Health Highlights: April 21, 2020

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Ventilation Systems in Restaurants May Spread Coronvirus: Study

A study examining how people at a restaurant in China became infected with the new coronavirus may provide insight into how air currents spread the virus in enclosed locations.

In January, a customer at a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, who had the coronavirus but didn’t have symptoms may have infected nine other people. It’s suspected that a restaurant air conditioner blew the virus particles around the dining room, The New York Times reported.

However, 73 other people who ate that day on the same floor of the five-story restaurant weren’t infected, nor were the eight employees working on the floor at the time, according to the study to be published in the July issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

The incident suggests that ventilation systems can distribute viruses, meaning the recommendation to stay six feet apart may not be effective in keeping people safe in restaurants when they reopen, The Times reported.

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