A cough can disperse droplets well beyond six feet, and anyone shorter than the person coughing might be at a greater risk of encountering those cough droplets, a new simulation study suggests.
The new study, published on Tuesday in the journal Physics of Fluids, evaluates the risk of spreading the virus through cough droplets in the air under different tropical outdoor environments.
“Young children may be at greater risk compared to adults based on the typical downward cough trajectory. Teenagers and short adults are advised to maintain a social distance greater than 2 m from taller persons,” the researcher wrote in the study. “Surgical masks are known to be effective at trapping large droplets and therefore recommended for use as necessary.”
