I do not believe it is airborn it is touch

We conducted large-scale testing for active case-finding among persons who had visited the Itaewon nightclubs. Patients’ cell phone numbers were checked on site before testing. Demographic data were obtained by contacting those who tested positive. Of the 41,612 total tests conducted by May 25, a total of 35,827 (86.1%) were conducted on Itaewon nightclub visitors, 5,785 (13.9%) on contacts of case-patients linked to the Itaewon nightclubs, and 1,627 (3.9%) tests conducted on anonymous persons. The prevalence of positive results for COVID-19 in nightclub visitors was 0.19% (67/35,827); in their contacts, 0.88% (51/5,785); and in anonymously tested persons, 0.06% (1/1,627).

Shrestha et al. examined SARS-CoV-2 viral load over time among 230 health care personnel with COVID-19 who did not require hospitalization. Viral loads in the upper respiratory specimens (n=528) peaked by 2 or 3 days from symptom onset and decreased rapidly thereafter, with >85% of the area under the curve occurring in the first five days.

Zhou et al. collected air and surface samples from seven clinical areas occupied by COVID-19 patients, as well as one public area of a London hospital. Overall, viral RNA was detected on 52% (114/218) of surfaces and 39% (14/31) of air samples, but no virus was cultured. Viral RNA was more likely to be found in areas immediately occupied by COVID-19 patients than in other areas (64% vs. 45%). These findings suggest there is a high risk of environmental contamination with viral RNA within health care settings, though the implications for infectious virus are less clear.
Zhou et al. (July 8, 2020). Investigating SARS-CoV-2 Surface and Air Contamination in an Acute Healthcare Setting during the Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic in London. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa905

As of May 25, 246 COVID-19 cases have been linked to an outbreak at a nightclub in Seoul, South Korea. Nightclubs in South Korea that had been closed previously as part of the social distancing policy re-opened on April 30, ahead of the April 30–May 5 Golden Week holiday. Through large scale contact tracing, Kang et al. tested 41,612 nightclub visitors and their contacts, of whom 0.6% were positive: 96 (39%) of SARS-CoV-2 positive persons were primary cases and 150 (61%) were secondary contacts. This suggests that superspreading events related to nightclubs have the potential to spark a resurgence of cases in South Korea.

The coronavirus is finding new victims worldwide, in bars and restaurants, offices, markets and casinos, giving rise to frightening clusters of infection that increasingly confirm what many scientists have been saying for months: The virus lingers in the air indoors, infecting those nearby.

......

Dr. Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead on infection control, said the evidence for the virus spreading by air was unconvincing.

“Especially in the last couple of months, we have been stating several times that we consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence,” she said. “There is a strong debate on this.”.....

...

“There is no incontrovertible proof that SARS-CoV-2 travels or is transmitted significantly by aerosols, but there is absolutely no evidence that it’s not,” said Dr. Trish Greenhalgh, a primary care doctor at the University of Oxford in Britain.

A preprint (not yet published) study led by Santarpia and his colleagues similarly found evidence of viral contamination in air samples and surfaces from rooms where COVID-19 patients were being kept in isolation. “I think there are a lot of us—myself included—who feel very strongly that the airborne route of transmission is very possible,” he says. “I would hesitate to call it proven by any means. But I think there’s mounting evidence to support it.”

Both the Nature study and Santarpia’s paper measured viral RNA, not actual virus, so it is not clear that the material found in aerosols was functionally infectious. “Finding RNA doesn’t tell you [that] you have aerosol spread,” says Perlman, who was not involved in either study.


ADVERTISEMENT
Another paper, recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus can remain in aerosols for at least three hours—and for several days on various surfaces—in a laboratory setting. But the amount of viable virus diminished significantly during that time. Scientists do not know the infectious dose of SARS-CoV-2. (For influenza, studies have shown that just three virus particles are enough to make someone sick.)

Overall, most of the evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can become airborne comes from clinical settings—which tend to have a lot of sick people and may host invasive procedures, such as intubations, that can cause patients to cough, generating aerosols. It is not clear how representative of everyday environments these areas are. “There is not much convincing evidence that aerosol spread is a major part of transmission” of COVID-19, Perlman says.

