Model suggests how airborne coronavirus particles spread in grocery store aisles

[SheltieLover]

[link:https://www.livescience.com/how-coronavirus-spreads-grocery-stores.html|

Based on their findings, the researchers recommend avoiding busy indoor spaces

Scientists in Finland have modeled how small airborne viral particles spread in a grocery store setting, which may help us better understand the spread of the new coronavirus.

For the study, researchers at Aalto University, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of Helsinki used a supercomputer to simulate the spread of small viral particles leaving a person's respiratory tract through coughing. They simulated a scenario in which a person coughs in a store aisle between shelves, and took into account ventilation.

They found that, in this situation, an aerosol "cloud" spreads outside the immediate vicinity of the person coughing, and diluted as it spreads, the authors said. But this process takes up to several minutes, and in the meantime, a person who walks by could in theory inhale the small particles.

More at link.

[mitch96]

1. Which only confirms my practice of being the first one in the grocery store when it opens...

I'm fortunate that the little Spanish grocery near me is almost totally empty at 7am when it opens..I'm out by 7:15 with everything I need... BTW these little shops have everything including meats dairy fish veg and the beloved TP...
m

[brewens]

3. My store usually has about five to eight people waiting, so I hang back and let them

get in and spread out. I keep a close eye out for anyone coughing too. I'll watch that crowd a little closer after seeing this.

I have another smaller store that's not bad which I pass on my morning walks sometimes. They open at six and usually no one is around. That's where I can duck in and grab a quick emergency item. I just need to remember to take a mask and gloves on my walk.

[mitch96]

10. People, places and things will get ya.... Avoid if possible and If you can't make it quick

Sanitize and wash your hands when you get home...... twice!!
m

[SheltieLover]

13. Excellent strategy!

Wish I had one near me. Glad you are staying safe!

[greenjar_01]

2. Pffft

FOH.

There's no real evidence that there have been significant infections from grocery store visits.

[Totally Tunsie]

5. greenjar - Please see #4 below and offer

your thoughts if you wish. I'm looking for the answer myself.

[Sherman A1]

6. Perhaps not

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10614231

[Totally Tunsie]

4. I've been searching for information about how long an exposure is needed to COVID

for one to catch it. Today I found an article relating to doctors' exposures that I hoped answered the question, but your article casts doubt on that again. Are we exposed long enough in a grocery aisle? What to believe???

Here's what I found...just place yourself in the doctor's role:

https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/doctors-heres-what-do-if-youre-exposed-covid-19

Brief interactions with patient

Physicians and other health professionals who are not using all recommended PPE and have brief interactions with a patient, such as a quick conversation at a triage desk, are considered at low risk. This is regardless of whether the patient with COVID-19 was wearing a facemask.


Walked by, but no direct contact

If a physician or other health professional walks by a patient with COVID-19, has no direct contact with the patient or their secretions and excretions, and has no entry into the patient’s room, there is no identifiable risk. In this instance, no monitoring or work restrictions are needed.

Does anyone have more comprehensive info on exposure time?

[no_hypocrisy]

7. I work as a cashier.

The plexi-glass partition is a start but not a cure-all. The nasal and/or oral particulate can float upwards over the partition and still spread the CV virus. I insist on the customers standing at least six feet away from me, even if both of us are wearing masks.

[SheltieLover]

14. Good for you

Glad you are staying sFe by using common sense!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. I am likewise skeptical that if you walk down a grocery aisle a bit after someone who is actually

infected who has coughed (and anyone care to estimate the chances of that actually happening?) you can become infected.

Same with the claims about how the virus lingers on cardboard or other surfaces. Has anyone figured out if the virus that lingers can still infect someone? Just because it can be detected doesn't mean it will get you sick.

[greenjar_01]

9. They don't really have evidence that it "lingers" in the air

There are several supposed modeling studies like this one that speculate about what could happen with droplets in general. Here's how people running spray droplets and it sits in a cloud, etc. A lot of this is silly, with very "compelling" colored visuals ("Look, you can see the particulate matter in the air! It's the purple one!&quot Lots of nonsense going around.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Right.

The "lingers in the air" is right up there with the notion that 5G towers are somehow spreading the virus.

Or that Jews have poisoned the wells.

[greenjar_01]

18. Derp-dee-lrp: Case in Point

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v74az9/the-viral-study-about-runners-spreading-coronavirus-is-not-actually-a-study


In the last 24 hours, a computer simulation by a team of Belgian engineers that tracks the “spread droplets” and “slipstream” of the exhalations, coughs, and sneezes of people who are running, walking, or cycling has gone viral. Perhaps you have seen this gif on Twitter, Facebook, or NextDoor. Or, as some people on our staff have seen, perhaps write-ups of it have been texted to you by concerned friends or family:

GAAAAAAHHHHBAGE

[EllieBC]

15. The Guardian

had some epidemiologists weigh in the the particles found in that cruise ship and they all said the same thing. The particles might not be complete and probably weren’t viable.

There’s caution and there’s panic-mongering and some of these articles are more the latter than the former.

[durablend]

12. I'm wondering how humidity factors in

When summer rolls around and it's hot and humid will it linger in the air longer?

[SheltieLover]

16. I'vd read

That the virus appears to linger longer in drier air. I think the humidity weighs it down & tends to cause it to fall to the ground sooner than the 3 hrs reported by researchers (CDC I think & if they are saying 3 hrs, my thought is it could well be longer as they lie about everything to minimize the danger).

[SheltieLover]

17. From what I've read

Researchers are not expecting higher temps to stop this virus. It was 95F in Australia & was spreading quickly. But higher humidity, researchers are guessing - again from what I've read - might work somewhat to cause the particles to drop to the ground sooner than the 3 hrs. researchers have reported this far.