According to a new study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, speaking without masks in closed spaces is tied to the greatest risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus to others.

The study elaborates on how respiratory droplets of different sizes expelled while speaking cover a continuum of sizes and can carry varying amounts of the virus. The intermediate-sized droplets remain in the air for minutes and can travel over considerable distances through convective air currents.

Adriaan Bax, from the US National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said that when water evaporates from the potentially virus-rich droplets emitted while speaking, they float in the air for minutes, putting people at risk… (ET Healthworld – IANS, June 9, 2021)