Keep your distance. And don't kiss.
Those are two pieces of advice that could be crucial in reducing the spread of the coronavirus.
Public health officials say the spread has been mainly driven through people spending time indoors with others who have the disease.
"Looks like the main driver is not widespread community infection — looks like it's household-level infection," Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser to the World Health Organization, said.
Indeed, data from China's cases show that most of the spread is happening among family members who live together.
Perhaps the reason that the virus spreads among family members is the way people become infected. "The main mode of transmission is respiratory droplets" that can be produced by speaking and coughing, says Dr. Adam Lauring, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan. "These droplets then can find their way into the mouths, noses of other people nearby."
(Sneezing, another way droplets are spread, is not a common symptom of COVID-19, indicating that it's not usually an upper respiratory infection, Aylward said.)
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