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deafening drum of industrial machinery and a cold-room virus-preserving environment. There are now outbreaks in 115 facilities across 23 states, 5000+ workers infected, with twenty dead.
• Weddings, funerals, birthdays: 10% of early spreading events
• Business networking: Face-to-face business networking like the
Biogen Conference in Boston in late February.
As we move back to work, or go to a restaurant, let’s look at what can happen in those environments.
Restaurants: Some really great shoe-leather epidemiology demonstrated clearly the effect of a single asymptomatic carrier
in a restaurant environment. The infected person (A1) sat at a
table and had dinner with nine friends. Dinner took about 1 to
1.5 hours. During this meal, the asymptomatic carrier released low-levels of virus into the air from their breathing. Airflow (from the restaurant’s various airflow vents) was from right to left. Approximately 50% of the people at the infected person’s table became sick over the next seven days. 75% of the people on the adjacent downwind table became infected. And even two of the seven people on the upwind table were infected (believed to happen by turbulent airflow). No one at tables E or F became infected because they were out of the main airflow from the air conditioner.
Workplaces: Another great example is the outbreak in a call center. A single infected employee came to work on the 11th floor of a building. That floor had 216 employees. Over the period of a week, 94 of those people became infected. 92 of those 94 people became sick (only two remained asymptomatic).
Choir: The community choir in Washington State. Even though people were aware of the virus and took steps to minimize transfer; e.g. they avoided the usual handshakes and hugs hello, people also brought their own music to avoid sharing, and socially distanced themselves during practice. They even went to the lengths to
tell choir members prior to practice that anyone experiencing symptoms should stay home. A single asymptomatic carrier
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