Airborne Transmission Route of COVID-19: Why 2 Meters/6 Feet of Inter-Personal Distance Could Not Be Enough

Leonardo Setti, Fabrizio Passarini, Gianluigi De Gennaro, Pierluigi Barbieri, Maria Grazia Perrone, Massimo Borelli, Jolanda Palmisani, Alessia Di Gilio, Prisco Piscitelli and Alessandro Miani
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Leonardo Setti: Department of Industrial Chemistry, University of Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Fabrizio Passarini: Interdepartmental Centre for Industrial Research “Renewable Sources, Environment, Blue Growth, Energy”, University of Bologna, 47921 Rimini, Italy
Gianluigi De Gennaro: Department of Biology, University “Aldo Moro” of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy
Pierluigi Barbieri: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy
Maria Grazia Perrone: Environmental Research Division, TCR TECORA, 20094 Milan, Italy
Massimo Borelli: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy
Jolanda Palmisani: Department of Biology, University “Aldo Moro” of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy
Alessia Di Gilio: Department of Biology, University “Aldo Moro” of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy
Prisco Piscitelli: UNESCO Chair on Health Education and Sustainable Development, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy
Alessandro Miani: Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (SIMA), 20149 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-6

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic caused the shutdown of entire nations all over the world. In addition to mobility restrictions of people, the World Health Organization and the Governments have prescribed maintaining an inter-personal distance of 1.5 or 2 m (about 6 feet) from each other in order to minimize the risk of contagion through the droplets that we usually disseminate around us from nose and mouth. However, recently published studies support the hypothesis of virus transmission over a distance of 2 m from an infected person. Researchers have proved the higher aerosol and surface stability of SARS-COV-2 as compared with SARS-COV-1 (with the virus remaining viable and infectious in aerosol for hours) and that airborne transmission of SARS-CoV can occur besides close-distance contacts. Indeed, there is reasonable evidence about the possibility of SARS-COV-2 airborne transmission due to its persistence into aerosol droplets in a viable and infectious form. Based on the available knowledge and epidemiological observations, it is plausible that small particles containing the virus may diffuse in indoor environments covering distances up to 10 m from the emission sources, thus representing a kind of aerosol transmission. On-field studies carried out inside Wuhan Hospitals showed the presence of SARS-COV-2 RNA in air samples collected in the hospitals and also in the surroundings, leading to the conclusion that the airborne route has to be considered an important pathway for viral diffusion. Similar findings are reported in analyses concerning air samples collected at the Nebraska University Hospital. On March 16th, we have released a Position Paper emphasizing the airborne route as a possible additional factor for interpreting the anomalous COVID-19 outbreaks in northern Italy, ranked as one of the most polluted areas in Europe and characterized by high particulate matter (PM) concentrations. The available information on the SARS-COV-2 spreading supports the hypothesis of airborne diffusion of infected droplets from person to person at a distance greater than two meters (6 feet). The inter-personal distance of 2 m can be reasonably considered as an effective protection only if everybody wears face masks in daily life activities.

Keywords: COVID-19; airborne transmission; social distancing; droplets; persistence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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