The key to stopping covid-19? Addressing airborne transmission. - The Washington Post - 0 views
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Airborne transmission — caused by small particles that can linger in the air for extended periods of time, unlike droplets from coughs, which settle quickly — is key to understanding why this disease spreads so rapidly in certain circumstances. It’s also key to figuring out how best to reopen our country.
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The explosive transmission on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, as well as other coronavirus outbreaks, constituted telltale signs that airborne transmission was happening.
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Scientists have detected the virus in places that can be reached only by air, such as ductwork; asymptomatic transmission is occurring, meaning people are spreading this without coughing or sneezing large droplets; and basic aerosol physics shows that people shed an entire continuum of particles when they cough, sneeze or talk, including large particles that settle out quickly and smaller ones that stay afloat for hours.
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Why is airborne transmission so important? One reason: super-spreader events. Covid-19 does not spread from one person to the next equally.
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Such super-spreader events appear to be happening exclusively indoors, where airborne transmission is more likely.
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when people sing, they emit as many aerosol particles as they do when they’re coughing. The practice also happened from 6:30 to 9 p.m., when most buildings turn off their ventilation systems.
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To do that, we need to do two things. First, maintain physical distancing. Six feet is good, but 10 feet is better
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We do this by opening windows in our homes and cars and by increasing the outdoor air ventilation rate in buildings with HVAC systems
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We also have to make sure places such as bathrooms and rooms with infected patients have enough exhaust, and are negatively pressurized relative to common areas, so any airborne virus is confined to limited areas.
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Florence Nightingale said, "Cleanliness and fresh air from open windows, with unremitting attention to the patient are the only defence a true nurse either asks or needs."
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Just looking at these next few statistics will tell you everything you need to know about where we need to target our intervention efforts
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One in 3 deaths nationally are workers or residents of senior homes; nine of the top 10 clusters in the United States occur in meatpacking plants and prisons; the death rate in hot spots is 10-fold higher in areas with lower incomes; and communities of color have nearly five times the odds of infection.