The likelihood of airborne transmission—especially compared with other routes, such as droplets or surfaces—remains unclear. Most researchers still think the new coronavirus is primarily spread via droplets and touching infected people or surfaces. So diligent hand washing and social distancing are still the most important measures people can take to avoid infection.

The standard practice of surface disinfection using liquid-based chemistries according to product label instructions can render many viruses – including the coronaviruses – noninfectious,” Ikner said. “In contrast, high-touch surfaces treated with continuously active disinfectants are hostile environments to infectious viruses upon contact and demonstrate increasing effectiveness over time.”

Continuously active disinfectant technology has been around for almost a decade but has been focused primarily on controlling hospital-acquired bacterial infections, such as invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

UArizona researchers from the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health investigated the impact of antimicrobial surface coatings in reducing health care-associated infections in two urban hospitals. The results of that study were published in October and found a 36% reduction in hospital-acquired infections with the use of a continually active antimicrobial.

“As communities are reopening after weeks of stay-at-home restrictions, there is significant interest in minimizing surface contamination and the indirect spread of viruses,” Gerba said.

Previous research on the environmental spread of viruses through contaminated surfaces modeled the spread of germs and the risk of infection in an office workplace. In that study, a contaminated push-plate door at the entrance of an office building led to the contamination of 51% of commonly touched surfaces and 38% of office workers’ hands within just four hours. With the use of disinfecting wipes, environmental contamination was reduced to 5% of surfaces and 11% of workers’ hands.

“We’re not seeing an increase in cases associated with the demonstrations (as of yet),” New York City Department of Health spokesman Michael Lanza wrote in an email to Yahoo News on Tuesday.

This black light experiment shows how easily a virus like the coronavirus can spread in public.

A popular video in Japan released May 8 shows how quickly a virus can spread among restaurant diners.
The Japanese state broadcaster NHK gathered 10 volunteers to eat as normal in a simulated buffet environment.
One person was chosen to be carrying the virus, and fluorescent paint was put on the person's hand to represent it.
The 10 people were then left for 30 minutes to get food from the buffet, sit down together, and eat.
Ultraviolet light was then used to lay bare how the paint had spread. Scroll down to watch the video.
All nine other people, table surfaces, glassware, and serving utensils bore traces of the paint within minutes, NHK said.
Three people had traces of the paint on their faces.
Hiroyuki Kunishima, of the St. Marianna University School of Medicine, told NHK that a "high-touch surface" like tongs or container lids were "harboring danger."
Two health experts told CNN the lesson to learn was that regular handwashing is key to stopping a virus from spreading.

An average person with the coronavirus infects about two other people, but an infected person sometimes passes the virus to far more people during a super-spreader event.

New research suggests such events, which typically involve indoor gatherings, are responsible for most coronavirus transmission.

Experts found that just 20% of coronavirus cases result in 80% of transmission. An estimated 70% of infected patients studied didn't pass the virus at all.

By targeting locations and activities that beget super-spreading, countries may be able to avoid more lockdowns during future waves of infections.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Super-spreader events, in which one person infects a disproportionately large number of others, are the primary means by which the coronavirus spreads, new research suggests.

A group of epidemiologists in Hong Kong found that just 20% of cases studied there were responsible for 80% of all coronavirus transmission. The researchers also found that 70% of people infected with the coronavirus didn't pass it to anyone else, and that all super-spreading events involved indoor social gatherings.

"That's the picture we have so far," Ben Cowling, one of the study co-authors, told Business Insider. "Super-spreading events are happening more than we expected, more than what could be explained by chance. The frequency of super-spreading is beyond what we could have imagined."

Microbes spread quickly in an outpatient clinic, reaching maximum contamination levels 2 hours after inoculation, with the highest contamination on examination room door handles and nurses’ station chairs. This study emphasizes the importance of targeted disinfection of high-touch surfaces.

