School/Department
School of Science Technology and Health
Publication Date
3-15-2020
Abstract
The world has been in the midst of a swiftly unfolding public health crisis that has turned deadly. The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has turned out to be a rapidly expanding pandemic affecting the nations of the world. Most governments and their public health authorities worldwide have taken drastic measures to strictly contain the spread of this coronavirus. However, despite the aggressive preventative measures in place, COVID-19 has propagated exponentially across the world. Currently, the accepted mode of disease transmission is by droplets containing the virus. Here we provide epidemiological data in conjunction with biochemical molecular mechanisms of this Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome- Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and explain the possible alternative modes of disease transmission. Our observed data, biochemical mechanisms, and inferences indicate that COVID-19 has a high probability of transmission through other routes as well, such as indirect routes; viz, fomites and aeros.
Keywords
COVID-19; Coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2; Fomites; Pandemic; Droplets;
DOI of Published Version
10.3389/fpubh.2020.00163
Rights
the authors
Recommended Citation
Galbadage, Thushara; Peterson, Brent M.; and Gunasekera, Richard S., "Does COVID-19 Spread through Droplets Alone?" (2020). Faculty Articles & Research. 408.
https://digitalcommons.biola.edu/faculty-articles/408
Comments
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article submitted/accepted for publication in Frontiers in Public Health - Infectious Diseases – Surveillance, Prevention and Treatment following peer review. The original paper was submitted for publication in mid-March, 2020
Recently published, the article can also be found here:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00163/full