{"id":32914,"date":"2020-07-09T09:49:36","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T15:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=32914"},"modified":"2021-01-21T09:08:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T16:08:00","slug":"covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 and airborne aerosols: What you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>The virus that causes COVID-19 may be more infectious than previously known through airborne aerosols, spurring an international group of 239 scientists <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/cid\/article\/doi\/10.1093\/cid\/ciaa939\/5867798\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">to call for new warnings from the World Health Organization<\/a> (WHO).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_33460\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33460\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33460\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/31155854\/man-sleeping-on-plane-e1596232839897.webp\" alt=\"man sleeping with mask on a plane - airborne covid \" width=\"800\" height=\"528\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/31155854\/man-sleeping-on-plane-e1596232839897.webp 600w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/31155854\/man-sleeping-on-plane-e1596232839897-300x198.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/31155854\/man-sleeping-on-plane-e1596232839897-150x99.webp 150w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/31155854\/man-sleeping-on-plane-e1596232839897-200x132.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33460\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Experts are advising people to be very careful about crowded indoor spaces like airplanes. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"su-callout-box col-xs-6 col-sm-6 right\" style=\"background-color:#dce4e7; color:#2e3b44;\">\n<h3><strong>Staying safe from airborne COVID-19 particles. Learn more:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/six-steps-to-slowing-airborne-aerosol-coronavirus-transmission\/\"><b>Six steps to slow airborne aerosol coronavirus transmission<\/b><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/\"><strong>Science says: Wear a mask<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>The scientists are concerned that people who are spending time in poorly ventilated indoor spaces like bars, restaurants, churches, salons, classrooms and crowded modes of public transit may not understand how important it is for them to wear masks so they can prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>The group of experts includes <a href=\"http:\/\/cires.colorado.edu\/jimenez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose-Luis Jimenez<\/a>, a University of Colorado Boulder expert on aerosols, atmospheric chemistry and air quality. Jimenez has been working with the group that published their paper, <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/cid\/article\/doi\/10.1093\/cid\/ciaa939\/5867798\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cIt is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of COVID-19\u201d<\/a> in the journal, <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/cid\/pages\/About\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clinical Infectious Diseases<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32921\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32921\" style=\"width: 214px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-32921\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez.webp\" alt=\"Jose-Luis Jimenez researches aerosols and airborn transmission of COVID-19\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez-214x300.webp 214w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez-107x150.webp 107w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez-200x280.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32921\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jose-Luis Jimenez, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe one thing we would like the world to do is to take this seriously, but not to be frightened. We need to explain what is going on. This is not like measles (which is highly transmissible in airborne particles) but, it can go through the air. And that\u2019s why we need to do things like wear masks,\u201d Jimenez said.<\/p>\n<p>The warning from Jimenez and his fellow scientists already has generated action. WHO leaders now have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/07\/health\/coronavirus-aerosols-who.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pledged to review their guidance on airborne transmission<\/a>, a move that Jimenez praised.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are glad that WHO is moving towards acknowledging the accumulating evidence and may add aerosol transmission indoors to the likely modes of transmission,\u201d Jimenez said after WHO leaders responded to the scientists\u2019 plea. \u201cThis would allow people around the world to better protect themselves and fight the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jimenez and the other scientists have been urging health leaders to recognize and more openly warn the public about airborne spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.<br \/>\n<div class=\"su-callout-box col-xs-6 col-sm-6 right\" style=\"background-color:#dce4e7; color:#2e3b44;\">\n<h3><strong>Staying safe from airborne COVID-19 particles<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Avoid the 3 Cs:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Closed and poorly ventilated spaces<\/li>\n<li>Crowds<\/li>\n<li>Close contact<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Other safety measures:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Always wear masks indoors and in crowded spaces.<\/li>\n<li>Stay at least 6 feet away from people.