Early this year, as the novel coronavirus began to spread over nearly the entire planet, scientists and public health experts labored under the consensus that the pathogen spread only or at least primarily through close personal contact.
That consensus was likely mistaken, scientists have increasingly concluded in recent months. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, appears to be airborne—or at least prone to spreading through “aerosols,” or tiny particles even smaller than the respiratory droplets we were all so spooked about this winter. Now, researchers are hustling to figure out what safety measures ought to look like when the coronavirus could be lurking in the air.
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