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Sneezes can travel much farther than you might think: Study
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While nearly anything can trigger a sneeze, like allergies or smoke, it’s those that happen when you’re sick that you need to be most cautious about. (Shutterstock/File)
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ext time you sneeze, don’t forget to think of your co-workers and quickly cover your mouth and nose as studies show that your sneeze can travel up to 8 meters if you aren’t careful.
For a while, scientists thought people’s sneezes didn’t stray too far, figuring that droplets only landed a foot or so away from you. But a slow-motion video of a sneeze filmed recently by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) quickly debunked that hypothesis, finding that sneeze particles can go much farther than originally thought.
“The largest droplets rapidly settle within one to 1.8 meters away from the person,” lead researcher Dr. Lydia Bourouiba of MIT’s Fluid Dynamics and Disease Transmission Laboratory told Star Tribune.
“The smaller and evaporating droplets are trapped in the turbulent puff cloud, remain suspended, and over the course of seconds to a few minutes, can travel the dimensions of a room and land up to 5.8 to eight meters away.”
Read also: Simple homemade flu and cough remedies
While nearly anything can trigger a sneeze, like allergies or smoke, it’s those that happen when you’re sick that you need to be most cautious about.
But if someone at work is sick, what might be your best defense against contamination? “You can’t scamper. It’s over before you can move,” said Dr. Scott Davies, a physician at Hennepin County Medical Center. “It’s up to the person who’s sneezing to prevent this.”
University of Minnesota School of Nursing associate professor Jeanne Pfeiffer recommends widening your personal bubble. “We say distance is a barrier. When someone isn’t feeling well, but they’re not staying home, we like to keep one meter of distance.” (sul/kes)
