This thread was talking about masks and viral loads, and what might be considered a large enough load to get infected. Found the following recent article today:
Excerpt:
In February, scientists in Wuhan, China—where the coronavirus outbreak originated—sampled the air in various public areas, and showed that the virus was either undetectable or found in extremely low concentrations. The only exceptions were two crowded sites, one in front of a department store and another next to a hospital. Even then, each cubic meter of air contained fewer than a dozen virus particles. (No one knows the infectious dose of SARS-CoV-2—that is, the number of particles needed to start an infection—but for the original SARS virus of 2003, one study estimated somewhere between 43 and 280.)
These particles might not even have been infectious. “I think we’ll find that like many other viruses, [SARS-CoV-2] isn’t especially stable under outdoor conditions like sunlight or warm temperatures,” Santarpia said. “Don’t congregate in groups outside, but going for a walk, or sitting on your porch on a sunny day, are still great
ideas.”
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The article is pretty good - goes into some of the arguments about how we don’t really know if the regular flu is “airborne”.
Go back and read the First day of Q&A, I think we answered most of that then and yesterday. Of course you are correct, an airborne protein that reacts with the test doesn’t necessarily mean it represents a functioning virus. “Out of an abundance of caution” is a phrase we have heard repeatedly in recent years. I think the safe, efficient, and effective way forward would be “everybody wears a bandana” when in public.”
Sorry, didn’t see this WAS the first day.
“airborn”
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I believe am helping at least some people understand by explaining the difference between “large droplet short range transmission” which IS indicated in SARS and COVID-19, and “small-droplet long-range transmission” which is not. (So far, I hope and pray, and I honestly believe even with the SSE’s!)