As America begins to open back up, people are forgetting to continue
taking precautions with everyday life. According to erinbromage.com,
data from the outbreaks in China and Italy shows the backside of the morality
curve is declining slowly. Although we are already at 70,000 deaths, it is
possible we may lose another 70,000 over the next six weeks.
With Louisiana currently in the process of reopening, preventive measures should take place. Below is a breakdown of the virus and its involvement in our lives.
Where is the virus?
To get infected, one needs to be exposed to a small
infectious dose of the virus, and certain locations in our day-to-day lives are
more dangerous than others. Places like the bathroom require the most
precautions.
A single sneeze releases about 30,000 droplets that can
travel up to 200 miles per hour. An infected person's sneeze can contain around
200 million virus particles that will be released into the surrounding
environment. The particles exposed can hang in the air and fall on to surfaces,
and, if close to you, one can inhale 1,000 particles and become infected. When
speaking, respiratory droplets release droplets about 10-fold (about 200 virus
particles per minute). Therefore, it would take five minutes of speaking to
receive the required dose. This is why it is important for people who are
symptomatic to stay home because they could potentially infect an entire room
of people.
The biggest outbreaks are in prison, religious ceremonies,
and workplaces like meatpacking facilities and call centers. Enclosed places
with poor air circulation and a large group of people are most dangerous.
Restaurants: An example using a shoe-leather
epidemiology demonstrates the effects of a single asymptomatic person in a
restaurant. According to the CDC , "The
infected person (A1) sat at a table and had dinner with nine friends. Dinner
took about 1 to 1.5 hours. During this meal, the asymptomatic carrier released
low levels of virus into the air from their breathing. Airflow (from the
restaurant's various airflow vents) was from right to left. Approximately 50
percent of the people at the infected person's table became sick over the next seven
days. 75 percent of the people on the adjacent downwind table became infected.
And even 2 of the 7 people on the upwind table were infected (believed to
happen by turbulent airflow). No one at tables E or F became infected; they
were out of the main airflow from the air conditioner on the right to the
exhaust fan on the left of the room."
Workplaces: An example of how an outbreak can take
place in the workspace was provided by the CDC: " A
single infected employee came to work on the 11th floor of a building. That
floor had 216 employees. Over the period of a week, 94 of those people became
infected (43.5%). 92 of those 94 people became sick (only 2 remained
asymptomatic). One side of the office is primarily infected, while there are
very few people infected on the other side. While exact number of people
infected by respiratory droplets / respiratory exposure versus fomite
transmission (door handles, shared water coolers, elevator buttons etc.) is
unknown. It serves to highlight that being in an enclosed space, sharing the
same air for a prolonged period, increases your chances of exposure and
infection. Another 3 people on other floors of the building were infected, but
the authors were not able to trace the infection to the primary cluster on the
11th floor. Interestingly, even though there were considerable interactions
between workers on different floors of the building in elevators and the lobby,
the outbreak was mostly limited to a single floor."
The role of asymptomatic people
As much as 44 percent of all infections occur from
asymptomatic people. One can release the virus into surrounding environments
for up to five days before symptoms begin to show. Data has revealed that 20
percent of infected people are responsible for 99 percent of the released viral
load.
Although businesses are opening and people are returning to
work, the risk for ourselves and our families is still great. Taking
precautions such as wearing a mask can reduce the virus's release into
surrounding environments and help flatten the curve.
