Thank you.
I try to simplify my language as much as possible. It’s a real challenge, since simplification can lead to inaccuracy unless one is extremely careful.
Your understanding is mostly accurate. Airborne particles are tiny enough to float in the air and be carried away from the patient. Otherwise, I think you got it.
For all practical purposes, ejected droplets in my climate at ambient temperature in the winter form particulates. I have seen both spit and urine freeze on the way to the ground.
This also raises the question of viral longevity at low temperatures (subzero Fahrenheit), because for all practical purposes the ejected virus would be contained in a particle of ice.
With temperatures of -30F and wind speeds of 20 MPH considered a relatively normal day, those will likely get mixed in with the finely powdered snow which is normal here.
The joke is that the snow doesn't melt, it wears out on its way to Minnesota. In reality, it sublimates, which would eventually leave the little virons naked and freezing, stuck on a surface somewhere.
Keep in mind that solar angle is low (and so is UV), and that daylight hours are down to eight or so in midwinter. There is plenty of shade.
This raises questions, should an outbreak make its way here, of how long the virus would remain viable in such environs. Similar concerns have been raised by people in slightly milder climates, and I think they have raised a valid question.
As far as I know, there is no data which could conceivably predict that, but lingering 'frozen particulate fomites' could present a hazard to emergency personnel (especially near hospital entrances) and to the casual passerby in any location where the virus has been shed.
We become acclimated to such temperatures fairly readily (kids ride their bicycles in the snow in that weather), although the relatively dry air often wreaks havoc with sinuses and air passages.
The combination of irritated pharyngeal mucosa and readily inhalable frozen particulates is an unknown, but may present a hazard that cannot be extrapolated from tropical data.