Hacker News Reader

Comment by calibas | Hacker News Reader

Why is virus transmission via aerosol such a controversial thing? When you cough, microscopic water drops get suspend in the air and studies have proven other strains of coronavirus can survive in these particles, especially in office conditions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32226116

And there's at least one study that found healthcare workers are at higher risk of infection during medical procedures that create aerosols.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3338532/

Perhaps it's some human bias and we dread the idea that simply sharing the same atmosphere puts us at risk?

This could be something very positive actually, and lead to rapid non-invasive testing. Imagine virus testing as part of the air filters on planes and cruise ships, could be a very powerful tool for preventing outbreaks.

View on HN

In the infectious disease world, droplets and aerosol aren't the same thing.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/16/coronavirus-can-become-a...

> The reason the measles is so, well, viral, is that the microbe is so small and hardy that it is able to stay suspended in the air where an infected person coughed or sneezed for up to two hours, making it one of the only viruses that can exist as a true aerosol.

> Now there are conflicting reports on whether the new coronavirus can. The studies suggesting that it can be aerosolized are only preliminary, and other research contradicts it, finding no aerosolized coronavirus particles in the hospital rooms of Covid-19 patients.

Yeah, different thing, and the studies I quoted are talking about aerosol transmission. I didn't mean to imply they're the same, simply that aerosol is microscopic "drops" of liquid.

We know medical procedures like intubation can generate aerosols. My dad's hospital has, for example, set a 15 minute time-out in the trauma bay after one of these aerosol-generating procedures; your x-ray's gonna have to wait.

We don't know that coughing alone generates significant amounts of coronavirus aerosols. The studies I've seen so far indicate it's not a major source of transmission; that droplets are the concern.

I don't think anybody's claiming it's the primary source of transmission, but the way you keep phrasing it, it's like we have to choose between droplets or aerosol transmission. There's at least limited evidence it can be transmitted both ways, and maybe it's better to err on the side of caution?

If possible, yes. Unfortunately, PPE is in short enough supply we have to be sensible in how we use it. We know for certain it can be spread via droplets, which more readily available (and manufacturable) surgical masks protect against; N95s are in much shorter supply.

When I read measles has an R0 of 18 that just blew my mind.

That thing just spreads like wildfire.

Now imagine a virus in future with R0 of 18, incubation (while contagious) of 14 days and a CFR of 50%. This would wipe out entire populations of humans.

Agreed, this is why after this, whatever the root cause, we should have international "discouragement" on disease research. This stuff is going to leak out. Not saying this one did.

Been in place since the 1970s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_Weapons_Convention

Chickenpox has an R0 of around 12, the virus is truly airborne to the point where Chickenpox is called in many languages "Wind-Pox" due to the fact that it would literally spread downwind from infected residences.

What's always in question if is there suffcient amount of virus to infect someone. It's an empircal question that is just starting to be answered.

Maybe there's a fear of being associated with or reviving miasma theory

Reply on news.ycombinator.com