Photo: Science Photo Library RF
Newer, more contagious variants of the coronavirus are reportedly spreading more efficiently through the air.
New studies show the virus is evolving, with more instances of the virus transmitted through small droplets, known as aerosols, which are capable of floating over long distances indoors and settling directly into the lungs of individuals, where the virus is most harmful, the New York Times reports.
The new findings create a scenario in which there is a greater need for masks to be warn in situations as more contragious variants of the ever-changing virus continue to spread.
“This is not an Armageddon scenario,” said Vincent Munster, a virologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who led of one of the studies mentioned in the Times' report. “It is like a modification of the virus to more efficient transmission, which is something I think we all kind of expected, and we now see it happening in real time.”
Dr. Munster's team found the small aerosols traveled much longer distances than the more common transmission of larger droplets, which quickly sink to the floor.
The Alpha variant was reported to cause more infections through airborne aerosol transmission, with the second study finding more individuals exhaling about 43 times more virus into tiny aerosols than those infected by previously discovered variants of the coronavirus.
The study compared the Alpha variant to the original virus and other variants, but also provided answers regarding why the Delta variant has become so contageous and displaced other earlier variants of COVID-19.
“It really indicates that the virus is evolving to become more efficient at transmitting through the air,” said Linsey Marr, an expert in airborne viruses at Virginia Tech, though not involved in either study reported by the Times. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, with Delta, that factor were even higher.”