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“Airborne viruses, including COVID-19, are among the most contagious and easily spread,” the site now says.
Previously, the CDC page said that Covid-19 was thought to spread primarily between people in close contact (around 6 feet) and “through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks.”
These particles can cause infection when “inhaled through the nose, mouth, airways and lungs,” he says. “This is believed to be the main way the virus spreads.”
“There is growing evidence that airborne droplets and particles can remain suspended in the air and be inhaled by others, and travel distances greater than 6 feet (for example, during choir practice, in restaurants, or in class. gymnastics) “says the page now says. “In general, indoor environments without good ventilation increase this risk.”
The CDC also added new measures to your information about how to protect yourself and others.
Previously, the CDC suggested maintaining a “good social distance” of about 6 feet, routinely washing hands, cleaning and disinfecting surfaces, and covering your mouth and nose with a mask when you’re around other people.
Now, it says “stay at least 6 feet away from others whenever possible,” and continues to instruct people to wear a mask and routinely clean and disinfect. However, it now also says that people should stay home and isolate themselves when sick, and “use air purifiers to help reduce airborne germs indoors.”
Masks, he notes, should not replace other prevention measures.
The update also changed the language around asymptomatic transmission, from saying “some people without symptoms can spread the virus” to saying “people who are infected but show no symptoms can transmit the virus to other people.”
Scientists pushed for recognition of airborne transmission
For months, scientists have watched the likelihood of coronavirus transmission through airborne viral particles and lobbied health agencies to recognize it.
In April, a prestigious scientific panel told the White House in a letter that research showed that the coronavirus can be transmitted not just by sneezing or coughing, but also by talking, or possibly even simply breathing.
“While the current [coronavirus] specific research is limited, available study results are consistent with aerosolization of the virus from normal respiration, “according to the letter, written by Dr. Harvey Fineberg, former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and president of the NAS Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and Health Threats of the 21st Century.
“Currently available research supports the possibility that [coronavirus] it could spread through bioaerosols generated directly by exhaling patients, “the letter said.
“Current guidance from numerous national and international agencies focuses on hand washing, maintaining social distancing, and droplet precautions,” the scientists wrote in the letter, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
“Most public health organizations, including the World Health Organization, do not recognize airborne transmission, except for aerosol-generating procedures performed in healthcare settings. Handwashing and social distancing are appropriate, but In our opinion, insufficient to provide protection against virus-bearing respiratory tracts. microdroplets released into the air by infected people, “they added.
On Sunday, one of the letter’s lead authors, Donald Milton, a professor of environmental health at the University of Maryland who studies how viruses are transmitted, said the new CDC language was a “major improvement.”
“I am very encouraged to see that the CDC is paying attention and advancing the science. The evidence is accumulating,” Milton wrote in an email to CNN.
“It is time for the WHO to acknowledge these advances in science,” Milton said.
CNN’s Maggie Fox, Elizabeth Cohen, Jacqueline Howard, and Jamie Gumbrecht contributed to this report.
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