#CLARIFY COVID 19 DRIVER#
On July 6, more than 200 scientists from nearly three dozen countries published an open letter calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) and other public health bodies to acknowledge "airborne" transmission as a potential driver of the pandemic. (This is why public health officials recommend staying two metres apart.)
These tiny droplets stand in contrast to the larger droplets that are known to be a source of transmission, which are relatively heavy and tend to fall to the ground within a couple of metres of the person who emits them. (More on that in a moment.)īut in essence, the question boils down to whether enough of the virus that causes COVID-19 can live on tiny, exhaled droplets that linger in the air long enough and in sufficient quantities to infect other people. The terms "aerosol transmission" and "airborne" can mean different things to different people. That point - the likelihood of aerosol or airborne transmission of COVID-19 - was often mentioned among the comments on the UCP Facebook post.Īnd it's been a point of much debate, controversy and confusion for many weeks now, well beyond Alberta. "I do not think there's evidence that the virus is truly airborne, which would imply that you could get infected simply by being in the same room with another person but not touching the same object and not coming very close to them." "What I meant is the way you can get the virus by being in the same room as another person is if you touch an object that they touch or if you're in close contact with that person such that their droplets - that come from speaking, screaming, singing, whatever - come in contact with you," she said. Robinson said the sentence, taken alone, might leave people with the wrong impression, but stood by the general point she was trying to make in the article. The Facebook post quickly received hundreds of replies, many from people who interpreted the post to be contradictory to what they had understood from public health officials. It reads: "Good handwashing prior to touching food or one's face and avoidance of close contact with others whenever practical are strategies that are likely to be effective it is exceedingly rare and maybe not even possible to acquire the virus simply by being in the same room as an infected person." The sentence was quoted in a post on the United Conservative Party Caucus Facebook page, which sought to reassure parents about the safety of students returning to class in the fall. What you need to know about COVID-19 and the return to school in Alberta: Your questions answered.
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