Current Updates on Transmission of Virus
What Scientists Know About Airborne Transmission of the New Coronavirus
Smithsonian Aug 12, 2020
Aerosol experts, from engineers to doctors, weigh in on the ability of tiny droplets to transmit the virus that causes COVID-19.
Over the past few months, an increasing number of scientists, clinicians, and engineers have called for greater recognition that aerosols, in addition to larger droplets can transmit the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. While the difference is literally miniscule, acknowledging this route of transmission would result in significant changes in how the public can bring an end to the global pandemic. In the near term, it would inform social distancing and mask wearing recommendations from local governments, and in the long term, engineers and architects will need to rethink ventilation and air filtration in the design of everything from schools to cruise ships.
Aerosols are microscopic particles that can remain
airborne for… more
Protecting against COVID’s Aerosol Threat
Scientific American Oct 1.2020
How can we make our schools, office buildings and homes safer?
This feels like a lopsided fight. In one corner, we have scientists, epidemiologists, infectious-disease physicians, clinicians, engineers—many different experts in the medical community, that is—arguing that the spread of COVID-19 by aerosols (that is, tiny droplets that can remain airborne long enough to travel significantly farther than the six-foot separation we’ve been told to observe) is both real and dangerous. In the other, it’s the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), which until very recently have allowed only that aerosol spread is possible, not necessarily likely.
And while watching experts going against governmental agencies isn’t always riveting stuff, this particular battle is terribly .. more
Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2
Science Magazine Oct 16, 2020
There is overwhelming evidence that inhalation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) represents a major transmission route for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). There is an urgent need to harmonize discussions about modes of virus transmission across disciplines to ensure the most effective control strategies and provide clear and consistent guidance to the public. To do so, we must clarify the terminology to distinguish between aerosols and droplets using a size threshold of 100 µm, not the historical 5 µm (1). This size more effectively separates their aerodynamic behavior, ability to be inhaled, and efficacy of interventions.
Viruses in droplets (larger than 100 µm) typically fall to the ground in seconds within 2 m of the source and can be sprayed like tiny cannonballs onto … more
239 Experts With One Big Claim: The Coronavirus Is Airborne
New York Times 2020/07/04
The W.H.O. has resisted mounting evidence that viral particles floating indoors are infectious, some scientists say. The agency maintains the research is still inconclusive.
Patrons at the Ocean Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., on July 3. Some scientists are warning that airborne transmission of the coronavirus in indoor settings has
been underappreciated. Patrons at the Ocean Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., on July 3. Some scientists are warning that airborne transmission of the coronavirus in indoor settings has been underappreciated.
The coronavirus is finding new victims worldwide, in bars and restaurants, offices, markets and casinos, giving rise to frightening clusters of infection that increasingly confirm what many scientists have been saying for months: The virus lingers in the air indoors, infecting those nearby… more
CDC Acknowledges Covid-19 Can Spread Via Tiny Air Particles
Wall Street Journal Oct. 5, 2020
The agency updates guidelines after previously deleting language on airborne particles; virus can spread to people more than 6 feet away.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said tiny particles that linger in the air can spread the coronavirus, revising its guidelines on the matter just a few weeks after the health agency had acknowledged a role for the particles and then abruptly removed it.
The guidelines on how the coronavirus spreads were initially updated last month to acknowledge a role, and possibly the primary one, played by tiny aerosol particles in spreading the virus. But the agency removed the changes only days later, saying a draft… m more