Does the influenza virus just float everywhere? Can you catch a cold by let’s say walking in the woods, slightly underdressed and not making contact with any sick person?
In: Biology
This is unlikely, most airborne “cold/flu” type viruses die out in a couple hours or days at the most.
However a shared apartment building for example could have ventilation systems that are connected, or a shared entrance that somebody else walked through earlier. This means diseases could be transmitted between people without them being in the same place at the same time.
The idea that you could “catch a cold” by exposure to cold temperatures is not really accurate. This myth comes from the (true) observation that illness tends to spread more in the winter. Excessive cold can weaken your immune system but the actual exposure to disease happens near other people, usually indoors. The air conditions and increased time spent indoors is the primary reason illnesses increase in winter, while “catching a cold” from cold temperatures is at best a small factor and at worst, completely incorrect.
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