CDC warns coronavirus can spread beyond 6 feet in certain conditions The CDC recently updated guidance highlighting that an infected person indoors for long periods of time could infect people over six feet away. Author: Travis Pittman Updated: 8:58 AM EDT May 8, 2021 An updated scientific brief posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday said the coronavirus can be spread via "very small fine droplets and aerosol particles" and that infection can happen farther than six feet from the source under certain conditions. While the likelihood of being infected drops the farther away one gets from the source, the CDC said, "These transmission events have involved the presence of an infectious person exhaling virus indoors for an extended time (more than 15 minutes and in some cases hours) leading to virus concentrations in the air space sufficient to transmit infections to people more than 6 feet away, and in some cases to people who have passed through that space soon after the infectious person left."