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Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. · Jun 2020
The airborne lifetime of small speech droplets and their potential importance in SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
- Valentyn Stadnytskyi, Christina E Bax, Adriaan Bax, and Philip Anfinrud.
- Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0520.
- Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2020 Jun 2; 117 (22): 11875-11877.
AbstractSpeech droplets generated by asymptomatic carriers of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are increasingly considered to be a likely mode of disease transmission. Highly sensitive laser light scattering observations have revealed that loud speech can emit thousands of oral fluid droplets per second. In a closed, stagnant air environment, they disappear from the window of view with time constants in the range of 8 to 14 min, which corresponds to droplet nuclei of ca. 4 μm diameter, or 12- to 21-μm droplets prior to dehydration. These observations confirm that there is a substantial probability that normal speaking causes airborne virus transmission in confined environments.Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.
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