I refer to post 40.
quoting post 40 "aerosol droplets" ie water droplets in the air.
Post 40
"Unlike a droplet , smaller aerosol
particles"
DropletWhat it is: A virus-filled particle of breath or spittle that comes out of the nose or mouth of an infected individual when they breathe, speak, cough or sneeze. Droplets generally fall to the ground within a few feet of the person who expels them.
How a virus could spread this way: "A large droplet flies through the air and lands on your body," says Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering who researches airborne transmission at Virginia Tech. "And that could be your eyes, nostrils or mouth." For instance, "if you're standing next to your kid and they cough in your face," says Seema Lakdawala, a flu researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.
How much does it contribute to the spread? Directly coming into contact with respiratory droplets is currently considered the most frequent mode of transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO.
AerosolWhat it is:
A "microscopic" virus-packed particle that's
also expelled from an infected person's mouth when breathing, speaking, coughing or sneezing.
Unlike a droplet , smaller aerosol particles can remain suspended in the air."They'll
continue to float and follow the air streams in a room,"
says Kimberly Prather, an atmospheric chemist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
who signed the letter to WHO.How a virus could spread this way: Through the respiratory route in which a person
breathes in clouds of tiny virus particles that have accumulated and may be
traveling on air currents.How much does it contribute to the spread? It's an open question that begs more research. "Aerosols probably have some contribution toward spread, but we don't know to what extent and what situations are most relevant," says Abraar Karan, a physician at Harvard Medical School who treats coronavirus patients.
Viral spread via air currents has been documented in certain indoor environments: at a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, where people sitting downstream from an air conditioner caught COVID-19, and at a March choir practice in Washington state, where many choir members got sick with coronavirus after likely breathing in tiny airborne particlesgenerated by individuals who were infected but symptom-free at the time. What's still unclear is how long the virus lingers in the air, how far it travels
(possibly through a room but not down the street) and how commonly it spreads this way.