RE: Mitigating airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2
References
Sarah Addleman, Victor Leung, Leyla Asadi, et al. Mitigating airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2. CMAJ 2021;10.1503/cmaj.210830.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/disinfecting-building-facility.html#anchor_1617548426741
https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1344075743861428224
Thanks to the authors for a succinct laying out of the facts -- both the airborne transmission of this virus and what that means for protection measures. As others have said, these facts have been evident for a long time. The science behind aerosols and airborne transmission of this and similar viruses is well-established in other scientific fields (e.g., occupational hygiene, physics). So are the protective measures to stop the virus getting into people's bodies. While some worry about "vaccine hesitancy", we also should be concerned with hesitancy and refusal to learn from the sciences about transmission of hazards and prevention of that transmission. Whether it's the one reported outbreak in the world connected to contact or surface transmission -- and the related mis-use and over-use of toxic disinfectants that make people sick -- or inadequate recommendations about respiratory protection and ventilation, public health principles require much more of those guiding our governments' responses to this pandemic. Cleaning the air will do much more than cleaning and disinfecting everything in sight. So will recognising the importance of workplaces as sites of close contact with limited ventilation for long periods of time.