An expert from the University of Massachusetts recommends evaluating three aspects before leaving the house: How many people will I meet, how will the air circulate around me, and how much time will I stay in this place?
It is not enough for someone with a coronavirus, in front of you or close to you, to be infected immediately.
The expert at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dr. Irene Promage, recently presented an "equation" on the Internet that shows that the risk of infection depends not only on exposure to the virus, but also, on the duration of that exposure.
Since then, its magic formula has become popular on the World Wide Web, as follows:
Sure infection = exposure to the virus x duration of exposure.
"The proposed equation shows that the risk of transmission or the risk of infection is subject to several variables," commented Professor Maximilian Debia, of the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal.
Maximillian explained, "There are many variables that must be taken into account, such as our presence in an internal environment, the size of this internal environment, and whether there is air movement, and what is the exposure time ... These variables must be taken into account to assess exposure and risk of infection." .
We can take the elevator as an example. If there are only two people, even if one of them is infected, as long as he wears a mask, and the two respect the spacing, then the risk of infection is not so great. However, it will be a bit complicated if the elevator breaks down and coexistence lasts longer.
But if 15 people crowded the elevator, a few centimeters from each other, with the elevator stopping on each floor, the data would differ greatly, especially if the injured person was without a mask.