Corona Symptoms: Social distancing of six feet won’t be sufficient enough; here’s why

Coronavirus has engulfed the world in its grip and killed many people across the globe. To protect oneself from the deadly virus, one has to wear a mask and also maintain a social distancing of at least six feet.

Amid COVID-19 fear, another research claimed that maintaining social distancing may not be sufficient enough as respiratory droplets can travel 8-13 feet, according to a mathematical model-based analysis of respiratory droplets by researchers.

The new study was conducted by the researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Banglore, and the University of Toronto and the University of California San Diego. In a collaborative study, researchers have modeled the role of respiratory droplets in the novel coronavirus using the aerodynamics and evaporation characteristics of respiratory droplets.

The study also claimed that by wearing a face mask the virus cannot be spread, as the longest surviving respiratory droplets are in the range of 18-50 microns. Hence, a face mask could protect a human from the contraction of the virus.

According to the research, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is responsible for the COVID-19, which can be transmitted via respiratory droplets.

A paper published in the journal Physics of Fluids has modeled the pandemic dynamics with a reaction mechanism, wherein each reaction has a rate constant obtained by calculating the droplet collision frequency. After then, researchers compared the droplet could be ejected by COVID-19 positive person versus a healthy person.

“The size of the droplet cloud, the distance it travels, and the droplet lifetimes are, therefore, all important factors that we calculated using conservation of mass, momentum, energy, and species,” said Swetaprovo Chaudhuri, one of the authors.

During the study, researchers found that without wind and ambient conditions, respiratory droplets can travel between 8 and 13 feet before they evaporate.

With this study, it is important that people should maintain social distancing over 6 feet now. Also, wearing a face mask is a must for everyone.

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