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Comment by aphextron | Hacker News Reader

>One wonders if the virus is now "airborne"? Is that something viruses can actually do, ontop of being passed on through water droplets after coughing/sneezing.

It always has been. The virus is aerosolized through exhalation, and spreads much like secondhand smoke [0].

[0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092575352...

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I remember a listening to a podcast interviewing a physician from a major hospital who made sure to explain the difference between an airborne pathogen and one that is respiratory active.

Jogging my memory. Airborne meaning a virus that a person exhales in an elevator (example) will still be present and transmissible x amount of time later. Respiratory active meaning transmissible by coughing/exhaling in the presence of someone else.

These are important distinctions if true and still relevant.

In the sense of your explanation it COVID-19 is indeed airborne.

As far as I understand it lives in droplets heavier than air that fall to the ground in a matter of a few seconds. The next person entering the elevator won't breathe it. Truly airborne viruses can be lifted by regular air turbulences and travel kilometers before landing on someone else.

nope, obviously that's a continuum but it's been found to be much further towards the airborne end than was originally generally thought: [here](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2....)

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