如果冠状病毒停留在空气中，我该如何保护自己?

如果冠状病毒停留在空气中，我该如何保护自己?

I'm hearing a lot of talk about the coronavirus spreading through aerosols — is wearing a mask in a grocery store enough protection? What else should I do to stay safe?

我听了很多关于冠状病毒通过气溶胶传播的讨论——在杂货店戴口罩就足够了吗?我还应该做些什么来保证安全?

Quick answer first: Going to the grocery store where you and everyone else is wearing a mask and keeping a distance from each other is still considered a low-risk activity.

去杂货店时，你和其他人都戴着口罩，彼此保持距离，这仍然被认为是一种低风险的活动。

For background, aerosols are tiny microdroplets that can be expelled when we talk or breathe and can stay aloft and travel on air currents. It's still unclear how much of a role they play in spreading the virus, but recently more than 200 scientists wrote an open letter asking the World Health Organization to pay more attention to them.

作为背景资料，气溶胶是一种微小液滴，在我们说话或呼吸时可被排出，并可停留在高空，随着气流传播。目前尚不清楚它们在病毒传播中发挥了多大作用，但最近，200多名科学家写了一封公开信，要求世界卫生组织对它们给予更多关注。

The agency still maintains that the greater risk of spread appears to be from droplets — larger particles, also expelled when we talk or breathe, which settle more quickly and are less likely to accumulate in the air. However, WHO released a new scientific brief on July 9 saying that airborne transmission might happen in crowded, poorly-ventilated indoor spaces such as gyms, choir practice rooms and nightclubs. But how much transmission aerosolized particles are responsible for, versus droplets and contaminated surfaces, they can't say for sure.

该机构仍然认为，传播的更大风险似乎来自于飞沫——当我们说话或呼吸时也会排出的较大颗粒，它们沉降得更快，在空气中积聚的可能性更小。然而，世界卫生组织在7月9日发布的一份新的科学简报中说，空气传播可能会发生在拥挤、通风不良的室内空间，比如健身房、唱诗班练习室和夜总会。但与飞沫和受污染的表面相比，悬浮微粒在多大程度上造成了传播，他们还不能确定。

If you want to err on the side of caution, here's what some infectious disease researchers say can help minimize the risks:

如果你想谨小慎微，以下是一些传染病研究人员所说的可以帮助你将风险最小化的方法:

Face away from people when you talk: When you're talking face to face with someone, you're in direct line of the plumes of breath that come out of their mouths when they speak. "If there's any scenario where I'm face to face, with someone, I move my head off-center so I'm no longer inhaling that direct plume," says Seema Lakdawala, a flu transmission researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.

当你与人交谈时，脸要远离对方：当你和某人面对面交谈时，你正处于他们说话时从嘴里呼出的缕缕气息的直线上。”匹兹堡大学流感传播研究人员西玛·拉克达瓦拉说：“如果我和某人面对面，我会把头移开，这样我就不会再吸入直接的气息了。”

Wear your mask properly: Wear a layered cloth mask in public spaces, especially if you're indoors or in a setting where you can't socially distance. Make sure it covers your nose and mouth. This will catch many of the droplets that come out when you breathe or speak and prevent them from getting into the air.

正确佩戴口罩:在公共场合戴一个多层的布制口罩，尤其是当你在室内或者在一个你不能与他人保持社交距离的场合。确保它能盖住你的鼻子和嘴巴。这将捕捉你呼吸或说话时喷出的许多飞沫，防止它们进入空气中。

Make the indoors more like the outdoors: "You limit aerosol transmission by increasing ventilation and increasing air circulation — by opening a window, putting on a fan and just moving the air," says Lakdawala, who keeps several fans running at all times in her lab and office space.

让室内更像室外:“你可以通过增加通风和增加空气流通来限制气溶胶的传播——通过打开窗户，安装风扇，让空气流动，” 拉克达瓦拉说，她在她的实验室和办公室里一直开着几台风扇。