WASHINGTON - A person on a poorly ventilated Chinese bus infected nearly two dozen other passengers with coronavirus even though many were not sitting close by, according to research published on Tuesday that offers fresh evidence the disease can spread in the air.
The article published on Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine probes the threat of airborne infection by taking a close look at passengers who made a 50-minute trip to a Buddhist event in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo aboard two buses in January before face masks became routine against the virus. The scientists managed to map out where the other passengers sat, and also test them for the virus, with 23 of 68 passengers subsequently confirmed as infected on the same bus.
On top of that, the sick passenger was not yet showing Covid-19 symptoms, such as a cough, when the group made their trip to the religious event.