A new study suggests that orchestra players and chorus members can stand a little closer to each other with no safety concerns.
According to the German News Agency, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra announced that a study in which it participated with researchers from the university hospitals in Erlangen and Munich in southern Germany, found that musicians should keep a significant distance while standing face to face.
Prof. Matthias Echternach of Munich's university hospital explained that "given that aerosols projected by musicians travel less than one meter on both sides, they can keep a safe distance of 1.5 meter instead of the currently adopted two meters as long as they are not standing face to face."
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra published the results of a similar study involving chorus members, saying they can stand at a closer distance side by side, but they should maintain a remarkable distance with the next row.
In order to test how wind instrument sprays out aerosols, the researchers used the main component of e-cigarettes usually exhaled to determine the spread of emissions.
The results showed a significant difference between instruments: for example, aerosols emitted by a flute player are transmitted to many more individuals than aerosols blown by a trumpet of clarinet player. The smoke cloud of the latter traveled a distance of 0.9 meter, while the smoke emitted by the flute traveled around two meters.
"These results showed that the two-meter distance formerly considered safe is insufficient, and instruments players should keep a distance of three meters to ensure their safety," the researchers explained.
