It's precisely because of the way infections cluster in cases like that that we can tell that we're not seeing (much at least) long range airborne transmission.

It's precisely because of the way infections cluster in cases like that that we can tell that we're not seeing (much at least) long range airborne transmission. It this was a true aerosol like you see with chickenpox, measles, or TB you wouldn't be seeing such a nice separation as that. It looks like the furthest away you should be able to be infected someone is maybe 20 or 30 feet if you sneeze without covering your nose. That's the significance of Mr. Konyndyk talking about droplets rather than aerosols. Though it was a big deal in the original SARS outbreak that you could generate aerosols via intubation which caused some nurses wearing surgical masks to get sick in that outbreak.