The findings are important because airborne viral pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, can be encapsulated and migrated through liquid droplets and aerosols formed during human respiratory functions such as speaking and coughing.
Knowing how to reduce this spread can help keep people safe and manage the response to pandemics such as COVID-19, which have led to global infections, congestion in the health care system and economic damage.
These reactions could include mitigating some guidelines for reducing social distances when wearing masks.
“The study provides clear evidence and guidance that a 3-foot distance with face shields is better than a 6-foot distance without a face shield,” said another author of the study. Kareem Ahmed, Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautics at UCF.
Using diagnostic tools commonly used to move liquids in the air, researchers measured the distance that droplets and aerosols travel from talking and coughing people when they wear different masks and when they don’t.
The study involved 14 individuals, 11 men and 3 women, aged 21-31.
Each participant uttered a sentence and simulated a cough for 5 minutes without a face shield, a cloth face shield, and a three-layer disposable surgical mask.
Planar particle imaging was used to measure the velocity of the particles; a phase-doppler interferometer was used to measure droplet size, velocity, and volume flow at jet locations; and an aerodynamic particle size meter was used to determine the behavior of airborne particles.
The devices measured the properties, behavior, and direction of the particles in the air as they traveled out of the participants ’mouths.
The researchers found that the cloth covering the face reduced emissions in all directions by about two feet compared to emissions from four feet when coughing or speaking without a mask.
The reduction was even greater when using a surgical mask, reducing cough and speech emissions to only about half a foot.
The researchers got the idea for their jet force study.
“The principles are the same. Our coughs and speeches are exhausted propulsion pieces,” Ahmed said.
Research is part of a wider overall effort by researchers to control the spread of diseases in the air, including through food ingredients, and to better understand the factors involved in being a super-spread. and modeling the spread of airborne diseases in classrooms.
Next, the researchers plan to expand the research with more participants. The work is partly funded by the National Science Foundation.
The authors of the study were Jonathan Reyes, a leading author and doctoral researcher; Bernhard Stiehl, doctoral researcher; Juanpablo Delgado, master’s student; and Michael Kinzel, Assistant Professor. All are in UCF’s Mechanical and Aeronautics Department.
Source: ANI
Source: The Nordic Page