Professor Don Milton has been studying how respiratory viruses spread between people for more than 25 years. Since Spring 2020, he has led the Stop COVID study, which recruits people who have recently been infected with COVID-19 and their contacts. Participants sit in the Gesundheit II machine which captures their exhaled breath (both with and without a mask and while singing happy birthday and shouting “Go Terps!”).
Dr. Milton’s team studies how much virus is in the tiny particles that people exhale and how well masks work to contain the spread of the SARS CoV2 virus that causes COVID-19.
Based on his current and previous research, Dr. Milton recommends what he calls a “hierarchy of controls” to minimize the spread of COVID-19 indoors beginning with environmental controls such as improving ventilation, utilizing filtration and/or installing upper room germicidal UV-C fixtures.
