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With droplet transmission, it’s thought that virus-filled particles can be ejected from the mouth or the nose when a person speaks, coughs or sneezes. The droplets can be flung through the air \u2014 up to 6 feet from the infected person \u2014 but then drop to the ground or onto other surfaces fairly quickly if they don’t come into contact with other people nearby.<\/p>\n

Airborne transmission, on the other hand, occurs when tiny aerosol particles are expelled by talking, sneezing or coughing but then remain suspended in the air. The minuscule particles can also travel away from an infected person by floating on air currents.<\/p>\n

Measles, chickenpox and tuberculosis are other diseases that can spread through airborne transmission.<\/p>\n

When asked about airborne spread of coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said, “There’s no solid evidence that that type of transmission is occurring.”<\/p>\n

But he added, “We can’t rule it out completely.”<\/p>\n

While airborne and droplet transmission are different, they aren’t mutually exclusive, said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases physician who is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.<\/p>\n

“We often think about these clinical definitions as silos, but that’s not entirely accurate,” Bogoch said. “There’s a spectrum \u2014 from droplets all the way to airborne. When we think about COVID-19, there may be some airborne transmission, but it’s safe to say that the majority of transmission falls toward the droplet side of the spectrum.”<\/p>\n