COVID-19 Virus Airborne, Can Spread Beyond 6 Feet: Top US Medical Body

The risk for infection decreases with increasing distance from the source and increasing time after exhalation, said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The principal mode by which people are infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is through very fine aerosolised particles released during respiration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidelines on Friday, almost a month after the Lancet found the virus is transmitted through the air. The top US medical body said the risk of transmission is greatest within three to six feet of an infectious source where the concentration of these very fine droplets and particles is greatest. Modes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission are now categorized as inhalation of virus, deposition of virus on exposed mucous membranes, and touching mucous membranes with soiled hands contaminated with virus. "People release respiratory fluids during exhalation (quiet breathing, speaking, singing, exercise, coughing, sneezing) in the form of droplets across a spectrum of sizes.1-9 These droplets carry virus and transmit infection," said the top US medical body.