In conclusion, testing two H1N1 strains of influenza A (one of which was a 2009 pandemic virus) demonstrates that in an environment that is consistent with indoor domestic settings in temperate zones, virus deposited onto the touched environment is likely to survive up to a few hours, though rarely more than nine hours, on the vast majority of surfaces. Metallic and non-metallic non-porous materials pose the greatest risk and should be targeted for frequent cleaning if situated in close proximity to patients infected with influenza virus; fortunately the latter are also more conducive to surface cleaning with a wide variety of simple cleaning agents [12]. Whilst our data suggest that the risk of virus transmission might last several hours after deposition, we generated very little data suggesting that appreciable amounts of virus survived much beyond nine hours. This probably means that frequently touched environments such as classrooms, offices and living rooms, which are then left unoccupied overnight, will not contain much viable virus on surfaces by the next morning. Nevertheless, the data still support frequent cleaning of commonly touched items and surfaces throughout the working day, particularly when symptomatic persons are present, for example in physician waiting rooms. In terms of cleaning regimens, one critically important consideration is that survival of virus in high titres for prolonged periods is not necessary for fomite transmission if surfaces are frequently re-inoculated (e.g. by toddlers). However the contribution of such indirect transmission relative to respiratory droplets directly from one person to another or relative to aerosol transmission remains unknown.

You collect more than a paycheck at work: Every time you touch your desk, keyboard, or telephone, you pick up germs. More than 10 million bacteria are on a typical office desk -- 400 times more bacteria than found on the average toilet seat -- which means that typing an email or making a call puts you at risk for illnesses.

The reason is pretty simple. "We touch a lot of different surfaces that hundreds of others might be touching," says Kelly Reynolds PhD, a professor and environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona. "Germs spread quickly."

Even when professional cleaners do their best, germs linger. Bacteria counts are lowest at the beginning of the workday (because offices are often cleaned overnight), but it doesn't take long for germs to show up for work, too.

"As the day ramps up and more people touch more surfaces, the risk of coming in contact with bacteria goes up. Contamination levels reach their peak around lunch," Reynolds says.

CONTINUE READING BELOW
In one study, researchers asked volunteers to be artificially inoculated with a benign virus to test how fast it would spread. They found that "infected" co-workers spread the virus to 50% of workplace surfaces within 4 hours of arriving at work; thanks to shared contact with those surfaces, half of their co-workers also tested positive for the viruses.

To keep germs in check and avoid illness, clean your workspace. Wipe down your desktop, monitor, keyboard, computer mouse, and phone at least once a day -- but skip soap and water and opt for something stronger.

The CDC’s lesser emphasis on infected surfaces as part of the spread of COVID-19 is slightly different from that of the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO states online that “COVID-19 spreads primarily from person to person,” but adds that, “it can also spread if you touch contaminated objects and surfaces.” The WHO even breaks down for readers all of the commonly-touched surfaces to be wary of, like doorknobs, computers, elevator buttons, and pens, noting that “If you touch something contaminated and then touch your face… you might fall ill.”

In a scientific brief posted to its website on 27 March, the World Health Organization said that there is not sufficient evidence to suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is airborne, except in a handful of medical contexts, such as when intubating an infected patient.

Whether people with COVID-19 produce enough virus-laden aerosols to constitute a risk is also unknown, says Lloyd-Smith. Air sampling from people when they talk, breathe, cough and sneeze — and testing for viable virus in those samples — “would be another big part of the puzzle”, he says. One such study failed to detect viral RNA in air collected 10 centimetres in front of one person with COVID-19 who was breathing, speaking and coughing, but the authors didn’t rule out airborne transmission entirely6.

Another crucial unknown is the infectious dose: the number of SARS-CoV-2 particles necessary to cause an infection, says Lloyd-Smith. “If you’re breathing aerosolized virus, we don’t know what the infectious dose is that gives a significant chance of being infected,” he says. An experiment to get at that number — deliberately exposing people and measuring the infection rate at different doses — would be unethical given the disease’s severity.

In the battle to slow or prevent the transmission of viruses, such as the novel coronavirus, continuously active disinfectants could provide a new line of defense, according to a recent University of Arizona study released on the health sciences preprint server MedRxiv.

While disinfecting high-contact surfaces is an important practice to prevent the spread of pathogens, these surfaces can be easily re-contaminated after the use of conventional surface disinfectants. Alternatively, continuously active disinfectants work to actively kill microorganisms and provide continued protection over an extended period of time.

