Disturbing New Research Shows Coronavirus Can Travel 4 Metres, So Are Our Social Distancing Rules Enough?

New research has found the 1.5 metre social distancing measures put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus may not be as effective as first thought.

Between February 19 and March 2, a team from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Beijing tested surfaces and air samples at an intensive care unit and a COVID-19 ward at the Huoshenshan Hospital.

The team looked at the aerosol transmission, which are droplets of the virus so small they can live in the air for several hours, unlike sneeze or cough droplets that fall straight away.

Aerosol droplets were found 13 feet, or 3.9 metres, downstream from patients and up to eight feet, or 2.4 metres, upstream in smaller quantities.

The preliminary research, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are at odds with the advice given to Australians by authorities.

The public is being urged to maintain a 1.5 metre distance from each other to stop the spread of the virus through contact.

Supermarkets and other stores have even put spacing markers on the floor to ensure customers are sticking to the 1.5 metres.

State and territory health departments told 10 daily their advice to residents was issued in accordance with directives by the federal Department of Health.

The federal Department of Health said while transmission beyond 1.5 meters “cannot entirely be ruled out”, it is regarded as a minimum safe distance for the majority of situations.

“The 1.5 metres is an approximate distance based on what we know from research about other respiratory viruses such as influenza, which are transmitted in a similar way,” a spokesperson told 10 daily.

“There remains lack of good evidence to know for certain how far droplets infected with coronavirus travel once expelled and the research that has been conducted has largely been done under controlled conditions, such as in a laboratory, and may not necessarily translate to real life.”

The spokesperson added a number of factors other than distance can influence the risk of infection via droplet transmission including “the speed of expulsion, environmental factors such as humidity, how long the droplets stay temporarily suspended in the air and the number of infectious particles”.

“In relation to ICUs, the viral load could be expected to be higher which is why PPE is so important in healthcare environments,” they said.

“And although viral RNA can be found at distances farther than 1.5 metres, it doesn’t mean that the relatively small numbers of viral particles that make it that far can cause infection.”