Most people who tested positive for the novel coronavirus had close contact with an infected person, which is the primary way the disease spreads. Close contact means being within 6 feet of another person for 15 minutes or more, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC stated on its official website: "It is believed that the outbreak of coronavirus occurs primarily through close contact from person to person, including people who are physically close to each other at a distance of less than 6 feet. When infected individuals cough, sneeze, sing, talk, or breathe, they produce droplets that travel through the air carrying the virus."
According to the magazine Eat This, Not That, while larger droplets fall to the ground, smaller particles known as aerosols that contain the virus can remain suspended in the air, which can infect people through what is called airborne transmission. The CDC also indicated that there is evidence that people may have contracted the infection from others even when they were more than 6 feet apart, especially in enclosed spaces that lack adequate ventilation. Dr. Erin Bromage, a comparative immunologist and biology professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, noted that while you can get the virus from a nearby person coughing or sneezing, you can also become infected if you are in a closed space for an extended period where the virus may have been released by someone breathing the same air.
