The WHO concludes that the coronavirus is not transmitted by air and therefore it is not necessary to use masks in public spaces

[Inkriql]

The coronavirus caused by Covid-19 is transmitted by contact with droplets of saliva that come from coughing, sneezing, or simply breathing from another person. But it does not remain floating in the air, nor is it possible to be transmitted through it if we go out on the street or walk through a supermarket where an infected person spent time before.

This was the conclusion of a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) that evaluated the scientific evidence available so far and that is why it reiterated that it is not necessary to use masks or chinstraps to transit the streets.

The WHO document has pointed out, however, that there is a risk of contagion if the recommended safety distance of one meter is not maintained, since we are more exposed to respiratory droplets with infective capacity produced by a person infected by coughing or sneezing. .

But the virus is heavy and does not spread over distances greater than a meter. It falls first to the ground by its own gravity.

Another way of contagion is to touch a surface on which a person carrying the virus has touched or sneezed.

For this reason, the WHO stressed the extreme importance of frequent hand hygiene and environmental cleaning and disinfection.

The WHO thus came out to correct the study by scientists from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Princeton University published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

This work ensured that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus held suspended in the air for up to three hours on average and that it was able to remain contagious on surfaces such as plastic or stainless steel for up to three days and on cardboard for up to 24 hours. .

The WHO recalled that this study was carried out in the laboratory, using devices that do not reflect the actual conditions of a human cough or sneeze.

Under normal circumstances, it is extremely unlikely that viral particles will be floating in the air. Researchers from Singapore took air samples in rooms of symptomatic patients with Covid-19 and found no viral RNA in the air, as published in the JAM magazine. It is the same result obtained when analyzing 75,465 cases of Covid-19 in China, where no contagion by airborne transmission of the virus has been reported either.

Sanitarians around the world have expressed concern about the explosion in demand for masks and masks by the public who feel they will be more protected from the pandemic if they use one at home and when traveling in public places. The WHO study tries to definitively correct that perception. The specialists' request is not to deplete the stocks of these products that are necessary for doctors and nurses who work on already infected patients, on top of their breathing.