This is part of a series looking at pressing coronavirus questions of the week. We’d like to hear what you’re curious about. Email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: “Weekly Coronavirus Questions.”
More than 76,000 people in the U.S. have died due to COVID-19, and there have been 1.27 million confirmed cases across the country — and nearly 4 million worldwide. Though the virus continues to spread and sicken people, some states and countries are starting to re-open businesses and lift stay-at-home requirements. This week we look at some of your questions as summer nears and restrictions are eased.
Is it safe to swim in pools or lakes? Does the virus spread through the water?
People are asking whether they should be concerned about being exposed to the coronavirus while swimming.
Experts say that water needn’t be a cause for concern. The CDC says that there is no evidence that the virus that causes COVID-19 can be spread to people through the water in pools, hot tubs, spas or water play areas.
“I don’t believe that bodies of water — swimming pools, lakes or ponds or the ocean — are major ways that people can contract this virus,” says Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. “Remember, it’s a respiratory virus that spreads through coughs and sneezes and common-touch surfaces. So obviously, if you’re at a pool and people are sick and touching common-touch surfaces — maybe the chairs or the tables — that can be a risk. But the water itself: no.”
But since the virus spreads through droplets, do we need to worry about those droplets in the water? Probably not.
Dr. Abraar Karan, a physician at Harvard Medical School, says there’s no data that suggests the virus could transmit through viral particles dispersed through a body of water.
The bigger concern, he says, is contact with other people while swimming.
“The key is still social distancing,” Karan says. “So if you’re in a pool and you’re having face-to-face contact and if you’re not wearing any sort of facial protection in the pool — obviously swimming with a cloth mask on your face can be dangerous for other reasons — then you can certainly still spread it in the normal respiratory way.”
Can mosquitoes transmit the virus?
This one is straightforward: No.
“This virus is not spread by mosquitoes,” Adalja says. “There are very select viruses that can be actually spread by mosquitoes. Remember, this is a respiratory virus. It doesn’t get picked up by mosquitoes in the blood, and it’s not transmitted from person to person by a mosquito. So, no, there’s no evidence that this spreads through mosquitoes.”
Karan concurs.
“We have no documented cases of insect vector-borne spread,” he says. “With most viral respiratory illnesses like flu and other things, you’re not having insects spreading them. We have no reason to think that that that would be the case here either, and we definitely don’t have any data suggest that.”
I’ve been seeing forehead thermometers used at airports and to screen employees before going into job sites. Do those no-touch thermometers really work? And are temperature checks a good way to screen for COVID-19?
The raygun-like devices you’re seeing aimed at people’s foreheads are called infrared thermometers. They estimate the body’s internal temperature, and their scans are generally considered reliable if they’re used correctly.
The most accurate way to measure temperature is rectally – but that’s certainly not the most convenient or comfortable way to check for fever.
Unfortunately, the accuracy of the thermometer is beside the point: Experts say temperature checks simply aren’t very effective at identifying people with the coronavirus.
Karan points to a recent study of 5,700 patient who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in New York City. When the patients were assessed at triage, only 30.7% of them had a fever. Some went on to develop fever later in the course of their illness — but simply checking their temperature when they arrived at the hospital would not have flagged them as sick.
Read in full from https://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-coronavirus-faqs-do-temperature-screenings-help-can-mosquitoes-spread-it/