Doctors explain what you should know about how far germs spread when people sneeze and cough, how to keep yourself as healthy as possible, and how to protect others when you’re the sick one.
If you’re sick, cover your face when you sneeze and cough.
This can definitely be helpful in sparing others from your illness, Dr. Greninger says. Just don’t cover your face with your hands, because that makes it all too easy to spread those germs around. Instead, the recommends coughing or sneezing into a tissue and then throwing it away, or sneezing into your upper shirt sleeve or elbow, completely covering your nose and mouth.Unfortunately, even the best cough and sneeze etiquette can’t fully stop the spread of disease, Dr. Roach explains. A small 2013 study of 31 people published infound that some droplets—especially smaller ones—still spread when the participants were practicing good cough etiquette, including coughing into their shirt sleeve or elbow.
As the scientists explained, this is because some particles manage to find the path of least resistance around whatever is blocking them. But pure physics dictates that putting an obstacle in the way of any pathogens is preferable to just spewing them into the air without any barriers. Even though covering your nose and mouth isn’t foolproof, it’s definitely better than nothing—which is precisely why the CDC recommends it.
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