University Of Maryland Shows That Tiny Airborne Particles A Major Issue In COVID-19 Spread Despite Denials By U.S. CDC Under White House Directives

COVID-19-Airborne: The U.S. CDC a few days ago retracted an update on its website on the issues of the COVID-19 airborne spread claiming a variety of technical and admin errors but which many are saying the retraction was based on directives from the White House as election approaches.


A 2018 photo shows The Gesundheit II machine in Dr Donald Milton's
Public Health Aerobiology, Virology, and Exhaled Biomarker Laboratory
Credit: University of Maryland School of Public Health

Meanwhile at a University of Maryland lab, individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus take turns sitting in a chair and putting their faces into the big end of a large cone. They recite the alphabet and sing or just sit quietly for a half hour. Sometimes they cough.
 
The study platform is such that the cone sucks up literally everything that comes out of the study participant’s mouths and noses. It is part of a device called "Gesundheit II" that is aiding researchers study a big question - Just how does the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spread from one individual to another?
 
The study shows that the virus clearly ‘hitchhikes’ on small liquid particles sprayed out by an infected individual.
 
Individuals expel particles while coughing, sneezing, singing, shouting, talking and even breathing. But the drops come in a wide range of sizes, and researchers are trying to pin down how risky the various kinds are.
 
The observations and study results affects what we should all be doing to avoid getting sick. That's why it was thrust into headlines a few days ago when the U.S. CDC, a major American health agency appeared to have shifted its position on the issue and admitted the effects of airborne transmission, but later based on political pressure from the White House claimed it had done so in error and retracted the updates!
 
America’s health agencies ie the U.S. CDC, the U.S.FDA, the NIH and most of American media and social media platforms (yes despite claimed differences, almost all of American social media, mainstream media, search engines have been brainwashed to collaborate with the White House on a variety of issues regarding the COVID-19 crisis and national security has been used as the playing card! (And believe us based on what we know it has nothing to even to do with solving the crisis but ways to prolong any social unrest that might emerge from new data that is being withheld from the public!)
 
The initial recommendation to stay at least 6 feet (2 meters) apart some authorities cite about half that distance was based on the idea that larger particles fall to the ground before they can travel very far. They are like the droplets in a spritz of a window cleaner, and they can infect somebody by landing on their nose, mouth or eyes, or maybe being inhaled.
 
However most scientists are now focusing on tinier particles, the ones that spread more like cigarette smoke.
 
These tiny particles are carried by wisps of air and even upward drafts caused by the warmth of our bodies. They can linger in the air for minutes to hours, spreading throughout a room and build up if ventilation is poor.
 
The main potential risk comes from inhaling them. Measles can spread this way, and the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is thought to be far more contagious than that.
 
Dr Linsey Marr, a leading researcher who is studying them at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg said that for these particles, called aerosols, "6 feet is not a magic distance.''
 
However she says it's still important to keep one's distance from others, "the farther the better," because aerosols are most concentrated near a source and pose a bigger risk at close range.
 
Government and public health agencies have generally focused on the larger particles for coronavirus.
 
As a result that prompted more than 200 other scientists to publish a plea in July to pay attention to the potential risk from aerosols. The World Health Organization, which had long dismissed a danger from aerosols except in the case of certain medical procedures, later said that aerosol transmission of the coronavirus can't be ruled out in cases of infection within crowded and poorly ventilated indoor spaces.
 
However the issue drew attention recently when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted and then deleted statements on its website that highlighted the idea of aerosol spread. The agency said the posting was an error, and that the statements were just a draft of proposed changes to its recommendations.
 
CDC's deputy director for infectious disease, D Jay Butler, told media that the agency continues to believe larger and heavier droplets that come from coughing or sneezing are the primary means of transmission.
 
In August Dr Butler told a scientific meeting that current research suggests aerosol spreading of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is possible but it doesn't seem to be the main way that individuals get infected.
 
Further research may change that conclusion, he added, and he urged scientists to study how often aerosol spread of the coronavirus occurs, what situations make it more likely and what reasonable steps might prevent it.
 
Dr Marr said she thinks infection by aerosols is "happening a lot more than individuals initially were willing to think."
 
For example, as a key piece of evidence, Dr Marr and others point to so-called "superspreader" events where one infected person evidently passed the virus to many others in a single setting.
 
For example in March, after a choir member with COVID-19 symptoms attended a rehearsal in Washington state, 52 others who had been seated throughout the room were found to be infected and two died.
 
In a documented case, a crowded and poorly ventilated restaurant in China in January, the virus evidently spread from a lunchtime patron to five people at two adjoining tables in a pattern suggesting aerosols were spread by the air conditioner.
 
Then also in January, a passenger on a Chinese bus apparently infected 23 others, many of whom were scattered around the vehicle.
 
Dr Butler said such events raise concern about aerosol spread but don't prove it happens.
 
Furthermore there could be another way for tiny particles to spread. They may not necessarily come directly from somebody's mouth or nose, says Dr William Ristenpart of the University of California, Davis.
 
