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0 pointsanon1020105y ago0 comments

Droplets through the air (that land on the second parties nose or mouth) is not what Hopkins is talking about. The virus is in respiratory droplets. If you sneeze on something its contaminated. If you touch your nose or mouth and touch something its contaminated. etc. If someone touches any of those surfaces (hard to avoid in a shared space with door handles etc) they risk infection.

In daily living you touch door handles, gas pump handles, elevator buttons, railings, subway hang straps and bars etc. Even before covid, how many people sneezed on you? Far fewer.

If we just were worried about folks sneezing on us we could stop washing our hands.

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lecanucker5y ago

I'm not trying to argue about whether hand washing is important. I'm trying to increase my understanding of the transmission, and I hadn't heard before that touch face/nose/mouth is the primary way of the disease spreading as you stated. As you had said earlier in the thread: "Please stop spreading misinformation as it could lead to deaths". If you have a source for stating it is the primary method of transmission, I'd still like to see it. Otherwise, perhaps don't repeat that claim, in the interest of not spreading misinformation.

Here's the best article I've found on transmission, and a key excerpt. http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/03/commentar...

> In risk communication guidelines for healthcare, however, the WHO states, "COVID-19 appears to spread most easily through close contact with an infected person. When someone who has COVID-19 coughs or sneezes, small droplets are released and, if you are too close, you can breathe in the virus" (emphasis added).9 But wait: Inhalation is not part of the traditional definition of droplet transmission.

> For healthcare organizations, the CDC recommends airborne, in addition to standard (contact) and droplet precautions, for the care of COVID-19 suspected or confirmed patients.10

> For the general public, the CDC describes SARS-CoV-2 transmission as primarily by droplets from coughs or sneezes, which "land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly inhaled into the lungs" (emphasis added).11 But, again, inhalation is a new addition to the traditional definition of droplets. In contrast to its recommendations for healthcare, the CDC makes no mention of airborne transmission in public settings.

> The CDC admits some possibility that COVID-19 may be transferred by hands to mouth, nose, or eyes from contaminated surfaces, but notes that "this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads."11

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