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Re:SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and virus-laden aerosol distrib... by zamadatix on Monday November 23, 2020 @03:57PM (#25191766)
There is no such thing as a perfectly safe distance but there is a "you're really risking common spread in most situations if less than" and that's where the 6 feet/ 2 meter number somes from and why it's relevant not because the virus counts out 6 feet and drops dead. I don't think anyone here is claiming that by referencing it either and you always want more distance if it's reasonably possible.
Re:SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and virus-laden aerosol distrib... by lutorm on Monday November 23, 2020 @04:11PM (#25191963)
I believe there are several qualifiers on that number, though. For example, the CDC "close contact" guidelines say that a close contact is "someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period".

Passing someone on a sidewalk means you're within 6 feet for maybe 5 seconds, which would constitude about 0.5% of such a "close contact" exposure.

They also say that several factors with insufficient data mean that it's unclear how things like ventilation, indoor vs outdoor, mask vs no mask, etc, affect the exposure assessment.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/contact-tracin...

Re:SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and virus-laden aerosol distrib... by markkanof on Monday November 23, 2020 @04:02PM (#25191842)
The Netherlands and maybe other European countries use 1.5 meters (~ 5 feet) as their guideline.