They get it and transmit it.
They have ACE2 receptors, which SARS-COV-2 targets. And just like adults, they have a thermal plume wafting SARS-COV-2 up to you. Basically, our body’s own heat forms a never-ending plume of air movement upwards because heat rises.
“While there has been no systematic study on human thermal plume in the COVID-19 context, an existing body of evidence suggests that it generates constant uprising airflows around the human body and transports aerosols from lower regions into the breathing zone.”
And
” Under the constant uprising airflows, the vertical transport and human inhalation of indoor aerosols would be particularly enhanced when the emission source is located at lower horizons in proximity to the human occupant (Rim et al. 2009).”
” To summarize, there is ample evidence indicating that thermal plume creates constant uprising airflows around the human body and therefore has the ability to transport abundant quantities of airborne droplets and particles from lower regions to the human breathing zone.”
Some more interesting bits of info from that study:
- We might be breathing in microplastics:
- “Vianello et al. (2019) utilized a breathing thermal manikin with respiratory patterns and metabolic heat similar to those of adult males to assess the influences of thermal plume on the human inhalation of indoor microplastics. The study found that thermal plume continuously transported microplastics from lower regions of the room into the breathing zone of the sedentary manikin. “
- For the office:
- “Generated by body-to-air temperature gradients, human thermal plume creates persistent uprising airflows along the human boundary layer, typically as a laminar-to-turbulent flow with varying thicknesses from 2–4 mm to 200 mm and a maximum velocity of 0.2–0.3 m/s, which is comparable to the designed air velocity in various buildings with mixed ventilation under the current design criteria. “
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