Why the Gym Can Be a COVID-19 Spreading Hotspot--new study

A New Study Explores Why the Gym Can Be a COVID-19 Spreading Hotspot Throughout the pandemic, exercise at spin classes, fitness clubs and sports games has been identified as the source of dozens of new cases. Now a new experiment has given us a more exact sense of just how many aerosols a single person can spew during an intense workout—and the results aren’t pretty. According to research by scientists in Germany published in PNAS on May 23, people emit about 132 times as many aerosols per minute during high intensity exercise than when they’re at rest, which the researchers warn raises the risk of a person infected with COVID-19 setting off a superspreader event. YahooNews

COVID-19 has been frustrating for gym rats. Even before scientists knew much about this particular virus, it was pretty clear that breathing heavily in a confined space with lots of other people around doing the same was an easy way to catch a respiratory illness, and gyms were among the first businesses to close early in the pandemic. These suspicions have since been borne out by science: aerosols—tiny droplets that spread through the air when we breathe—have been identified as a major source of COVID-19 transmission, especially when people are breathing faster and more deeply. Throughout the pandemic, exercise at spin classes, fitness clubs and sports games has been identified as the source of dozens of new cases.

Now a new experiment has given us a more exact sense of just how many aerosols a single person can spew during an intense workout—and the results aren’t pretty. According to research by scientists in Germany published in PNAS on May 23, people emit about 132 times as many aerosols per minute during high intensity exercise than when they’re at rest, which the researchers warn raises the risk of a person infected with COVID-19 setting off a superspreader event. ...