A group consisting of 239 scientists from 32 different countries argue that the World Health Organization (WHO) needs to acknowledge that COVID-19 can spread through the air.
Acknowledgement of the coronavirus being airborne can alter measures of preventing it’s spread.
Since the start of the pandemic, the WHO maintained its claim of COVID-19 being spread by larger respiratory droplets that end up falling on the ground, which is often a consequence of people coughing or sneezing.
The WHO has continuously dismissed the possibility of the coronavirus being airborne, except for specific high-risk medical procedures, such as when patients are first put on breathing machines.
The scientists published an open letter in the journal ‘Clinical Infectious Diseases’ to the WHO urging them to update their information on the coronavirus.
The scientist in their letter stated, “There is significant potential for inhalation exposure to viruses in microscopic respiratory droplets (microdroplets) at short to medium distances (up to several meters, or room-scale), and we are advocating for the use of preventive measures to mitigate this route of airborne transmission.”
Two scientists from Australia and the US in the letter wrote that the studies showed “beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses are released during exhalation, talking and coughing in microdroplets small enough to remain aloft in the air”.
The United Nations health agency, in a statement on Monday, said it was aware of the article and was reviewing it with technical experts.