In order not to infect other people with the coronavirus, you should cough in the elbow, not in your hand. (Icon image) Image: iStockphoto / nensuria
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Corona Virus and Cough: Can You Get Infected With Airborne Viruses?
If you skilfully cough into your elbow when you go for a walk, in the supermarket or pharmacy, you can be sure that you will still get angry looks. The spreading corona virus has made us more careful of our fellow human beings. Finally we know: The virus, which in the worst case triggers life-threatening pneumonia, can be transmitted via cough.
It is clear that you should avoid being coughed up directly by someone else. Because then you could come into contact with droplets that contain viruses. If these droplets get to your mucous membranes, i.e. if you put your hands in your mouth or eyes, you can become infected. This is the classic way of becoming infected with other respiratory diseases, such as the common cold or flu.
So far there is only one study that measures how long the coronavirus stays in the air
But what about an airborne infection? Can you get the corona virus if someone coughs next to you, maybe even in a closed room, and you breathe in that air? Can the virus “get stuck” in the air?
It has not yet been sufficiently researched whether it can be infected by air. So far there is only one US study from the NIH health institute. The researchers demonstrated in an experiment that an atomized virus remained in the air for up to three hours.
The results of the Corona study cannot be fully applied to everyday life
However, the researchers point out that droplets that are normally released when coughing or sneezing are heavier and fall to the ground faster than the fine spray droplets that the scientists created.
In addition, the experiment is a laboratory study, so it was not carried out under real conditions. Factors such as air humidity, temperature and air circulation could therefore contribute to the everyday life of the virus falling to the ground more quickly or decaying quickly.
Virologist Christian Drosten of the Berlin Charité also thinks that the results of the US study should be treated with caution. As for the ability of the virus to stay in the air, the expert says in his NDR podcast “Coronavirus Update”:
However, if the drop containing viruses is small enough to stay in the air, it dries out relatively quickly, explains Drosten. And when the virus is no longer surrounded by liquid, it also dries out and dies.
In the podcast episode on Monday, Drosten also says that exposure to exhaled air is particularly difficult outside: “When you are outside, what you exhale is diluted and, of course, the virus is also diluted.”
You are unlikely to be infected through the air alone
So you are unlikely to be infected with Covid-19 if you breathe the same air as someone who has tested positive. For this purpose, virologist Hendrik Streeck from the University Hospital Bonn took air samples from households of people who had tested positive for the corona virus. So far, twelve samples have been tested for the virus, as Streeck said last Wednesday on “Stern TV”. Therefore if all samples were negative, they contained no viruses.
However, since the droplets of infected people infected with viruses could fly up to two meters with the cough, it is nevertheless said: Keep your distance, avoid contacts – and wash your hands thoroughly. Especially before you touch your face or eat anything.
(ak)
