No, I understand the reasoning behind this. You ultimately have to worry about viral load. The more you breath in (exposed to) COVID, the more likely your body will actually become “infected”. So, having short stints near someone who is infected you aren’t as likely to be exposed to enough to cause a problematic viral load. The longer you are around them, the more you are breathing in, etc.
So, it was determined that 15 minutes is about the time period, statistically speaking, they they see spread happening. But these are instances of single contact tracing. It isn’t often you would be in continuous proximity to MULTIPLE people who are infected, so statistically speaking, that wouldn’t be “on the radar” to be concerned about.
But really, the key isn’t that you are exposed 15 minutes to a single individual, it is that you are exposed for 15 minutes (or more) to ANY individual who is infectious.
Now, the problem with a place like Disney is that you might only be exposing yourself to someone who infected for a couple minutes at a time…but if you are doing that constantly over and over again, your viral load increases each time. What are the chances of this? Not much, unless there is high degree of contagious infection. But the thing is, you can’t know. You could be the unlucky person who strikes the lottery and hits seven guests in a row who are all contagious!
Point is, though, that the cumulative aspect of this isn’t something you would likely encounter, realistically, and isn’t easily testable in any study. But based on what we DO know, it makes a cumulative exposure (meaning, serially in contact with DIFFERENT individuals) something to be aware of.
What I WOULD like to know is what happens when you have a SMALL viral load exposure, and then, you get a break from exposure before you are exposed again. How long does the break need to be for the viral load to drop back down? And, would many short exposures over a prolonged period of time build up immunity in your body even though you may never become “infected” (aka, symptomatic or contagious)?
