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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say they mistakenly published guidance suggesting that the new coronavirus is spread through the air.
“A draft version of the proposed changes to these recommendations was mistakenly posted on the agency’s official website,” the agency said in a statement.
The CDC is updating its recommendations regarding the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Once this process is complete, the update language will be published. ‘
If the virus spreads in fine particles, six feet away from an infected person would not necessarily be enough to protect them from contracting the virus, but whether this is a significant mode of transmission is still hotly debated.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it contacted the CDC early Monday about updating its guide.
During a press conference, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, said that the WHO had not seen ‘new evidence’ regarding airborne transmission and that it approached the CDC for ‘ better understand ‘why the guidelines had changed.
Days after the CDC changed its controversial recommendations, people exposed to COVID-19 who are asymptomatic forgo testing.
On Monday, the CDC mistakenly released guidance several days ago suggesting that the new coronavirus is spreading through the air. Pictured: CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield pauses while speaking at a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on Friday
Over the weekend, the CDC website warned that airborne viruses “are among the most contagious and spread easily.”
Officials recommended that public-use air purifiers use air purifiers to clean the air indoors, in addition to wearing masks, washing hands and isolating if they are sick.
The virus is transmitted through “respiratory droplets or small particles, such as aerosols, that are produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, speaks or breathes,” according to the guide published on Friday.
These particles can be inhaled and “this is believed to be the main way the virus spreads.”
However, this wording disappeared on Monday and morning and was replaced with a statement that the new guide was published “prematurely”.
In July, the WHO changed its own guidelines to recognize that it is “possible” to become infected by airborne transmission.
It came after 239 scientists from 32 countries wrote to the UN agency asking it to acknowledge growing evidence that the virus is transmitted through the air.
Benedetta Allegranzi, WHO technical leader for infection prevention and control, recognized at the time that evidence of airborne transmission was emerging, but still needed careful study.
“The possibility of airborne transmission in public settings cannot be ruled out, especially in very specific conditions, in crowded, closed and poorly ventilated environments that have been described,” he said.
“However, the evidence needs to be collected and interpreted, and we continue to support this.”
At the moment, both the CDC and the WHO continue to say that close and prolonged contact with an infected person is the most common way of spreading the disease.
This is not the first time the CDC has backtracked on the guidance posted on its website.
Last month, The CDC suddenly and quietly amended its testing recommendations to say that people who have been in contact with COVID-19 patients but have no symptoms “don’t necessarily need a test.”
Public health experts who noticed the change warned the agency, arguing that more evidence is needed, not less, and that it is well known that the virus can be transmitted by asymptomatic people.
Last week, the agency went back to its previous testing guide and said that anyone who is exposed, regardless of symptoms, should be tested.
The New York Times recently revealed that the first change was led by officials from the Department of Health and Human Services and was published without review by CDC scientists.
Previously, the CDC said that the virus is transmitted through respiratory droplets and close contact, but that there may be evidence that the virus is transmitted through the air (file image)
The new coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China, late last year, when it caused a cluster of infections focused on a seafood market.
Since then it has spread rapidly to almost every country, infecting more than 31 million people, according to a WHO tally.
The United States is the worst affected country in the world with 6.8 million infections, although India, with 5.4 million, has the world’s fastest growing outbreak and is expected to overtake the United States in the coming weeks.
Nearly a million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to official counts, although this is believed to be an underestimate.
The United States has also suffered nearly 200,000 deaths from the virus, which is by far the highest global total. The next highest is Brazil, which has recorded 136,000 deaths.
Ongoing problems with testing, even in developed countries, mean that often only patients with severe infections can have a confirmed diagnosis.
This is significant because many patients are believed to have only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.
