NPR

How Coronavirus Spreads: A Cough In Your Face ... Or A Kiss On Your Cheek

After looking at the patterns of spread in China, researchers have come up with advice for effective strategies to reduce the risk of infection.
Cough into your elbow, not your hand. Or pull the collar of your T-shirt up to cover your mouth when coughing. That's the coughing advice from experts who seek to minimize risk of viral transmission.

Keep your distance. And don't kiss.

Those are two pieces of advice that could be crucial in reducing the spread of the coronavirus.

Public health officials say the spread has been mainly driven through people spending time indoors with others who have the disease.

"Looks like the main driver is not widespread community infection — looks like it's household-level infection," Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser to the World Health Organization, said at a news conference in Geneva on Feb. 25.

Indeed, data from China's cases show that most of the spread is happening among family members who live together.

Perhaps the reason that the virus spreads, says , associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan. "These droplets then can find their way into the mouths, noses of other people nearby."

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