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Areport from the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released on April 1 states that based on current research, SARS-CoV-2 may be spread through aerosols. The letter cites a recent study at the University of Nebraska Medical Center that found “widespread evidence of viral RNA in isolation rooms where patients with SARS-CoV-2 were receiving care” in air and surface samples. Even air collectors that were more than six feet away from patients detected the RNA, calling into question whether current social distancing guidelines are sufficient to prevent the spread of the disease.
To date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that larger respiratory droplets expelled when infected people cough or sneeze are the primary means of transmitting the coronavirus, reports Science, but the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 could be airborne implies that ...