<\/li>\n<li>Open windows or use HEPA filters to refresh indoor air.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere is significant potential for inhalation exposure to viruses in microscopic respiratory aerosols (micro-droplets) at short to medium distances\u2026and we are advocating for the use of preventive measures to mitigate this route of airborne transmission,\u201d the scientists wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStudies\u2026have demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses are released during exhalation, talking and coughing in micro-droplets small enough to remain aloft in the air and pose a risk of exposure at distances beyond 1 to 2 meters (or about 3 to 6.5 feet) from an infected individual,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course we need to do more research, but the evidence is overwhelming that this happens,\u201d Jimenez said.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this summer, he also co-authored <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2020.06.15.20132027v2\">a paper about a super-spreader event in which 53 members of the Skagit Valley Chorale in Mount Vernon, Wash. became sick<\/a>. Jimenez said it\u2019s clear that the choir member who was sick could not have personally coughed or propelled the virus onto all the other choir members. Thus, the virus-containing aerosols, which would have stayed suspended in the poorly ventilated room, provide the only reasonable explanation for how so many people became sick. Jimenez and others calculated how the aerosols spread in the room.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTransmission by the airborne route is likely,\u201d Jimenez and the study co-authors wrote. \u201cIt is vital to identify features of cases such as this so as to better understand the factors that promote super-spreading events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jimenez said there is less concern about transmission in well-ventilated facilities like hospitals with good ventilation systems, new buildings or large places like grocery stores that also have good ventilation systems. In addition, by the time patients who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 are sick enough to be hospitalized, the concentrations of viable virus in their respiratory tracts are lower, and thus they likely are spreading fewer virus particles into the air. Researchers believe that people who get COVID-19 are most infectious when they begin to show symptoms. And experts believe that the virus spreads easily when people cough, sneeze, speak loudly, breathe forcefully or sing and are in close contact with other people.<\/p>\n<p>Jimenez, himself, plans to be very careful if he is teaching in-person classes this fall at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He said everyone on campus must wear masks. He said administrators have been doing a great job of reducing capacity for classrooms and installing better air filtration systems in older buildings.<br \/>\n<div class=\"su-callout-box col-xs-6 col-sm-6 right\" style=\"background-color:#dce4e7; color:#2e3b44;\">\n<p><strong>Airborne COVID-19: What is the difference between a droplet and an aerosol?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Droplets:<\/strong> When people sneeze or cough, they can expel particles filled with the virus that causes COVID-19. Droplets are relatively heavy. So they usually fall to the ground within two seconds and don&#8217;t travel much beyond 6 feet. Masks and social distancing can help prevent the spread of droplets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Aerosols: <\/strong>These particles are lighter, smaller and can float. Aerosols could stay aloft for minutes or hours in poorly ventilated indoor areas, thus causing possible transmission of the coronavirus. Avoiding crowds and wearing masks could greatly help to reduce the spread of airborne COVID-19 particles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jimenez also is avoiding flying on airplanes until there\u2019s a safe and effective vaccine for the new coronavirus. While airplanes have very good air filtration systems, Jimenez said it\u2019s possible to be sitting too close to a seatmate or a person in a nearby row and to become infected with the virus before the filtration system is able to neutralize it.<\/p>\n<p>Jimenez does not want people to panic. Rather, he thinks it\u2019s important for health officials to clearly explain to Americans and people around the world why wearing masks, staying at least 6 feet away from people and avoiding crowds is so important.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese measures are not so different from what we are doing already,\u201d Jimenez said. \u201cWhat you want to do is avoid indoor places that are crowded with low ventilation and places where people are talking loudly or singing. Always wear masks indoors (aside from your home) and in crowded places outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are Jimenez\u2019 suggestions for staying safe from airborne particles of the virus:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Avoid crowds indoors.<\/li>\n<li>Wear masks.<\/li>\n<li>Stay at least 6 feet away from people.<\/li>\n<li>Open windows or use HEPA filters to refresh indoor air.<\/li>\n<li>Inexpensive changes can accomplish a great deal.<\/li>\n<li>If needed, upgrade heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) filters to what are known as MERV 13 filters in for places like commercial buildings and classrooms.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid indoor bars, restaurants, salons and churches that are not well ventilated or do not have air filtration systems. Instead go to places where service is offered outdoors.