By now, it's common knowledge that the coronavirus can be spread by being in close contact with someone who's infected and then breathing in their respiratory droplets.
How a virus could spread this way: Through what researchers call "the respiratory route." Virus-laden droplets are expelled from the nose or mouth of an infected person and find their way into nearby eyes, noses and mouths, "like if you're standing next to your kid and they cough in your face," says Seema Lakdawala, a flu researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.
How a virus could spread this way: Through the respiratory route in which a person breathes in clouds of tiny virus particles that have accumulated and may be traveling on air currents.
Viral spread via air currents has been documented in certain indoor environments: at a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, where people sitting downstream from an air conditioner caught COVID-19, and at a March choir practice in Washington state, where many choir members got sick with coronavirus after likely breathing in tiny airborne particles generated by individuals who were infected but symptom-free at the time
What it is: An object covered with virus particles, possibly because someone recently sneezed or coughed respiratory droplets onto it, or swiped a germ-covered hand on it
How a virus could spread this way: Through indirect transmission if people touch the surface of a virus-covered object, pick up the virus on their hands and then introduce the virus to their eyes, nose or mouth
How much does it contribute to the spread?: The CDC describes this as a "possible" route of coronavirus transmission but maintains that close contact between people is thought to be responsible for most new infections
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