour.
The team said this could be in small areas and without ventilation, to cause COVID-19.