COVID-19 Predominantly Spreads Through Air, Want New Safety Protocol, Says New Lancet Study

It has been nearly one-and-a-half years since the world started hearing about the virus Sars CoVo2 and COVID-19, the infection it causes.

But even now the scientific community is only learning about it.

In the early days, it was told that the virus spreads between people, mainly when an infected person is in close contact with another person.

AFP

How it spreads

The virus can spread from an infected person¡¯s mouth or nose in small liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, sing or breathe heavily. These liquid particles are different sizes, ranging from larger ¡®respiratory droplets¡¯ to smaller ¡®aerosols¡¯.

Other people can catch COVID-19 when the virus gets into their mouth, nose or eyes, which is more likely to happen when people are in direct or close contact.

But now a new assessment published in the medical journal The Lancet seems to be contradicting what we have been told so far.

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Transmitted through air?

There is consistent, strong evidence to prove that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, is predominantly transmitted through the air, it said.

Silent (asymptomatic or presymptomatic) transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from people who are not coughing or sneezing accounts for at least 40 per cent of all transmission.

This silent transmission is a key way COVID-19 has spread around the world, "supporting a predominantly airborne mode of transmission," as per the assessment.

By contrast, the researchers found little to no evidence that the virus spreads easily via large droplets, which fall quickly through the air and contaminate surfaces.

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"The evidence supporting airborne transmission is overwhelming, and evidence supporting large droplet transmission is almost non-existent," said Jose-Luis Jimenez, chemist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and University of Colorado Boulder.

It also argued that the transmission rates of SARS-CoV-2 are much higher indoors than outdoors, and transmission is greatly reduced by indoor ventilation.

The multi-research team from the UK, US and Canada warned that public health measures that fail to treat the virus as predominantly airborne leave people unprotected and allow the virus to spread.

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"It is urgent that the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other public health agencies adapt their description of transmission to the scientific evidence so that the focus of mitigation is put on reducing airborne transmission," Jimenez said.

Further, the researchers emphasise that while it is necessary to wash hand and clean surfaces, they should be given less emphasis than airborne measures.

If an infectious virus is primarily airborne, someone can potentially be infected when they inhale aerosols produced when an infected person exhales, speaks, shouts, sings, or sneezes.

The airborne control measures include ventilation, air filtration, reducing crowding and the amount of time people spend indoors, wearing masks whenever indoors (even if not within 6 feet or 2 metres of others), attention to mask quality and fit, and higher-grade PPE for healthcare and other staff when working in contact with potentially infectious people.