Preprint

Communication

Bioaerosol Size Effect in COVID-19 Transmission

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A peer-reviewed article of this preprint also exists.

Marcelo Guzman^*

This version is not peer-reviewed

This preprints belongs to the Collection

Preprints on COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2

Submitted:

06 April 2020

Posted:

07 April 2020

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Abstract

The fast spread of COVID-19 constitutes a worldwide challenge to the public health, educational, and trade systems, affecting the overall wellbeing of human societies. The high transmission and mortality rates of this virus, and the unavailability of a vaccine and antidote, resulted in the decision of multiple governments to force measurements of social distancing. Thus, it is of general interest to consider the validity of the proposal for keeping a social distancing of at least 6.0 ft (1.8 m) from persons with COVID-19. The eventual exposure to the bioaerosol can result in the deposition o the pathogen in the respiratory track of the host causing disease and an immunological response. In the atmospheric context, the work evaluates the effect of aerodynamic particle size in carrying RNA copies of the novel coronavirus. A COVID-19 carrier person talking, sneezing, or coughing at distance of 1.8 m can still provide a pathogenic bioaerosol load with submicron particles that remain viable in air for up to 3 hours for exposure of healthy persons near and far the source in a stagnant environment. The deposited bioaerosol creates contaminated surfaces, which if touched can act as a path to introduce the pathogen by mouth, nose, or eyes and cause disease.

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Subject: Medicine and Pharmacology - Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases

Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.