His study found that if paper tissues are seeded with influenza virus and then crumpled, they give off particles that bear the virus. So people emptying a wastebasket with tissues discarded by somebody with COVID-19 should be sure to wear a mask, he warned.
 
Researchers who warn about aerosols say current recommendations still make sense.
 
Critically, wearing a mask is still important, and make sure it fits snugly. Keep washing those hands diligently. And again, staying farther apart is better than being closer together. Avoid crowds, especially indoors.
 
However their main addition to recommendations is ventilation to avoid a buildup of aerosol concentration. So, the researchers say, stay out of poorly ventilated rooms. Open windows and doors. One can also use air-purifying devices or virus-inactivating ultraviolet light.
 
Also highly recommended is to just do as much as you can outdoors, where dilution and the sun's ultraviolet light work in your favor.
 
Dr Jose-Luis Jimenez of the University of Colorado-Boulder said, "We know outdoors is the most spectacularly effective measure, by far. Outdoors it is not impossible to get infected, but it is difficult."
 
Importantly the various precautions should be used in combination rather than just one at a time, researchers say. In a well-ventilated environment, "6 feet of separation is pretty good if everybody's got a mask on" and nobody stays directly downwind of an infected person for very long, says Dr Donald Milton of the University of Maryland School of Public Health, whose lab houses the Gesundheit II machine.
 
Also duration of exposure is important, so there's probably not much risk from a short elevator ride while masked or being passed by a jogger on the sidewalk, experts say.
 
Researchers and scientists have published online tools for calculating risk of airborne spread in various settings.
 
However despite all this, at a recent meeting on aerosols, Dr Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, noted that preventive steps can be a challenge in the real world. Keeping apart from other individuals can be difficult in homes that house multiple generations. Some old buildings have windows that were "nailed shut years ago," he said. And "Sadly in America, we still have far too many communities where they simply don't have access to clean water to wash their hands."
 
To many it might seem strange that for all the scientific frenzy to study the new coronavirus, the details of how it spreads can still be in doubt nine months later. But history suggests patience.
 
Dr Milton adds, "We have been studying influenza for 102 years," referring to the 1918 flu epidemic. But we still do not even know how it is transmitted and what the roles of aerosols are."
 
In the meanwhile, the public is asked to ignore all American health agencies recommendations to as their credibility has been compromised with numerous recent events and control by the White House. Rather people are instead asked to listen to the scientific community and to take as much precautions as they can and to assume that the virus is airborne. With the higher risk and dangers coming in the cooler months, it is imperative that as much preventive measures are taken to prevent getting infected.
 
For more about COVID-19 Airborne, keep on logging t Thailand Medical News.
 
Read also the history of Thailand Medical News coverage on the COVID-19 airborne issues since January 2020.
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/new-study-of-incident-of-covid-19-spread-on-public-bus-in-china-offers-fresh-evidence-that-novel-coronavirus-can-spread-in-the-air
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-covid-19-news-study-shows-influenza-viruses-can-spread-thru-air-via-aerosolized-fomites-or-dust-particles-shocking-implications-for-covid-19
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/covid-19-airborne-new-european-study-claims-that-sars-cov-2-particles-travel-much-further-than-imagined-and-last-far-longer-in-humid-air
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-covid-19-news-study-by-nebraska-university-confirms-that-airborne-or-aerosolized-sars-cov-2-is-infectious
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/who-is-spreading-misinformation-293-scientific-experts-challenge-and-say-that-sars-cov-2-is-airborne-retaliation-called-against-who
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/must-read-social-distancing-study-shows-six-feet-insufficient-to-prevent-sars-cov-2-transmission-in-a-light-breeze
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-covid-research-study-confirms-that-sars-cov-2-coronavirus-can-be-spread-through-speech
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/covid-19-news-swiss-study-reveals-that-asymptomatic-covid-19-infected-individuals-can-transmit-sars-cov-2-just-through-normal-breathing
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/covid-19-latest-studies-show-that-exhaled-aerosols-spread-sars-cov-2-virus-up-to-4-meters-and-footwear-also-help-transmit-the-disease
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-news-study-finds-that-sars-cov-2-coronavirus-that-causes-deadly-covid-19-disease-can-be-found-in-air-4-meters-away-from-infected-individuals
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/warning-top-infectious-expert-in-us,-dr-anthony-fauci-says-covid-19-may-spread-through-normal-breathing-and-talking
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/china-officially-announces-that-the-coronavirus-can-be-airborne-and-can-be-conditionally-spread-via-aerosol-transmission-
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-news-world-health-organization%E2%80%99s-chief-says-coronavirus-is-airborne-but-many-concealing-this-including-media-from-us,-china-and-europe
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/is-the-covid-19-coronavirus-capable-of-airborne-transmissions-what-is-the-real-truth
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/china%E2%80%99s-coronavirus-death-toll-1666,-infected-69,061-critical-11,053,-coronavirus-is-indeed-a-global-threat-as-warned-by-who%E2%80%99s-chief-as-it-is-airborne
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/study-shows-that-loud-mouth-individuals-spread-airborne-diseases
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-news-covid-19-prevention-new-study-proves-that-social-distancing-of-1-to-3-meters-is-nothing-but-fake-news-and-misinformation