Two aerosol experts at U-M share what steps teachers can take to make their classroom safer for students and themselves.

Experts have discovered the likelihood of spreading the coronavirus (COVID-19) through aerosols from a person’s mouth changes based on what words that person is saying. With increasing evidence of COVID-19 spreading through person-to-person contact, one question that often comes up is: How close is too close? One video shows that even calm breathing with a slightly open mouth produces a significant jet or air. With it comes to ordinary speech, the researchers found that what people say is just as how they say it, in terms of jets of air that are emitted. They pushed air directly forward at a higher speed for a greater distance.