Up till now, it is believed that staying a distance of six feet from others, might stop people from contracting the deadly virus, COVID-19.
According to MIT researcher, who debunked the guideline, saying coronavirus can rather travel 27 feet (8 metres) and can linger for hours.
Mrs. Lydia Bourouiba an MIT associate professor, who has researched the dynamics of coughs and sneezes for years, warned that the current social-distancing guidelines to stay six feet from others are based on outdated models from the 1930s, reports NYPOST.
The professor in her research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also warns that “droplets that settle along the trajectory can contaminate surfaces” and “residues or droplet nuclei” may “stay suspended in the air for hours.”
However, warning that the current guidelines are “overly simplified” and “may limit the effectiveness of the proposed interventions” against the deadly pandemic.
“There’s an urgency in revising the guidelines currently being given by the [World Health Organization] and the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] on the needs for protective equipment, particularly for the frontline health care workers,” Bourouiba told USA Today.
