Even droplet based spread (which is not airborne) can transfer over distances on to surfaces. This is why there is advisory for a 6+ ft physical distance.
That does not mean it is an airborne disease, as it seems the virus needs to survive in droplets.
It is no surprise to me that a choir singing could easily spread droplets on to surfaces and inadvertently touch their faces during that time.
Even a heavy breath that expels air and droplets from the lung can cause spread. That doesn't mean its airborne.
In the article they explicitly talk about this, the technical term is that it is spread by aerosols (basically, smaller droplets) in addition to droplets. This is similar to TB, which generally requires patients to stay in negative pressure rooms and their caregivers to wear N95 instead of surgical masks.
As with all things with infectious diseases (like asymptomatic spread) it's less useful to ask whether it's possible to spread in a certain way, and better to ask whether that way is a large driver of new infections. For hospital workers, maybe; for the general public, probably not.
This isn't the LA Times saying it spread through the air:
>The outbreak has stunned county health officials, who have concluded that the virus was almost certainly transmitted through the air from one or more people without symptoms.
Aerosols don't need to hit a surface to end up in someone else's lungs.
Even droplet based spread (which is not airborne) can transfer over distances on to surfaces. This is why there is advisory for a 6+ ft physical distance.
That does not mean it is an airborne disease, as it seems the virus needs to survive in droplets.
It is no surprise to me that a choir singing could easily spread droplets on to surfaces and inadvertently touch their faces during that time.
Even a heavy breath that expels air and droplets from the lung can cause spread. That doesn't mean its airborne.
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