"During the course of respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19, aerosols released during sneezing and coughing contain infectious viruses that will eventually settle onto various surfaces," said Luisa Ikner, associate research professor in the Department of Environmental Science and lead author of the study. "Factors including temperature, humidity and surface type can affect how long viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 will remain infectious after surface deposition."

"The only tools we have currently in reducing the environmental spread of viruses via surfaces are hand sanitizer, hand washing and the disinfection of surfaces," said Charles Gerba, a microbiologist and professor of environmental science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "This technology creates a new barrier in controlling the spread of viruses in indoor environments."

Gerba and his research team designed and conducted the study – which was funded by Allied BioScience, a company that manufactures antimicrobial surface coatings – to evaluate continuously active antimicrobial technology and its potential use against the transmission of viruses.

"We evaluated this technology by testing a modified antimicrobial coating against the human coronavirus 229E, which is one of the viruses that causes the common cold," Gerba said. "Even two weeks after the coating was applied, it was capable of killing more than 99.9% of the coronaviruses within two hours."

Human coronavirus 229E is similar in structure and genetics to SARS-CoV-2 but causes only mild respiratory symptoms. It can therefore be safely used as a model for SARS-CoV-2 to evaluate antiviral chemistries. The results from these experiments may provide new opportunities for controlling the environmental transmission of COVID-19.

"The standard practice of surface disinfection using liquid-based chemistries according to product label instructions can render many viruses – including the coronaviruses – noninfectious," Ikner said. "In contrast, high-touch surfaces treated with continuously active disinfectants are hostile environments to infectious viruses upon contact and demonstrate increasing effectiveness over time."

Continuously active disinfectant technology has been around for almost a decade but has been focused primarily on controlling hospital-acquired bacterial infections, such as invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

UArizona researchers from the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health investigated the impact of antimicrobial surface coatings in reducing health care-associated infections in two urban hospitals. The results of that study were published in October and found a 36% reduction in hospital-acquired infections with the use of a continually active antimicrobial.

"As communities are reopening after weeks of stay-at-home restrictions, there is significant interest in minimizing surface contamination and the indirect spread of viruses," Gerba said.

Previous research on the environmental spread of viruses through contaminated surfaces modeled the spread of germs and the risk of infection in an office workplace. In that study, a contaminated push-plate door at the entrance of an office building led to the contamination of 51% of commonly touched surfaces and 38% of office workers' hands within just four hours. With the use of disinfecting wipes, environmental contamination was reduced to 5% of surfaces and 11% of workers' hands.

"Antimicrobial coatings could provide an additional means of protection, reducing the spread of coronaviruses in indoor environments and public places where there is continuous contamination," Gerba said. "We're evaluating a number of products right now and believe it may be the next major breakthrough in environmental infection control."

Tuberculosis (TB) is an airbone bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB can be acquired by breathing contaminated air droplets coughed or sneezed by a person nearby who has active Tuberculosis. Humans can also get ill with TB by ingesting unpasteurized milk products contaminated with Mycobacterium bovis, also known as Bovine Tuberculosis. The most common form of the infection is pulmonary TB which affects the lungs. In some cases, the bacteria can also attack the lymphatic system, central nervous system, urogenital area, joints, and bones.

Risk
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is present worldwide and typically spreads in cramped, overcrowded conditions. There is no evidence that pulmonary TB is more easily transmitted in airplanes or other forms of public transportation. Long-term travellers, those with a weakened immune system or visiting friends and relatives (VFR travellers) in areas where Tuberculosis is endemic are at risk. Humanitarian and healthcare personnel working in communities with active TB are also at increased risk. Persons with active TB should not travel.

Benjamin Neuman, a virologist at Texas A&M University-Texarkana who was not involved in the research.

AD

“This study doesn’t directly test whether the virus can be transmitted by talking

The basketball game
B’Anna Scroggins, her husband, Billy, and their friends packed into the Texan Dome at South Plains College on Friday, March 6, wearing their black and gold Vega Longhorns T-shirts. The regional basketball tournament had drawn a large crowd to watch the high school boys teams battle it out for a chance to go to the state finals.

