Coronavirus: Spreads By Aerosol Spray

Is it possible the USA test were false positives? We never really had any infections in the USA yet. It is a brand new test and it is highly eradic. 

But the USA's coronavirus infection experience contradicted this. If it was aerosolized, we have a lot more infections. The only way this Chinese experience works, is if our officials based on national security reasons are telling the infected and medical staffs not to disclose their infection.   

*It can spread by aerosol spray and or remain on surface for up to five days, but to what extent???

Chinese Officials Warn of Aerosol Infection as Coronavirus Continues to Spread
By Eva Fu
February 8, 2020 Updated: February 9, 2020
 
Chinese health officials have identified aerosols as one of the transmission routes for the deadly novel coronavirus that has infected at least tens of thousands and stirred concern worldwide, according to a Shanghai press conference on Saturday.

Aerosol transmission occurs when one inhales very tiny droplets in the air containing the virus. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), measles, and H5N1 avian influenza are capable of spreading through aerosols, which can stay in the air for an extended period of time.

The other two major transmission routes for the virus include direct contact—breathing in larger droplets from an infected person who sneezes and coughs at close range—and contact transmission, meaning a person can be infected by touching objects contaminated with droplets carrying the virus, and then touching the membranes of his mouth, nose, or eyes without washing their hands.

Depending on the environment, current scientific data suggests the coronavirus can survive on surfaces for several hours to up to five days, Jiang Rongmeng, an expert from China’s top health oversight agency, the National Health Commission (NHC), said in a recent press conference.

The findings came after Guangdong authorities discovered nucleic acid of the new virus on the doorknob of a patient’s home less than a week earlier. 

A medical staff member getting lunch boxes for patients through a window in an isolation ward at a hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province, during the virus outbreak in the city, on Jan. 30, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

A number of Chinese cities, including the outbreak epicenter of Wuhan in Hubei Province; Xi’an in Shaanxi; Nanyang, Xuchang, and Kaifeng in Henan; Xingtai in Hebei; Jiujiang in Guangdong, have deployed mist cannon trucks and street cleaning trucks to spray disinfectants on the streets in an effort to eliminate the virus from public spaces.

Shenzhen and Kunming in southern China were among the latest two to use drones for the disinfectant operation.

Zeng Qun, vice director for the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, asked the public to cancel all social gatherings, open windows to ensure ventilation indoors, and regularly disinfect their homes. Zeng named door handles, chairs, and toilet seat cushions as key areas that are susceptible to contamination and suggested using 75 percent ethanol solution or chlorine solution for sanitizing measures.

In a recent poll on popular messaging platform WeChat, which drew 75,000 participants, around 62 percent of them indicated that they have not taken an elevator for more than a week, worrying that they could contract the virus by contacting the doorknob. For those who still rode the elevator, many chose to bring a pen, a toothpick, or a napkin, or wear gloves to avoid any direct contact.

Officials have also cautioned the family members of those infected to wear masks and keep a distance of at least one meter (3.2 ft) as well as clean their hands immediately after touching anything exposed to the patient.

In a same-day news conference, China’s NHC announced that the virus will have a temporary name called novel coronavirus pneumonia, or NCP for short.

It remains uncertain whether the virus can spread through fecal contamination, a concern that arose after the feces of the first U.S. coronavirus patient tested positive to the virus.

Feng Luzhao, an infectious disease researcher with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at the conference that they have also identified similar cases in several regions, which raised the question of whether the pathogens can spread through tainted food and water.

According to the NHC, the telltale signs for infection include fever, fatigue, dry coughs, and breathing difficulties, which can lead to pneumonia, kidney failure, and death.

However, some patients have reported atypical symptoms such as diarrhea, headaches, palpitations, chest pains, eye inflammations, and muscle soreness.