New Study Shows That Airborne Transmission Of Coronavirus Is Possible

A research published on Tuesday provides further evidence that the new coronavirus can spread through the air. This was after a COVID-19-positive passenger on a poorly ventilated Chinese bus infected 23 other passengers even though many of them were seated up to several meters away from patient zero.

The passengers made a 50-minute trip to a Buddhist worship event in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo in January, before the Chinese government implemented the use of face masks in public to curb the spread of the virus. After the trip, 23 of the 68 passengers tested positive for COVID-19.

Researchers said patient zero had been in contact with people from Wuhan, China, the ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak in January, before riding the bus. After mapping out where the other passengers sat, the researchers found that patient zero was able to infect even passengers seated at the opposite end of the bus. The extent of contagion was outside the perimeter of 1 to 2 meters (3 to 6 feet), the distance experts once believed infectious droplets could travel.

Researchers also noted that when patient zero rode the bus, he was not yet showing symptoms of the disease, such as cough. Due to air conditioning, however, the air recirculated inside the bus, allowing the virus to spread from patient zero to the other passengers. A diagram showing where each infected passenger sat inside the bus offers fresh evidence that the air conditioner played a role in picking up the viral particles and recycling them elsewhere through vents on the bus, exacerbating the transmission of the virus.

“The investigations suggested that, in closed environments with air recirculation, SARS-CoV-2 is a highly transmissible pathogen,” wrote the researchers. “Our finding of potential airborne transmission has important public health significance,” they added.

Experts once claimed that breathing could not send infectious micro-droplets into the air. However, the spread of the virus inside the bus showed that the possibility of air transmission could not be discounted. An earlier research also showed that the new coronavirus was able to spread between diners’ tables at a restaurant in Guangzhou despite a lack of contact among the customers.