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      Likelihood of survival of coronavirus in a respiratory droplet deposited on a solid surface

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      Author(s): a) , a)
      Publication date PMC-release:
      Journal: Physics of Fluids
      Publisher: AIP Publishing LLC

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          Abstract

          We predict and analyze the drying time of respiratory droplets from a COVID-19 infected subject, which is a crucial time to infect another subject. Drying of the droplet is predicted by using a diffusion-limited evaporation model for a sessile droplet placed on a partially wetted surface with a pinned contact line. The variation in droplet volume, contact angle, ambient temperature, and humidity are considered. We analyze the chances of the survival of the virus present in the droplet based on the lifetime of the droplets under several conditions and find that the chances of the survival of the virus are strongly affected by each of these parameters. The magnitude of shear stress inside the droplet computed using the model is not large enough to obliterate the virus. We also explore the relationship between the drying time of a droplet and the growth rate of the spread of COVID-19 in five different cities and find that they are weakly correlated.

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          A Review of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19)

          Tanu Singhal (2020)
          There is a new public health crises threatening the world with the emergence and spread of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus originated in bats and was transmitted to humans through yet unknown intermediary animals in Wuhan, Hubei province, China in December 2019. There have been around 96,000 reported cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) and 3300 reported deaths to date (05/03/2020). The disease is transmitted by inhalation or contact with infected droplets and the incubation period ranges from 2 to 14 d. The symptoms are usually fever, cough, sore throat, breathlessness, fatigue, malaise among others. The disease is mild in most people; in some (usually the elderly and those with comorbidities), it may progress to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multi organ dysfunction. Many people are asymptomatic. The case fatality rate is estimated to range from 2 to 3%. Diagnosis is by demonstration of the virus in respiratory secretions by special molecular tests. Common laboratory findings include normal/ low white cell counts with elevated C-reactive protein (CRP). The computerized tomographic chest scan is usually abnormal even in those with no symptoms or mild disease. Treatment is essentially supportive; role of antiviral agents is yet to be established. Prevention entails home isolation of suspected cases and those with mild illnesses and strict infection control measures at hospitals that include contact and droplet precautions. The virus spreads faster than its two ancestors the SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), but has lower fatality. The global impact of this new epidemic is yet uncertain.
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            Turbulent Gas Clouds and Respiratory Pathogen Emissions: Potential Implications for Reducing Transmission of COVID-19

            Lydia Bourouiba (2020)
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              How far droplets can move in indoor environments--revisiting the Wells evaporation-falling curve.

              X. Xie, Y. Li, A. T. Y. Chwang … (2007)
              A large number of infectious diseases are believed to be transmitted between people via large droplets and by airborne routes. An understanding of evaporation and dispersion of droplets and droplet nuclei is not only significant for developing effective engineering control methods for infectious diseases but also for exploring the basic transmission mechanisms of the infectious diseases. How far droplets can move is related to how far droplet-borne diseases can transmit. A simple physical model is developed and used here to investigate the evaporation and movement of droplets expelled during respiratory activities; in particular, the well-known Wells evaporation-falling curve of droplets is revisited considering the effect of relative humidity, air speed, and respiratory jets. Our simple model considers the movement of exhaled air, as well as the evaporation and movement of a single droplet. Exhaled air is treated as a steady-state non-isothermal (warm) jet horizontally issuing into stagnant surrounding air. A droplet is assumed to evaporate and move in this non-isothermal jet. Calculations are performed for both pure water droplets and droplets of sodium chloride (physiological saline) solution (0.9% w/v). We calculate the droplet lifetimes and how droplet size changes, as well as how far the droplets travel in different relative humidities. Our results indicate that a droplet's size predominately dictates its evaporation and movement after being expelled. The sizes of the largest droplets that would totally evaporate before falling 2 m away are determined under different conditions. The maximum horizontal distances that droplets can reach during different respiratory activities are also obtained. Our study is useful for developing effective prevention measures for controlling infectious diseases in hospitals and in the community at large. Our study reveals that for respiratory exhalation flows, the sizes of the largest droplets that would totally evaporate before falling 2 m away are between 60 and 100 microm, and these expelled large droplets are carried more than 6 m away by exhaled air at a velocity of 50 m/s (sneezing), more than 2 m away at a velocity of 10 m/s (coughing) and less than 1 m away at a velocity of 1 m/s (breathing). These findings are useful for developing effective engineering control methods for infectious diseases, and also for exploring the basic transmission mechanisms of the infectious diseases. There is a need to examine the air distribution systems in hospital wards for controlling both airborne and droplet-borne transmitted diseases.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Rajneesh Bhardwaj:
                ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2995-7394
                Amit Agrawal:
                ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7614-1147
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Phys Fluids (1994)
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Phys Fluids (1994)
                Journal ID (coden): PHFLE6
                Title: Physics of Fluids
                Publisher: AIP Publishing LLC
                ISSN (Print): 1070-6631
                ISSN (Electronic): 1089-7666
                Publication date (Print): 01 June 2020
                Publication date PMC-release: 09 June 2020
                Volume: 32
                Issue: 6
                Electronic Location Identifier: 061704
                Affiliations
                Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay , Mumbai 400076, India
                Author notes
                [a) ]Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: rajneesh.bhardwaj@ 123456iitb.ac.in and amit.agrawal@ 123456iitb.ac.in
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2995-7394
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7614-1147
                Article
                Publisher ID: 5.0012009 Publisher-manuscript ID: POF20-LE-01173
                DOI: 10.1063/5.0012009
                PMC ID: 7295365
                SO-VID: bb0c9374-9879-49e9-9272-066974d81968
                Copyright © Copyright © 2020 Author(s)
                License:

                Published under license by AIP Publishing.

                1070-6631/2020/32(6)/061704/6/ $30.00

                All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).

                History
                Date received : 28 April 2020
                Date accepted : 09 May 2020
                Page count
                Pages: 6
                Funding
                Funded by: Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001409
                Award ID: EMR/2016/006326
                Categories
                Subject: Letters
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