Researchers have found that the coronavirus is able to flow between two people standing up to three feet apart even if one of them is wearing a surgical-grade face mask. The researchers belong from the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. They also added that masks also become less efficient when people repeatedly cough into them.
According to the scientists, these results have been alarming and have further stressed on the importance of maintaining six feet distance while social distancing. This is to be followed even if masks are worn. Co-author Professor Dimitris Drikakis, of the University of Nicosia, stated that the mask alone cannot prevent the transport of saliva droplets efficiently. Even though face masks are generally believed to be essential to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, little is known about how well they work or under what conditions will they not work.
This study has been published in the journal Physics of Fluids. The study found out that the face masks can decrease the chances of the transmission of airborne droplets, however, cannot completely eliminate them. Also, repeated coughing which happens to be a symptom of the coronavirus decreases the efficiency of a mask. The researchers have performed numerical simulations that account for droplet interactions with the porous filter in a surgical mask.
In the same journal, their earlier study was published which stated that keeping 6 feet apart might not be enough to protect an individual against the coronavirus. Further, it stated that droplets carrying the potentially deadly virus can travel 18 feet in five seconds, even in the slightest flow of winds. Saliva which essentially happens to be a complex fluid becomes suspended in the bulk of surrounding air when released by a cough.
This could prove to be dangerous, especially in an overpopulated country like India where people are struggling to maintain the norms of social distancing.
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