Does covid 19 spread through air?
SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) or covid 19 is the talk of the universe as on date. Most of the countries are under lockdown for many many weeks. The city of Wuhan (China) has opened after 11 weeks of shut down- which also shows an example that the disease can be controlled.
One article in nature (April 2020) describes the controversy about the spread of covid19 through air. Scientists do not agree on this. Except a few lab-experiments on imaging a sneezing, there are not much data as of now. Therefore, all the governments have suggested to wear a mask (just to cover the nose and mouth). The mask can be a simple cloth. This is supposed to stop the aerosols or the small droplets in which the virus is travelling in the air.
Covid19 has a size of about 100 nm {RNA length of 30 base pair (bp) with 1bp containing about 1000 nucleotides}. This means 2 micrometer diameter droplet (the size known as an aerosol) cold contain about 1000 of these viruses (along with the water content of the aerosol). These aerosols will last for about 3 hours in the air at normal temperature and humidity.
These aerosols, generally spherical in shape also undergo Mie scattering which can be helpful in damaging the virus in Sunny areas by quickly reducing the size of the droplet. The Air-conditioned atmosphere on the other hand is better for the infection due to cold and recirculating air in the plae. Therefore, it has been suggested to keep the air circulating. The exposure 'time' and 'amount' of the virus is required to get the person infected to the level of the sickness.
Therefore, besides the usual practice of the washing the hands with soap Or using the sanitizes, it is suggested to
1. wear cloth masks
2. keep the windows open
3. maintain the social distancing
It looks any way, in future, the social distancing will be a basic need of the society and shaking hands can be a thing of the past!
Prem
10th April 2020
SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) or covid 19 is the talk of the universe as on date. Most of the countries are under lockdown for many many weeks. The city of Wuhan (China) has opened after 11 weeks of shut down- which also shows an example that the disease can be controlled.
One article in nature (April 2020) describes the controversy about the spread of covid19 through air. Scientists do not agree on this. Except a few lab-experiments on imaging a sneezing, there are not much data as of now. Therefore, all the governments have suggested to wear a mask (just to cover the nose and mouth). The mask can be a simple cloth. This is supposed to stop the aerosols or the small droplets in which the virus is travelling in the air.
Covid19 has a size of about 100 nm {RNA length of 30 base pair (bp) with 1bp containing about 1000 nucleotides}. This means 2 micrometer diameter droplet (the size known as an aerosol) cold contain about 1000 of these viruses (along with the water content of the aerosol). These aerosols will last for about 3 hours in the air at normal temperature and humidity.
These aerosols, generally spherical in shape also undergo Mie scattering which can be helpful in damaging the virus in Sunny areas by quickly reducing the size of the droplet. The Air-conditioned atmosphere on the other hand is better for the infection due to cold and recirculating air in the plae. Therefore, it has been suggested to keep the air circulating. The exposure 'time' and 'amount' of the virus is required to get the person infected to the level of the sickness.
Therefore, besides the usual practice of the washing the hands with soap Or using the sanitizes, it is suggested to
1. wear cloth masks
2. keep the windows open
3. maintain the social distancing
It looks any way, in future, the social distancing will be a basic need of the society and shaking hands can be a thing of the past!
Prem
10th April 2020
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