If you've seen a sick person that might have the same symptoms with Coronavirus or COVID-19, make sure to stay as far as you can from this person especially if you're inside a close room like cars, trains, or even buses. A recent study from China found out that the 'safe distance' that most health experts have been saying to people to get away from the disease is not always applicable. In fact, people might get the viral disease from carrier even when you're 14 feet away, and it also stays in the air for 30 minutes long!
How safe are you from COVID-19 carriers? Here's the real distance you need to stay away!
As first reported via South China Morning Post, the 'safe distance' that experts should be posted as a warning to all people must be at least 14 feet away or 4.5 metres to prevent being infected with the sick person. This distance is furthered compared to what most health experts say that it is safe of one to two meters or three to six feet away.
According to a study made by a team of Chinese government epidemiologists, the viral disease can get you infected even when you're too far away from the initial Coronavirus victim. The team investigated the time when the local outbreak happened on Jan. 22 during the peak Lunar New Year travel season. They found a passenger, identified as 'A', boarded a full book bus in the country where he sat on the second row from the back.
Passenger 'A' was already sick when he boarded the bus, and he did not wear any face masks and even the other passengers-- since the country hasn't yet identified the disease back then.
The team found out that he already had COVID-19 at the time. He infected seven passengers from the bus, another infected passenger showed no signs or symptoms, while another was infected when Passenger 'A' left the bus after 30 minutes long.
Intriguingly, the person beside passenger 'A' did not acquire the viral disease. However, the persons that sit as far as seven seats from his position were infected with COVID-19.
Since buses in China have cameras installed on each of them, the researchers easily identified how viral it affects people.
Thirty minutes-- that's how long Coronavirus can stay in the air!
Another thing that they discovered is the fact that Coronavirus can stay up in the air for as long as half an hour or 30 minutes. When passenger 'A' disembarked on the bus, another person rode the same bus and acquired the disease after 30 minutes.
"It can be confirmed that in a closed environment with air-conditioning, the transmission distance of the new coronavirus will exceed the commonly recognized safe distance," the researchers wrote in a paper published in peer-review journal Practical Preventive Medicine last Friday.
All of the health experts said that wearing face masks and regularly sanitizing hands are very important for the virus to die and be not acquired by another person. The researchers also advised all public vehicles to sanitize their seats every after passengers disembarked.
