Covid19 Transmission — did the experts get it wrong?
By now it is obvious that all the lockdowns, handwashing, face-masks didn’t make a dent in Covid19 transmission. At the same time, the transmission has indeed stopped in many countries. Some hardly had any lockdowns at all?
So, is there something else going on? Is the virus transmitting in some ‘other’ way?
The answer may be in Physics, not biology.
Covid does not cause sneezing. Never ever. And, no sneezing means no ballistic droplets. Doctors/Experts are regurgitating what they learned about ‘sneezy’ viruses. Without droplets, Covid spreads by Aerosols, not Droplets, and most doctors/experts in healthcare don’t know the difference.
Aerosols, tiny and hanging around
1. Droplets are ballistic, and stopped by a cloth mask, as they travel ‘through’ the air and hit fibers. Aerosols ‘float’ in air. If air can pass, and the gaps are bigger than aerosols (always the case with gaps around nose, or mask stretched too much), so can the aerosols. Boundary layer theory says a sticky layer of air prevents the aerosols from touching the fabric. So, unless your mask makes breathing difficult, it is not stopping aerosols.
2. Aerosols keep floating in air, do not drop (the explanation is elsewhere, well established). The result is, if a person is shopping in a grocery store, moves on, you get to his spot and breath, you sucked in the aerosols. Social distancing works only if droplets drop.
The virus is not motile, has no arms/legs/wings. Its motion, once it leaves a nose, is guided by physics (Fluid Mechanics) not biology. The average healthcare expert has a rudimentary knowledge of fluid mechanics. In fact it is common to see doctors use the words Aerosol and Droplet interchangeably.
Some got it right
The face masks, social distancing, and hand-washing are completely irrelevant for Covid19, because it never causes sneezing and any cough is dry, and rare. Covid is spread by aerosols coming out as you exhale, during the first 4 or 5 days.
You may have noticed the word ‘ventilation’ showing up in the new advice. Correct, but too late. That is the only thing that works. It dries up the aerosol (the virus become inactive if it becomes dry). Ventilation is all that works. In winter ventilation is reduced to conserve heat, hence the spike in cases. Also the aerosol does not dry up so quickly in cold air.
Japan understood the physics early on. They had very few deaths (in spite of being chock full of very old people), without having any lockdowns. Bangladesh also had very very few deaths, because poor people cannot have air-conditioning, and rely on fans, and live in open dwellings. No lockdowns, masks are rare.
Unfortunately, the physicists and aerospace engineers are not being asked for advice. Doctors are in charge, and have literally helped spread it by giving people false confidence with masks and social distancing.
How to stop Covid
Visualize a cold day, you are talking/breathing and the moisture in your breath condenses, so you can see your ‘exhalation’. This helps you visualize where Covid would be hanging around, since normally we cannot see our exhalation.
Your goal is to churn this exhalation and either dry up the aerosol containing Covid, or just blow it away. Covid is delicate and becomes inactive quickly as it loses its liquid coating (the spike proteins are unable to trigger your cells to let them in).
So make sure you are well ventilated when near others. No need to ventilate your home all the time. Only when you are having guests over, put a fan between your, so the air gets a bit of churning. When talking to people, simply don’t face them (visualize the breath), that little bit will also help.
Hopefully this is over by Spring, as the weather warms and vaccines kick in. Good health.
