W.H.O. Recognizes Risk of Airborne Coronavirus Transmission

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) has acknowledged that there is an increasing number of studies and tests showing that Covid-19 virus transmission can also occur through the air.

Taking an ambivalent position, it conceded this possibility during the press conference held on Tuesday, July 7th, at its Geneva headquarters and announced the publication of a report summarizing all the information in this regard.

This possibility, which is not considered “definitive”, was the most relevant topic of the W.H.O. directors’ meeting held after 239 scientists released an open letter calling on the organization to acknowledge that the coronavirus transmission can occur through the air and to consider this in their guidelines.

“We believe we should be open to this evidence and understand its implications regarding the modes of transmission and the precautions to be taken,” conceded Benedetta Allegranzi, W.H.O. director for infection prevention and control. Allegranzi added that the organization had been listening to the contributions of these scientists specialized in aerosols and airborne transmission since April.

However, the scientist added that “there is some new evidence, but it is not definitive. Therefore, the potential for airborne transmission in public environments cannot be ruled out, particularly in very specific conditions: crowded, enclosed spaces with little ventilation. However, the evidence must be gathered and interpreted.”

“We were talking about the possibility of airborne transmission and aerosol transmission as one of the modes of Covid-19 transmission, as well as droplets,” explained Maria van Kerkhove, head of the W.H.O. zoonoses and emerging diseases unit. “We will issue our report in the coming weeks and that will sum up everything we know in this respect,” she added.

For months, experts in airborne infections have been calling on the organization to work on the assumption that the coronavirus is also able to remain in suspension in microscopic saliva particles and, in a matter of minutes, it can be inhaled by someone in the environment.

Last week, 239 scientists released a paper reviewing the scientific evidence for this transmission by suspended viruses: “There is more than enough evidence to enforce the precautionary principle. To control the pandemic, waiting for a vaccine, all transmission routes must be stopped.”

These experts were not discovering a major or unexpected route; they cautioned that, particularly in indoor environments, there are situations where you can become infected with aerosols, those tiny particles that remain in suspension and can infect someone.

In its defense, Allegranzi observed that the W.H.O. guidelines include the need to adequately ventilate commercial establishments and to avoid enclosed and poorly ventilated spaces with many people.

Source: El País