Coronavirus is in the air – what that means.

In the US, COVID-19 is spreading like a forest fire. At the same time, the research community is increasingly learning about how the coronavirus passes from one person to another. There are many nuances, and we still don’t know everything about it. But we are in an emergency, and we have actionable facts. To help break the noise, the public should be simply and frequently warned: the coronavirus is in the air.

Researchers and doctors have spent months putting pressure on the public health establishment to evolve messages about the ways COVID-19 spreads. At first, many experts thought that the virus is spread mainly through large droplets, such as those that come out of the mouth and fall to the ground within a few feet, especially when you cough. Then it became clear that people without a cough or other symptoms could, and in many cases, also transmit the virus as well. In a letter sent to the White House on April 1, the National Academy of Sciences raised concerns about the risk of the coronavirus spreading through tiny droplets, which can accumulate around us as we speak, and even while breathing normally. Two days later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people be able to wear “face covers” over the mouth and nose, if they so choose. In early July, 239 scientists asked the World Health Organization to finally recognize the risk of COVID-19 airborne transmission. The WHO now recognizes that coronavirus-carrying droplets can remain airborne in crowded indoor spaces, but its messages tend to convey the risk of airborne COVID-19 spreading as a late occurrence. For example, a WHO question and answer page gives the impression that if we all stand about 3 feet apart from each other, the distance they recommend and taking care to wash our hands, everything will be fine.

It won’t be The updated message that should reach people is: In addition to the visible transmission routes like coughing or touching a surface and then the face, COVID-19 can spread through the air we breathe, especially indoors. Or more succinctly: the coronavirus is in the air. Repeat it. Tell your friends and family. We should listen to it on radio and podcasts, see it in public service announcements on television and YouTube. It should be written on small signs that we must pass as we carefully head to the grocery stores. While we shouldn’t be concerned about infectious coronavirus clouds roaming an open beach (the outside is pretty safe, if it can stay away), we should be really concerned about finding the virus anywhere people are in poorly ventilated spaces, because the coronavirus is, in fact, airborne. The message must traverse the noise of a world that produces around 350,000 tweets every minute, in which a person’s knowledge of the pandemic differs depending on their preferred news source, and where a full third of Americans do not consistently wear face covers in stores and other businesses.

A large part of the challenges around messaging could be that the word “on the air” implies different things for specialists in different disciplines. In aerosol science, “in the air” can describe particles that drift into air currents. In medicine, “in the air” evokes a set of specific disease control measures appropriate for patients with tuberculosis or chickenpox, such as isolating patients in special rooms with negative air pressure. As a scientist, I can relate to the specialized nature of this term, but as part of the general public who wants to avoid COVID-19, I don’t care much if there is a virus that can be infectious in the air for 30 minutes (which is the estimate SARS-CoV-2) and another virus that can be infectious in the air for two hours (the case of the measles virus), both are described as airborne. That is a matter of degree. What matters to me is that if I am in the same room as a person infected with COVID-19 and they are constantly singing, screaming, talking or even just breathing, there are SARS-CoV-2 viral particles carried by tiny droplets floating through the air it could infect me. That seems to be true even if I am more than six feet away if I am stuck in a room for a time that is not ventilated, for example a dive bar. All this is more likely to worry me if it sounds like the coronavirus is in the air.

“The coronavirus is in the air,” that statement is jarring. It conveys that something harmful may be present, even when it cannot be seen with the naked eye or felt on the skin. Many people have already heard the expression “it’s on the air” in the context of Outbreak, the 1995 thriller Dustin Hoffman (and the fifth most popular movie on Netflix in March!). It already associates it with a life-threatening illness. A concise warning lends itself to repetition, a key tactic for conveying an idea. Most importantly, “coronavirus is in the air” provides direct support for precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as keeping at least six feet away from people who are not at home, covering up the nose and mouth in public, spending the minimum amount of time in interior spaces other than your home, and improving ventilation in buildings. (Surface transmission may be less common, but yes, it is still important to wash your hands with soap and water.) If you are going to be indoors for a long time with people from different homes, for example, in a school – Care must be taken to ensure that the probability that someone with an infection is there is very low.

There is no time to lose. COVID-19 has already killed more than 674,000 people, including more than 152,000 Americans. The failures of the government, the private sector, international organizations and in the future have been beyond the control of many people. But experts responding to COVID-19 can control how they communicate with the public. While the scientific and technical nuances of COVID-19 are absolutely critical, the pandemic is a crisis, and now is definitely not the perfect time to be the enemy of a good general statement that saves lives. Communication with the public should prioritize commitment and clarity so that people are more likely to take effective protective measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Say it with me: the coronavirus is in the air. The coronavirus is in the air. The coronavirus is in the air.