By Bayo Ogunmupe
The virus that causes covid-19 can persist in aerosol form. but the potential for transmission depends on many factors. these factors include infectiousness, dose and ventilation. Coronavirus is known to be spread via large droplets that fall to the ground. It can also be spread by smaller airborne particles. Six months into the pandemic that has claimed 5,482,799 confirmed cases in the world and with 346,100 deaths. In Nigeria, we have 7,839 cases, 2,263 discharged and 226 deaths as at the time of writing. Covid-19 has also decimated economies, sent German and Nigerian economies into recession. Sadly, scientists still lack a complete understanding of how the virus that cause it is transmitted.
Lockdowns are already easing in Europe, Australia, canada and the United States. People are now returning to a version of work and social life. Reusable, sterilized face masks, affordable hand sanitizers approved by NAFDAC are in use as protection against the disease. According to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization (WHO), Covid-19 is primarily spread by droplets from someone who is coughing, sneezing or even talking within a few feet away. But other reports hint that it could be transmitted through particles suspended in the air.
After attending a choir practice in Washington State, USA, in early March, dozens of people were diagnosed with developed symptoms of Covid-19 even though they had not shaken hands or stood close to one another; two of them died. After dining at an air-conditioned restaurant in China in late January, three families at neighboring tables became sickened with the virus through droplets blown through the air. To address the airborne spread of the dreaded disease, it is first necessary to understand what scientists mean by "airborne." The term refers to the transmission of tiny respiratory droplets that can remain suspended in the air (known as droplet nuclei)- as opposed to larger droplets that fall to the ground within a few feet. In reality, the difference between droplets and aerosols is not clear.
Airborne spread has been hypothesized for other deadly coronaviruses, including the one that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). A handful of studies suggest the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, can exist as an aerosol in health care settings. But much remain unknown about whether aerosolized virus is infectious and what amount of virus one needs to be exposed to in order to become sick. Even if aerosol transmission does occur, it isn't clear yet how common it is, compared with other transmission routes, such as droplets or surfaces.
The strongest evidence of airborne transmission of Covid-19 comes from a study published in late April in Nature. In it researchers measured the virus genetic material, or RNA, in aerosols sampled in February and March at two hospitals in Wuhan, China the city where the outbreak of Covid-19 began. The researchers found low levels of airborne viral RNA in the hospitals' isolation wards and in ventilated patient rooms. But they found higher levels of airborne viruses in patients' toilet areas. They also found high levels of viral RNA in places where medical workers remove protective gear, as well as in two crowding prone locations near the hospitals. The studies proved the existence of aerosol transmission as a non negligible route from infected carriers to someone nearby.
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