CDC: COVID-19 spreading on shoes, now spread up to 13 feet away

If you thought the fear of coronavirus was bad, think again: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that coronavirus can travel through the air by at least 13 feet -- twice as far as current social distancing guidelines.

The research was conducted by a team from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, and was recently posted in the CDC's own Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal. The report reads: "The aerosol distribution characteristics ... indicate that the transmission distance of [COVID-19] might be 4 m (more than 13 feet)".

The CDC's new report is also pretty scary, warning that coronavirus can linger on shoes and acts like a carrier for COVID-19. Researchers talked about samples taken from the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China -- where they said: "Furthermore, half of the samples from the soles of the ICU medical staff shoes tested positive. Therefore, the soles of medical staff shoes might function as carriers".

"High levels" of the disease were also found on trash cans, door knobs, bed rails, and even right down to a computer mouse -- all frequency touched and used surfaces. The report also notes that they found "sporadic positive results" from medical staff on their sleeve cuffs and gloves. The CDC notes that "medical staff should perform hand hygiene practices immediately after patient contact".