Controversial study shows how much COVID-19 is enough to infect someone

Thanks to a new study, we now know how much COVID-19 it takes to infect a person. Known as the Challenge Study, the study exposed healthy participants to varying amounts of COVID-19 and measured how long it took them to contract the virus, which isn’t much. According to the results, it only takes a small droplet of the virus for people to contract the disease.

The researchers conducted their experiment on 36 participants between the ages of 18 and 29, all of whom had no previous COVID-19 infections or vaccinations. Participants were screened for comorbidities and had no extrinsic risks for COVID-19. They then signed an informed consent form and were exposed to the virus nasally, housed in a security facility with access to high levels of medical care.

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It was understandably a controversial study, as is the case with most provocation studies, which involve some risk no matter how controlled the situation is. Still, these studies are incredibly valuable and provide insights no other studies can. “Really, there’s no other type of study where you can do that because you usually only become aware of patients when they’ve developed symptoms and you miss out on all the previous days of the infection brewing,” lead author Christopher Chu told CNN.

To minimize risks, the participants were exposed to the virus in stages and provided with the necessary medication. After exposure, they were monitored 24 hours a day.

Half of the participants contracted COVID-19, with two of them never developing symptoms. While most infections were mild, most infected participants lost their sense of smell, with 9 of them unable to smell at all. Six months after exposure, one participant still had not fully recovered their sense of smell, although it was slowly improving.

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Despite the risks, the researchers learned a lot from the study, such as the fact that one droplet from a cough or sneeze is enough to infect a healthy person. They also found that it takes two days for people to start shedding the virus, which they then shed for the next 6 to 12 days. However, the most interesting aspect of the study was that exactly half of the participants did not contract the virus, which surprised the researchers.

The challenge study proved a success, inspiring researchers to conduct it on a variety of people, including people who have already been exposed to the virus or have been vaccinated. As long as they don’t infect people at risk, such as babies or the elderly, the studies should continue to provide important information as the pandemic progresses.