IS THIS THING AIRBORNE??

[R2221]

We’ve been going on long country side walks. A few other families/couples were there and they all were mindful of keeping distance. At no point were we within 10ft distance of others. Now I read that Coronavirus could be airborne. Wth !!

Can anyone pls tell me what you know about it? I’ve been to the supermarkets nearly every day for the last 7-10 days to get bits of my weekly shopping. I could never get everything at one place in one go. Should I prepare for getting CV then - like prepare batch meals and freeze, things like that. We’ve been isolating and massively social distancing for the last 2 weeks. Is that all futile ??

If it's airborne we are all fucked. All you can do is shop as little as possible and hope you are lucky!

Lots of info from the WHO- www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

If you’ve been to the supermarket everyday then you aren’t social distancing that much to be honest!

How are you isolating if you're going to supermarkets every day?

I don’t have a choice! It’s just to get my family fed for the day!

Ok, it’s NEARLY everyday. On days I managed to find some extra food, I didn’t go until the next day.

I have no idea, and i hope not

I mean, until the day after. I also have elderly inlaws living nearby. I need to shop for them too.

Why can't you do a weekly shop?

Of course it is borne by the air in sneezes and coughs.....
Don’t panic!

I think people in the cities especially would struggle to get enough food to only shop every few days

Googling quickly suggests a degree of uncertainty and depends on how narrow your definition of airborne is apparently - this is from the NHS page:

How coronavirus is spread

Because it's a new illness, we do not know exactly how coronavirus spreads from person to person.

Similar viruses are spread in cough droplets.

It's very unlikely it can be spread through things like packages or food.

No it is passed on by touch and bodily fluids as far as I am aware.

I agree going to the supermarket daily isn't social distancing. This is a big problem I think with people keep going out all the time.

It's airborne for up to three hours with some medical procedures but otherwise a it's droplet transmitted which are heavier and fall to the ground rather than linger in the air.

I attempted to do a weekly shop on Thursday and only managed to spend £10 as the shelves were empty. It meant that I had to then go to another couple of shops the next day just to get a few essentials.

I always thought it was airborne? It's not very easy to wipe your facial secretions over others.

I can't do without food shopping unless I display symptoms, I take precautions. The people offering to help with shopping are at the same risk (unless they have a mask, I don't have a mask). I don't bulk buy and have to carry it so it's once every few days.

I work in community nursing and we have been told it is droplet transmission, so coughs/sneezes, surfaces etc. It may only become airborne if you were getting work done on your teeth for example
Or if someone was on a CPAP machine

Its been widely reported that it stays airborne for between 30 minutes to three hours.

I can’t do a weekly shop because there are ZERO online delivery slots AND people have been emptying shelves nonstop in my area. A few days ago I made a nice list to stock up, ordered my shopping online as usual. I stupidly assumed my order would be delivered. Too late - my order was cancelled!

In some settings;

"the World Health Organization said it was considering “airborne precautions” for medical staff after a study showed that COVID-19 can survive in the air in some settings."

"The virus is transmitted through droplets, or little bits of liquid, mostly through sneezing or coughing, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, told reporters during a virtual news conference on Monday. “When you do an aerosol-generating procedure like in a medical care facility, you have the possibility to what we call aerosolize these particles, which means they can stay in the air a little bit longer.”

I would avoid using lifts - take the stairs if possible.

Not strictly airborne, some viruses will literally float about. This one needs the cough or sneeze to propel it.

No-one I know can do a bloody weekly shop as everything is being cleared out.

www.statnews.com/2020/03/16/coronavirus-can-become-aerosol-doesnt-mean-doomed/ this article has a lot of detail.

if someone was coughing in the supermarket and I passed the aisle exactly from the same spot a minute or two later, would the virus still hang in the air there????

Did people really think it only spread by touch?

Explains the crazy seaside scenes today. Wow

No, it would land on something and then could be transferred by your hand. This is why you keep washing hands, don’t touch face