the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security ,scientific evidence increasingly supports the theory that the primary mode of SARS-CoV-2 transmission is through airborne infectious aerosols passed from person-to-person, according to some researchers. In three separate pieces published last week, experts outlined reasoning and evidence supporting SARS-CoV-2 transmission from both near-field and far-field aerosols. In a commentary published April 15 in The Lancet, researchers from the UK, US, and Canada present 10 reasons backing airborne transmission. In another piece published online in JAMA on April 16, experts from Harvard University and the University of Michigan describe the rationale for improving air circulation and filtration in indoor spaces to reduce far-field transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infectious diseases. While noting that airborne viral particles are a significant route of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and calling for improved air ventilation in indoor spaces, experts from the UK, US, and China in an editorial published April 14 in The BMJ also underline the significance of mask quality and fit.
These pieces appeal to the public health community to take action to help improve indoor air quality, ventilation, and filtration, through policy and structural changes, particularly in healthcare, work, and educational settings. Such efforts could help reduce the number of COVID-19 cases as well as other airborne infectious diseases. The commentaries could be viewed as rebuttal to a systematic review funded by the WHO and published last month that says there is inconclusive evidence for airborne transmission. On April 19, a US CDC official said during a telephone briefing that the CDC has determined the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via surfaces is low and secondary to transmission through direct contact with droplets and aerosolized particles. In light of the evidence, the CDC has updated its guidance for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces in community settings.
My God… we have really gotten ignorant as a society.
It means putting HEPA filters in the school’s ventilation systems by next fall when it gets cold and the school’s windows are to be closed