CBS News | Fort Collins, Colorado – A study focused on tracking the spread of COVID-19 in performing arts settings has also unveiled the population of humans who spread the most COVID-19 particles. Researchers at Colorado State University learned that men more frequently spread the coronavirus particles than women or children.
The study, which lasted months, was originally developed in an effort to see what those in the performing arts can do to facilitate a safe return to the stage following the pandemic. The performing arts, from the educational level all the way to Broadway performances, were some of the most drastically impacted fields.
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“COVID shut the performing arts down almost overnight,” said Dan Goble, director of CSU’s School of Music, Theater and Dance. “It wasn’t just a CSU problem, this was a national problem. Think about all the public-school bands, choirs and orchestras.”
Goble wanted to research the correlation between the spread of COVID-19 and the performing arts. Fortunately, CSU had qualified researchers and resources already on campus to do the study in-house. Goble partnered with John Volckens, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, to conduct the study.
More than 75 different people participated in the study which largely took place in a chamber used for testing particles in the air. Participants were of different ages and skillsets. Some were asked to sing songs like “Happy Birthday” repetitively. Others were asked to perform songs on instruments.
“Singing definitely emits more particles than talking,” Volckens told CBS Denver’s Dillon Thomas.
While the study, entitled “Reducing Bioaerosol Emission and Exposures in the Performing Arts: A Scientific Roadmap for a Safe Return from COVID-19,” was intended to focus on the spread of coronavirus in performing arts venues, it also unveiled a larger set of information when it comes to the virus as a whole.
“Adults tend to emit more particles than children,” Volckens said. “The reason men tend to emit more particles is because we have bigger lungs.”
Volckens said the virus also spreads more easily among those who speak at louder volumes.
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This story originally appeared on CBS Denver.
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Read/watch the whole story here:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/study-shows-men-spread-covid-004724896.html
Study Shows Men Spread COVID Particles More Than Women and Children