The tournament was almost two hours away, but that’s what Vega residents do – support their students, even when their own kids have graduated or don’t play sports.

“The whole town was there,” said Shaye Pingel Warner, one of B’Anna’s best friends. “I bet there were 300-400 people there from our side. Probably more.”  

The threat of the disease spreading into Oldham County remains ever present. While the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is still three, the rural county is surrounded by areas with far more cases.

Potter County, home of Amarillo and directly east of Oldham County, has about 1,000 cases of the virus. Nearby Moore County has more than 400 and Randall County has about 300.

Many Oldham residents commute to work in Amarillo or other cities, which means more cases could show up.

We still don't fully understand how the new coronavirus spreads, but we're learning more every day.

COVID-19 is transmitted via droplets and fomites during close unprotected contact between
an infector and infectee. Airborne spread has not been reported for COVID-19 and it is not
believed to be a major driver of transmission based on available evidence; however, it can
be envisaged if certain aerosol-generating procedures are conducted in health care facilities.
Fecal shedding has been demonstrated from some patients, and viable virus has been
identified in a limited number of case reports. However, the fecal-oral route does not
appear to be a driver of COVID-19 transmission; its role and significance for COVID-19
remains to be determined. Viral shedding is discussed in the Technical Findings (Annex C)

In China, human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 virus is largely occurring in
families. The Joint Mission received detailed information from the investigation of clusters
and some household transmission studies, which are ongoing in a number of Provinces.
Among 344 clusters involving 1308 cases (out of a total 1836 cases reported) in Guangdong
Province and Sichuan Province, most clusters (78%-85%) have occurred in families.
Household transmission studies are currently underway, but preliminary studies ongoing in
Guangdong estimates the secondary attack rate in households ranges from 3-10%.

Regardless, Davies wrote in a recent summary of her team’s findings that social distancing, hand-washing, and the avoidance of face touching are by far the most effective ways to protect society, adding that masks should be a last resort that is meant to prevent “an unavoidable risk of exposure.” (Here’s how long coronavirus lasts on surfaces and in the air.)

Experts have been divided on the topic of mask wearing over the past week. Some have suggested mass population mask wearing may reduce levels of community transmission considering there is increasing evidence of asymptomatic transmission. However, other experts have expressed concern masks can breed a false sense of security, resulting in wearers relaxing social distancing measures and general hygiene practices.

It is this particular concern that seems to be causing the World Health Organization to hold back from instituting general mask wearing recommendations. Michael Ryan, Chief Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, reiterated this point at the WHO’s most recent press briefing.


“We must preserve medical, surgical and respirator masks for our front-line workers but the idea of using respiratory coverings or mouth coverings to prevent coughing and sneezing projecting disease into the environment or towards others; that's a mechanical process and that in itself is not a bad idea but that doesn't negate the need for hand-washing, it doesn't negate the need for physical distancing, it doesn't negate the need for people to stay at home if there's a stay-at-home order in place,” said Ryan.

There are three general arguments frequently presented against broad general use of face masks: there is no evidence they protect a person from contracting the virus, mass adoption takes valuable resources away from frontline healthcare workers, and they instill a false sense of security in the wearer, resulting in reduced adherence to other important hygiene measures.


The editorial does note prior research investigating real-world mask use in regards to influenza transmission found masks confer “no significant protection.” However, many of the arguments for mask wearing suggest the point of advocating broad mask use is about limiting transmission from those unaware they are infected, instead of acting as a protective measure for healthy subjects.

Modes of transmission of the COVID-19 virus
Respiratory infections can be transmitted through droplets of different sizes: when the droplet particles are >5-10 μm in diameter they are referred to as respiratory droplets, and when then are <5μm in diameter, they are referred to as droplet nuclei.1 According to current evidence, COVID-19 virus is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes.2-7 In an analysis of 75,465 COVID-19 cases in China, airborne transmission was not reported.8

Jennifer Catron boarded Carnival’s Costa Luminosa on March 5 for a transatlantic cruise. Her video diaries provide a window into life on board the ship as the coronavirus scare became a full-blown pandemic.