Experts in hydrodynamics have joined in the study of the transmission routes of COVID-19.
The social distance prescribed in many countries of 1.5-2 meters is too short to protect people from contamination of each other. That is, from the further spread of the deadly coronavirus infection - COVID-19. Including between patients of clinics and hospitals. After all, if someone sneezes, be it indoors or outdoors, the infection will “shoot” much further. This is clearly demonstrated by Professor Lydia Bourouiba, a mathematician and fluid dynamics specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Using a high-speed camera, the researcher filmed sneezing and coughing. I captured in detail the "clouds" of aerosol - particles of saliva and phlegm, which fly out of them. I saw where they were going, how, how long they were in the air. The professor reported the results to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), publishing an article there under the very harsh title Turbulent Gas Clouds and Respiratory Pathogen Emissions. She described there a complex turbulent process of the spread of coronaviruses on droplets, the burst emissions of which, at a tremendous speed for such a trifle - from 10 to 30 meters per second - burst out of mouths and noses.
Large droplets fly out first. They fly not far.
From the experiments and calculations of Buruiba, which the Daily Mail refers to, it follows: gas clouds, densely saturated with viruses, in a very compact form - a kind of clot - move about 8 meters. It is not the record holders who are capable of such an achievement - ordinary citizens. No doping or training.
A gas cloud saturated with microscopic droplets already flies a considerable distance.
In other words, sneezing 8 meters long will easily hit, for example, a line from obediently observing a social distance of 2 meters right up to the fourth one standing in it. Not to mention those who are closer - the first in front of the sneeze, the second and the third. Sniffing viruses for a mile a soul, as they say. Consistent with scientific findings.
The farthest away from the sneezer is the cloudy clot. The clot is full of viruses if the sneeze is contagious.
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What to do? Sneezing at home is better alone. If you really want to go out, then sneeze into a mask or, at least, into your sleeve. Of course - in their own.
People around - especially those standing in front - should never turn at the sneezer. That is, to adhere to the advice that the angels gave at one time - albeit for a slightly different reason - to the family of old man Lot, who was leaving the biblical Sodom, overflowing with gay people. It was a good advice. It will come in handy in the current situation.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY
