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In an unreviewed preprint1, Lan and his colleagues report finding viral RNA from SARS-CoV-2 in a number of locations, including the department stores. The study doesn’t ascertain whether the aerosols collected were able to infect cells. But, in an e-mail to Nature, Lan says the work demonstrates that “during breathing or talking, SARS-CoV-2 aerosol transmission might occur and impact people both near and far from the source”. As a precaution, the general public should avoid crowds, he writes, and should also wear masks, “to reduce the risk of airborne virus exposure”. Per
Is the coronavirus airborne? Experts can’t agree
More
quotes from above article:if SARS-CoV-2 is transmitting in aerosols, it is possible that virus particles can build up over time in enclosed spaces or be transmitted over greater distances.
Evidence from preliminary studies and field reports that SARS-CoV-2 is spreading in aerosols is mixed. (Me: but enough for them to keep looking)
Scientists in the United States have shown in the laboratory that the virus can survive in an aerosol and remain infectious for at least 3 hours. Although the conditions in the study were “highly artificial”, there is probably “a non-zero risk of longer-range spread through the air”, says co-author Jamie Lloyd-Smith, an infectious-diseases researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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ICTV announced “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)” as the name of the new virus on 11 February 2020. This name was chosen because the virus is genetically related to the coronavirus responsible for the SARS outbreak of 2003. While related, the two viruses are different.
WHO announced “COVID-19” as the name of this new disease on 11 February 2020, following guidelines previously developed with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
(Huh? Why two names?)
*
Apparently evidence is unfolding that
it is airborne but not enough for world scientists to state it.
A recent publication
in the New England Journal of Medicine has evaluated virus persistence of the
COVID-19 virus.10 In this experimental study, aerosols were generated using a
three-jet Collison nebulizer and fed into a Goldberg drum under controlled
laboratory conditions. This is a high-powered machine that does not reflect
normal human cough conditions. Further, the finding of COVID-19 virus in
aerosol particles up to 3 hours does not reflect a clinical setting in which
aerosol-generating procedures are performed—that is, this was an experimentally
induced aerosol-generating procedure. There are reports from
settings where symptomatic COVID-19 patients have been admitted and in which no
COVID-19 RNA was detected in air samples.11-12 WHO is aware of other
studies which have evaluated the presence of COVID-19 RNA in air samples, but
which are not yet published in peer-reviewed journals. It is important to note
that the detection of RNA in environmental samples based on PCR-based assays is
not indicative of viable virus that could be transmissible. Further studies are
needed to determine whether it is possible to detect COVID-19 virus in air
samples from patient rooms where no procedures or support treatments that
generate aerosols are ongoing. As evidence emerges, it is important to know
whether viable virus is found and what role it may play in transmission.
It's just a matter of time, I think. I'm acting as if it's airborne
because people in China acted as if it's airborne and survived.
ke
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