WHO Acknowledges Evidence Of Airborne COVID-19 Spread, Will Release Findings Soon

Recently over 200 scientists made an appeal to the World Health Organisation claiming that there’s evidence of COVID-19 when in smaller particles in the air can infect people.?

They asked the World Health Organisation to revise the laid out COVID-19 recommendations in the pandemic.

Reuters

And now, WHO has stated that it has acknowledged the ‘evidence emerging’ of the airborne nature of the novel coronavirus.?

Reported first by Reuters, Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead for infection prevention and control said in the news briefing, “The possibility of airborne transmission in public settings - especially in very specific conditions, crowded, closed, poorly ventilated settings that have been described, cannot be ruled out. However, the evidence needs to be gathered and interpreted, and we continue to support this.”

Jose Jimenez, a chemist at the University of Colorado who signed the paper said in a conversation with Reuters, “We wanted them to acknowledge the evidence. This is definitely not an attack on the WHO. It’s a scientific debate, but we felt we needed to go public because they were refusing to hear the evidence after many conversations with them.”

Jiminez also highlighted the fact that fierce opposition has been experienced in the medical profession from the idea of aerosol transmission. They fear a state of panic and that’s why the bar for the evidence has been set really high to come to that outcome.?

Reuters

He added, “If people hear airborne, healthcare workers will refuse to go to the hospital,” he said. Or people will buy up all the highly protective N95 respirator masks, and there will be none left for developing countries.”

He did highlight the fact that the WHO panel who are looking for evidence for airborne transmission aren’t diverse scientifically while also lacking representation from experts in aerosol transmission.??

Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic stated, “A comprehensive package of interventions is required to be able to stop transmission. This includes not only physical distancing, it includes the use of masks where appropriate in certain settings, specifically where you can’t do physical distancing and especially for healthcare workers.”