Abstract

Speech droplets generated by asymptomatic carriers of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are increasingly considered to be a likely mode of disease transmission. Highly sensitive laser light scattering observations have revealed that loud speech can emit thousands of oral fluid droplets per second. In a closed, stagnant air environment, they disappear from the window of view with time constants in the range of 8 to 14 min, which corresponds to droplet nuclei of ca. 4 μm diameter, or 12- to 21-μm droplets prior to dehydration. These observations confirm that there is a substantial probability that normal speaking causes airborne virus transmission in confined environments.

Keywords

Transmission (telecommunications)Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)AsymptomaticRange (aeronautics)CoronavirusScattering2019-20 coronavirus outbreakOpticsMaterials sciencePhysicsVirologyBiologyMedicineDiseaseComputer scienceTelecommunicationsComposite materialPathology

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Publication Info

Year
2020
Type
article
Volume
117
Issue
22
Pages
11875-11877
Citations
1141
Access
Closed

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Valentyn Stadnytskyi, Christina E. Bax, Ad Bax et al. (2020). The airborne lifetime of small speech droplets and their potential importance in SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 117 (22) , 11875-11877. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006874117

Identifiers

DOI
10.1073/pnas.2006874117