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Comment by jakkals | Hacker News Reader

> It doesn't seem to be an airborn virus, but it does survive on surfaces.

I just read this last night, and from this I had the impression that it is an airborne virus, and that surface spreading is not the main vector:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/transmission...

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The "airborne" transmission in that link is what I believe is called "aerosol transmission", not airborne. Because it relies on liquid droplets in the air, and not actually able to transmit on something like dist in the air.

There is also transmission (actually the first one mentioned) "Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet)"--this does not mention liquid droplets at all, which is why I figured it to be airborne.

That's because many people are disgusting and don't give a fuck about proper hygiene. Just among my acquaintances I need both hands an a foot to count the number that don't even vaguely cover their mouth / nose -- let alone _properly_ cover -- while coughing or sneezing.

No amount of gentle reminder -> passive aggressive suggestion -> explicit suggestion had lasting effects on their behavior. All I could do is be vigilant and recluse myself from their company whenever one's clearly showing symptoms.

The number of people I've seen 'properly' covering their mouth when they sneezed, with their hand instead of, say, elbow sleeve, and then touching all the things, is worrying.

Wearing simple masks and glasses (!!!) would then protect against this vector.

Thank you for correcting that. Big difference between the two and people will happily play 'Chinese whispers' with these bits of information leading to a totally different overall picture.

Airborne transmission doesn't require any other medium than the air itself, even dust is optional.

Is any virus truly airborne?

Measles is indicated as airborn transmission on the R0 wiki[1]. It is pretty crazy with an R0 of 12-18.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number

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