• health
• news

The smoking gun was found: Researchers isolated the corona virus in the air

Theories and hypotheses become reality: Florida researchers say they have been able to isolate the corona virus in air samples taken up to 5 meters from patients' beds, and provide proof that the virus is carried in the air

• Corona
• Corona virus

Walla! health

After theories and debates erupted among scientists around the world, and after the World Health Organization announced in early July that it was reconsidering its position regarding the transmission of the corona virus through the air, it was only a matter of time before scientific evidence was found. This week it finally happened, apparently.

Researchers at the University of Florida say they have been able to prove the presence of live virus particles in aerosol droplets carried in the air. The New York Times reported. "This is the proof that people have been waiting for," Lindsey Marr, a scientist at the University of Virginia Tech, who was not involved in the study, told the website. "This is an unequivocal vision that the contagious virus is also found in droplets floating in the air," she added.

More on Walla! NEWS

Does the Russian vaccine for corona really work?

To the full article

The researchers reported that they were able to isolate live particles of the virus from aerosol samples they collected from the air at a distance of 2-5 meters from patients hospitalized. Other research teams that have tried to prove that the virus particles are carried in the air and can infect other people in this way have encountered difficulties in collecting the samples.

However, a team of researchers from the University of Florida has invented a sampling device that uses water evaporation technology to increase the aerosol particles in a liquid rich in salt, sugar and protein. An Australian scientist who was also interviewed by the New York Times on the subject of this study said that "it is impressive to me, it is a very clever measurement technique".

The fresh findings have not yet been reviewed by colleagues, but the conclusion is that a world of them is clear - keeping a distance of 2 meters is not enough to protect against infection. "The guidelines are misleading," said expert Lindsay Marr. "People think they are protected in enclosed spaces, but they are not. Even in standing air, without wind, the virus can move from one side of the room to the other in about 5 minutes. Viruses can linger in the air for hours ".

More on Walla! NEWS

• Can wearing masks harm our health?
• Separated from his wife who was dying of corona, and paid for it with his life
• World Health Organization: Do not go to the dentist right now
• A degree in communication alone is no longer enough - a new bi-disciplinary track will open doors for you

Some experts argue that it is too early to determine whether the virus that the researchers were able to isolate in this study is in sufficient quantity to produce infection. In Marr's view, however, the issue is closed and sealed. "If it's not the smoking gun, then I do not know what is," she wrote in a Twitter tweet about the University of Florida research.

The way of gluing dictates keeping the distance

On July 7, the World Health Organization announced that there was evidence of the spread of the corona virus through the air, after a group of scientists urged the world body to update its guidelines regarding the spread of the disease. In an open letter to the organization published the day before in a medical journal - 239 scientists from 32 countries pointed to evidence showing that virus particles can pass through the air and urged the health organization to update its guidelines.

Any change in the World Health Organization's assessments of the risks of infection may affect the guidelines for maintaining social distance. The current recommendation for maintaining a distance of 2 meters between people is based on the idea that the corona virus infects a droplet spray, which, unlike an aerosol sprayer, is a spray of larger and heavier droplets, which are released into the air (by speech, breathing, coughing, sneezing, etc.). Towards the ground, due to their weight. Aerosol shards are smaller, lighter droplets that can linger in the air longer and move along longer distances.