In recent days, Americans have been told by the Centers of Disease Control that they should cover their mouth and nose when going into public areas. The hope is that if Americans do this it will lessen the possibility of someone coming into contact with droplets of the Coronavirus that could be spread from a person coughing or sneezing. Ideally, people should be staying at home unless it is absolutely necessary to venture into public areas -- such as the grocery store. However, in my opinion the six-foot distance recommendation seems to be a minimal suggestion.
Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has shown that the force of a sneeze can send around 100,000 germs. Sneezes start at the back of the throat and can spread as many as 40,000 droplets out at speed of up to 200 miles per hour.
An associate professor at MIT -- who has researched the dynamics of exhalations (coughs and sneezes, for instance) for several years at The Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory -- states that exhalations cause gaseous clouds that can travel up to 27 feet. The distance can vary given various combinations of an individual's physiology and the environmental conditions -- such as humidity and temperature. The researcher argues that a gaseous cloud that can carry droplets of all sizes is emitted when a person coughs, sneezes or otherwise exhales, and the cloud is only partially lessened by sneezing or coughing into your elbow. Generally, while the largest droplets from a sneeze settled about 3 to 6 feet away from the sneezer, smaller and evaporating droplets remain suspended longer and can wind up 27 feet away. MIT's research has shown that smaller and evaporating droplets are "trapped in the turbulent puff cloud" and remain suspended. Over the course of second to a few minutes it can travel the dimensions of a room and land up to 27 feet away.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force led by Vice President Mike Pence, is skeptical of MIT's research and calls it "misleading." Fauci said at a White House press briefing that it would take a "very, very robust, vigorous, achoo sneeze" for droplets to even come close to traveling such a distance.
It has been reported that the current recommendations for 6 feet of spacing have been based on a model of disease transmission developed in the 1930s. I don't believe the 21st century research of MIT should be so easily dismissed as "misleading."
From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),
Paul J. Staso
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Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek
Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:
- United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
- Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
- Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
- Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
- The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
- Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
- Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
- Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
- Some Cycling Moments From The Past