<\/li>\n<li>If you are outside, you don\u2019t need a mask if you are not in close contact with people outside of your family, for example on an isolated mountain trail. But, if you are in closer proximity with people on a city street, you might want to wear masks. Imagine that the people you cross are smoking cigarettes. You don\u2019t want to inhale or smell the smoke they exhale without a mask.<\/li>\n<li>In general, being outdoors is much safer than spending time indoors since there is almost always air flow and UV sunlight during the day destroys the virus quickly.<\/li>\n<li>Follow the advice of Japanese health authorities, which can be boiled down to the three Cs: avoid closed and poorly ventilated spaces, crowds and close contact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cPeople are very confused and may not understand why masks are necessary,\u201d Jimenez said.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why he and his colleagues think it\u2019s vital to explain how airborne droplets can be expelled into the air and can then migrate.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32919\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32919\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-32919\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08111234\/Woman-with-mask-and-empty-restaurant-tiny.webp\" alt=\"Concerns about airborne COVID-19 are increasing. Here, a woman wearing a masks gazes inside an empty restaurant.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08111234\/Woman-with-mask-and-empty-restaurant-tiny.webp 600w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08111234\/Woman-with-mask-and-empty-restaurant-tiny-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08111234\/Woman-with-mask-and-empty-restaurant-tiny-150x100.webp 150w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08111234\/Woman-with-mask-and-empty-restaurant-tiny-200x133.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32919\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poorly ventilated indoor spaces could put people at greater risk for exposure to airborne particles that spread COVID-19. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt also seems that there is a great deal of resistance to the word, \u2018airborne\u2019 because medical people think immediately of airborne measles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not like measles. It\u2019s much less transmissible than measles (which can infect for several hours after an infected person left the room,\u201d Jimenez said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCOVID-19 doesn\u2019t seem to do that. It goes through the air, but it needs some help to build up sufficient viral load to infect, like poor ventilation,\u201d Jimenez said.<\/p>\n<p>He cautioned that the new information about airborne transmission does not mean that the virus has \u201csuddenly become much more contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, studies do confirm that much more consistent mask usage could dramatically cut infections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you take the right measures and you maintain them, and you understand why these measures are needed, then you can be more successful in curbing the pandemic,\u201d Jimenez said.<\/p>\n<p>Some people believe masks inhibit their freedoms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t about freedom at all. It\u2019s about the mechanisms the virus is using to spread. You have to wear a mask because you are exhaling particles that contain bits of your respiratory lining, and they could have viruses in them. And someone else might breathe them in,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is something people need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The virus that causes COVID-19 may be more infectious than previously known through airborne aerosols, spurring an international group of 239 scientists to call for new warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO). The scientists are concerned that people who are spending time in poorly ventilated indoor spaces like bars, restaurants, churches, salons, classrooms and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2123,"featured_media":33460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4859,4860],"class_list":["post-32914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Airborne COVID-19 transmission: What you need to know - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The virus that causes COVID-19 may be more infectious than previously known through airborne aerosols. 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Avoid poorly ventilated indoor spaces and wear masks.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCHealth Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-09T15:49:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-21T16:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/31155854\/man-sleeping-on-plane-e1596232839897.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d43cd81d6f8e440a3e496f8a012c68e9\"},\"headline\":\"COVID-19 and airborne aerosols: What you need to know\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-09T15:49:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-21T16:08:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/\"},\"wordCount\":1646,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/31155854\/man-sleeping-on-plane-e1596232839897.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"coronavirus\",\"COVID-19\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/\",\"name\":\"Airborne COVID-19 transmission: What you need to know - UCHealth Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/31155854\/man-sleeping-on-plane-e1596232839897.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-09T15:49:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-21T16:08:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"The virus that causes COVID-19 may be more infectious than previously known through airborne aerosols. 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