In a new study, published in the Journal of Korean Medical Science, it was found that a high school student was infected with COVID-19 within five minutes of eating indoors.
Indoor dining in New York is coming to an end again on Monday. The new closure is set to last at least two weeks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.
"I support the governor 100%," Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier ahead of Governor Cuomo's announcement. Indoor dining accounts for 1.43% of recent spread, according to reports.
The restrictions in New York come after a new study published in the Journal of Korean Medical Science found that a South Korean high school student was infected with COVID-19 within five minutes of eating indoors. The person who infected the student was 20 feet away, according to the study.
The high school senior hadn’t traveled outside of the region but then GPS data displayed that the student had briefly had contact at a restaurant with a saleswoman who contracted COVID-19 and then visited the restaurant.
They both had the same strain of the virus, according to the journal. The student and woman never came into direct contact with each other or touched any of the same utensils or surfaces, but an air conditioner was present and scientists believe the people who were infected was a result of “the airflow came down the wall and created a valley of wind" in the restaurant.
“‘[The student] had to get a large dose [of droplets] in just five minutes, provided by larger aerosols probably about 50 microns,” Linsey Marr, an engineering professor at Virginia Tech who was not involved in the study, told the Los Angeles Times. “Large aerosols or small droplets overlapping in that gray area can transmit disease further than one or two meters [3.3 to 6.6 feet] if you have strong airflow.”
Marr called eating indoors “one of the riskiest things you can do in a pandemic." The six-foot social distance rule may not be enough, she added.
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