On July 6, CBS News' chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook spoke with Dr. Don Milton, professor of applied environmental health, about the real risk that the coronavirus can spread through microdroplets that linger in the air and the open letter he and 239 scientist colleagues published on July 6. Dr. Milton and colleagues urged the World Health Organization (W.H.O.)and other public health organizations to update their guidelines based on current scientific evidence.
The W.H.O. has maintained that only close contact and large droplets—which quickly fall to the ground—transmit the disease outside of medical settings. But, Dr. Milton's research has shown people exhale microscopic droplets when breathing, talking, and singing, not just by coughing and sneezing, and that these droplets, which may contain virus if a person is infected, can stay in the air and travel much further than thought.
"The risk goes beyond six feet," Dr. Milton said to CBS News. Citing examples of clusters of outbreaks, including the Guangzhou restaurant outbreak and public bus outbreaks, he said that it's clear that one person can infect people well beyond the distance recommended for social distancing.
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