Cover your mouth, young man!
There’s nothing quite as disturbing as following the little particles from a sneeze to find they’re covering everything around you. Coughs are even worse because you usually can’t see the particles flying around.
I guess we needed a scientific study to remind us that when we sneeze or cough, nasty stuff comes out.
In a story by Rueters, Singapore’s National University Hospital’s Division of Microbiology, says that as many as 20,000 viruses are expelled by an average cough….that’s just on average.
Also in an average cough, there are about 3,000 droplets that measure between one and three micrometers in diameter. (A micrometer is one millionth of a meter.) These teeny tiny droplets stay in the air for “considerable amounts of time,” which gives other people ample time to get all the goodies floating around.
This “news” was released to make sure that people cover their mouths, especially in the midst of the swine flu epidemic.
Throughout the world, countries are developing advertisements to encourage personal hygiene. That probably wouldn’t fly so well in America, but maybe we could all do our part in keeping our germs to ourselves.
Three words: Cover. Your. Mouth.
andrea @ May 15, 2009