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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] pumpkin fire and other demos
Date: Monday, June 15, 2020 at 8:54:17 PM
Author: davivid <davivid**At_Symbol_Here**WELL.COM> 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Photochemical Experiment from March 2020 - Peroxide Concern?
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2020 08:59:54 -0400
Author: Jeffrey Lewin

From: David Roberts <droberts**At_Symbol_Here**DEPAUW.EDU>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] COVID19 spread question
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2020 08:58:22 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: F67FFEFE-7BE9-485A-8D48-402075BBBFBF**At_Symbol_Here**depauw.edu
In-Reply-To <63c6ed7c-02fc-2553-7060-622c083b52e7**At_Symbol_Here**well.com>


Hello,

OK - I know where this might go, but I‰??m asking that people give nice, honest answers here and don‰??t judge or rant. I honestly need somebody to tell me why we all are saying that we need to worry about aerosol transmission when it comes to Covid-19. My friend worked at the CDC, and is quite knowledgeable on the subject. She was in Africa during the first Ebola crisis, and knows a bit about transmission and such. She feels that it‰??s truly just a droplet transmission thing (big difference - one can be mitigated by social distancing, the other needs to deal with room ventilation considerations).

I need evidence stating that somebody has done the experiment on room air to show that the virus is in the air for 3 hours, and it increases over time if you have somebody infected sitting and breathing in the room. Does anybody have a paper on this that isn‰??t one of assumption and conjecture but has actual data with measurements.

Are we all saying aerosol when we mean droplets? The CDC website only says droplets - there is no indication that aerosol transmission is a viable way for this virus to transmit, according to the CDC.

My friend has a theory that if it was truly an aerosol transmission that we would see way more cases. Doesn‰??t think the virus can live in an aerosol - thinks it may dry up and become non-viable.

I see two different things when I read online about what you need to worry about. One is saying it‰??s aerosolized and lives 3 hours in air - that‰??s what she is questioning. Why do we say this? Is that from a 1950s reference or is there real evidence here for this situation??? The other is droplet transmission, which I feel is a true threat and worry with this virus. Droplet transmission can be easily mitigated by social distance, hygiene, and mask wearing. Droplets have some mass and thus don‰??t really float around in the air so much. Aerosol is much more difficult and scary.

Thanks.

Dave

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