Ferret study shows SARS-CoV-2 airborne transmission dynamics A team of researchers led by Sander Herfst from Erasmus University Medical Center in The Netherlands suggests severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could spread through the air at a one-meter distance and cause infection in a new ferret model study. They also found the SARS-CoV-2 can be dispersed through ferret fur, indicating a brand-new mode of transmission. Schematic representation of the set-up to assess transmission over >1 m distance. An inoculated donor ferret is housed in the bottom cage and the next day, an indirect recipient ferret is added to the top cage. The cages are connected through a hard duct system consisting of four 90° turns. The system is built of several horizontal and vertical 15 cm wide PVC pipes that allow upward airflow from the donor to the indirect recipient animal. The average length of the duct system is 118 cm with the shortest and longest length 73 and 163 cm, respectively. A steel grid is placed over the inlet and outlet of the duct system. The bottom five cm of the grid was closed to prevent spill-over of food, feces, and other large particles into the tube system. Orange arrows indicate the direction of airflow (100 L/min). Set-ups were placed in class III isolators in a biosafety level 3+ laboratory.