BREAKING! COVID-Research: Study Confirms That SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Can Be Spread Through Speech
Source: COVID-19 Research May 14, 2020 4 years, 7 months, 1 week, 2 days, 25 minutes ago
COVID-19 Research: Medical researchers from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at Maryland, US have confirmed that microdroplets generated by speech can remain suspended in the air in an enclosed space for more than ten minutes, highlighting their likely role in spreading COVID-19.
The researchers had a person loudly repeat the phrase "Stay healthy" for 25 seconds inside a closed box.
A normal laser projected into the box illuminated droplets, allowing them to be seen and counted.
Interestingly, it was observed that these droplets stayed in the air for an average of 12 minutes.
The study findings were published in the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (
PNAS) and conforms that speech is another way of spreading the disease.
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/05/12/2006874117
Considering and taking into account the known concentration of coronavirus in saliva, the medical researchers estimated that each minute of loudly speaking can generate more than 1,000 virus-containing droplets capable of remaining airborne for eight minutes or more in a closed space.
Dr Valentyn Stadnytskyi, from the Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda and who is the lead researcher, told Thailand Medical News,
"This direct visualization demonstrates how normal speech generates airborne droplets that can remain suspended for tens of minutes or longer and are eminently capable of transmitting disease in confined spaces.”
The researchers had also observed that speaking less loudly generates fewer droplets, in a work published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2007800
The researchers also said that If the level of infectiousness of COVID-19 through speech can be confirmed, it could give a scientific boost to recommendations in many countries to wear a face mask, and help explain the virus's rapid spread.
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