The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there is one thing that most people diagnosed with COVID-19 did before they became ill: they were in close contact with someone infected. According CDC official statement, “The virus that causes COVID-19 most commonly spreads among people who are in close contact with each other (about 6 feet, or 2 arms in length),” says the agency. “It spreads through respiratory droplets or small particles, like those in aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes.” Read on to see why this puts you in danger and how to avoid it – and to ensure your health and that of others, don’t miss out on these Certain Signs that You Have Had Coronavirus.
Avoid “closed spaces” with “inadequate ventilation”
These drops usually fall to the ground less than six feet, where they no longer pose a danger of transmission. This is where the six-foot-six social distance policy comes from. However, the CDC notes, smaller particles can remain in the air and cause infection – what is known as airborne transmission.
“There is evidence that, under certain conditions, people with COVID-19 appear to have infected others who were more than 6 meters away,” says the agency. “These transmissions occurred in closed spaces with inadequate ventilation. Sometimes, the infected person was breathing heavily, for example, while singing or exercising.”
Even so, the agency notes that close contact is a much more common mode of transmission: “The available data indicate that it is much more common for the virus that causes COVID-19 to spread by close contact with a person who has COVID-19 than by air transmission. “
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What exactly is “close contact”?
At this point, it is practically the gospel that you must maintain a safe social distance of six feet from people who are not in your home. But last fall, the CDC expanded that guideline.
Before last October, the CDC defined a “close contact” as someone who spent at least 15 consecutive minutes less than two meters from someone with COVID-19. The agency’s new guideline changed that definition to someone who was less than five feet from an infected person for 15 or more cumulative minutes over a 24-hour period, starting two days before the onset of the disease or a positive test result. .
The change was inspired by a report published in the magazine MMWR from a 20-year-old Vermont prison employee who contracted coronavirus after having 22 brief interactions during an eight-hour shift with six people who tested positive for COVID-19 the next day.
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How to survive this pandemic
As for you, do everything you can to avoid getting – and spreading – COVID-19 in the first place: Wear a face mask, get tested if you think you have coronavirus, avoid crowds (and bars and parties at home), practice social detachment, perform only essential tasks, wash your hands regularly, disinfect frequently touched surfaces and to overcome this pandemic in the healthiest way do not miss these 35 places you’re most likely to reach COVID.