This is why I get a flu shot every year, and take my vitamins, and...
A recent story in DiscoveryNews told of a research experiment where scientists gave each of 788 high school students and staff a device* that recorded anytime two devices came within 10 feet of each other. Why 10 feet? Apparently, that's "considered the maximum distance that spit, phlegm, or snot infected with influenza can travel." (the story's wording, not mine. And I'm assuming this is via sneeze or cough and not via being flung by some other method... but I digress...) This was done over the course of a regular high school day of classes, lunch, and other meetings. So how many interactions did these devices record? Care to venture a guess?
Well, I'll tell you: 762,868! That's almost 1,000 times during a regular school day that each student or teacher had the opportunity to come across possible pathogens. Yikes!
*For all you techno-geeks out there, apparently this is the device used to record the encounters.
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