New research suggests the coronavirus can spread through talking and even breathing, according to a committee convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to advise the White House.
In a letter to the White House Science Adviser Kelvin Droegemeier Wednesday, Dr. Harvey Fineberg, chairman of the Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats, wrote the new coronavirus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, that causes the illness COVID-19 might be spread simply through exhaled breath.
“Currently available research supports the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 could be spread via bioaerosols generated directly by patients’ exhalation,” Fineberg wrote.
Fineberg acknowledges that the studies cited have not yet been peer reviewed because scientists are still trying to determine the “viral activity in the collected samples.” But scientists can’t rule out that infected people, including those who are asymptomatic, sometimes exhale COVID-19 virus particles, rather than just when coughing or sneezing.
“You may generate the droplets that are invisible, they are so tiny you can’t see them, but they are certainly big enough to carry a virus, if you happen to have it in you if you are talking,” Fineberg said in an interview on TODAY.
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly added “talking” to the list of ways respiratory droplets can spread from person to person, which could explain in part how transmission takes place among people without symptoms like coughing and sneezing.
The findings add fuel to the debate of whether people should wear masks or other face covering when out in public. The Trump administration is formalizing new guidance to recommend that Americans who live in areas hard hit by community transmission wear face coverings in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
发表回复