Updated CDC guidance acknowledges coronavirus can spread through the air

Becky1951

Becky1951

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(CNN) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidance on its website to say coronavirus can commonly spread "through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols," which are produced even when a person breathes.

"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 mainly between people in close contact -- about 6 feet -- and "through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks."

The page, updated Friday, still says Covid-19 most commonly spreads between people who are in close contact with one another, and now says the virus is known to spread "through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes."

These particles can cause infection when "inhaled into the nose, mouth, airways, and lungs," it says. "This is thought to be the main way the virus spreads."

"There is growing evidence that droplets and airborne particles can remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others, and travel distances beyond 6 feet (for example, during choir practice, in restaurants, or in fitness classes)," the page now says. "In general, indoor environments without good ventilation increase this risk."

The CDC also added new measures to its information about protecting yourself and others.

Previously, CDC suggested maintaining "good social distance" of about 6 feet, washing hands, routinely cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and covering your mouth and nose with a mask when around others.
Now, it says "stay at least 6 feet away from others, whenever possible," and continues to direct people to wear a mask and routinely clean and disinfect. However, it also now says people should stay home and isolate when sick, and "use air purifiers to help reduce airborne germs in indoor spaces."

Masks, it notes, should not replace other prevention measures.
The update also changed language around asymptomatic transmission, shifting from saying "some people without symptoms may be able to spread the virus" to saying "people who are infected but do not show symptoms can spread the virus to others."

More at:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/20/health/cdc-coronavirus-airborne-transmission/index.html
 

With the start of the fall season just days away, I will not only be continuing practicing my stringent social-distancing measures, I'll also be leaving the house selectively to avoid crowds and people in general, and I suspect others who care about preserving their health and well-being will be doing the same.

It's the smart thing to do.
 
Aunt Marg said:
With the start of the fall season just days away, I will not only be continuing practicing my stringent social-distancing measures, I'll also be leaving the house selectively to avoid crowds and people in general, and I suspect others who care about preserving their health and well-being will be doing the same.

It's the smart thing to do.
Click to expand...
Aha! Common sense..(y)(y)
 

win231 said:
I don't know how "new" that information is. I read that a couple of months ago.
Click to expand...


"Previously, the CDC page said that Covid-19 was thought to spread mainly between people in close contact -- about 6 feet -- and "through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks."

"The page, updated Friday, still says Covid-19 most commonly spreads between people who are in close contact with one another, and now says the virus is known to spread "through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes."

"Previously, CDC suggested maintaining "good social distance" of about 6 feet,"

"Now, it says "stay at least 6 feet away from others,"
 
Becky1951 said:
(CNN) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidance on its website to say coronavirus can commonly spread "through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols," which are produced even when a person breathes.

"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 mainly between people in close contact -- about 6 feet -- and "through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks."

The page, updated Friday, still says Covid-19 most commonly spreads between people who are in close contact with one another, and now says the virus is known to spread "through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes."

These particles can cause infection when "inhaled into the nose, mouth, airways, and lungs," it says. "This is thought to be the main way the virus spreads."

"There is growing evidence that droplets and airborne particles can remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others, and travel distances beyond 6 feet (for example, during choir practice, in restaurants, or in fitness classes)," the page now says. "In general, indoor environments without good ventilation increase this risk."

The CDC also added new measures to its information about protecting yourself and others.

Previously, CDC suggested maintaining "good social distance" of about 6 feet, washing hands, routinely cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and covering your mouth and nose with a mask when around others.
Now, it says "stay at least 6 feet away from others, whenever possible," and continues to direct people to wear a mask and routinely clean and disinfect. However, it also now says people should stay home and isolate when sick, and "use air purifiers to help reduce airborne germs in indoor spaces."

Masks, it notes, should not replace other prevention measures.
The update also changed language around asymptomatic transmission, shifting from saying "some people without symptoms may be able to spread the virus" to saying "people who are infected but do not show symptoms can spread the virus to others."

More at:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/20/health/cdc-coronavirus-airborne-transmission/index.html
Click to expand...
I don't know why they are just acknowledging that now; we've known it forever! It takes about 5 minutes of talking to someone infected to actually transmit the virus...I have heard other estimates of 10 minutes and 15 minutes, too, but I'll err on the side of caution if necessary.
 
Confusion, that is what they are getting good at. We are now getting the same lines we got a long time ago.
It has been proven that crowds increase the risk of catching covid, yet people still do it. Many are refusing to wear masks
around others, many of those are getting sick. BUT not all. Many that are getting sick are sick because someone else did not use caution in what they did.
More than one person has expressed this point... You can't cure stupid!!!
 
Becky1951 said:
(CNN) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidance on its website to say coronavirus can commonly spread "through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols," which are produced even when a person breathes.
Click to expand...

They've since taken down that information. The CDC has been completely politicized and is no longer a reliable source for information. Sad. :(
 
So it was updated and then removed because the reports information hadn't been peer reviewed, yet scientists/researchers have been pushing for the CDC to change the older information to include the information about air borne particles that they believe are true, which seem to me to be good information for us to know or consider in our keeping ourselves safe.
They have to review it.........and how long will that take and how many peoples lives are in jeopardy while following the current CDC information?

CDC reverses itself and says guidelines it posted on coronavirus airborne transmission were wrong.

On Monday morning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention edited its Web page describing how the novel coronavirus spreads, removing recently added language saying it was “possible” that it spreads via airborne transmission. It was the third major revision to CDC information or guidelines published since May.

The agency had posted information Friday stating the virus can transmit over a distance beyond six feet, suggesting that indoor ventilation is key to protecting against a virus that has now killed nearly 200,000 Americans.
The CDC shifted its guidelines Friday, but the change was not widely noticed until a CNN report Sunday. Where the agency previously warned that the virus mostly spreads through large drops encountered at close range, on Friday, it had said “small particles, such as those in aerosols,” were a common vector.

But Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director for infectious disease, said the Friday update was posted in error. “Unfortunately an early draft of a revision went up without any technical review,” he said.
The edited Web page has removed all references to airborne spread, except for a disclaimer that recommendations based on this mode of transmission are under review. “We are returning to the earlier version and revisiting that process,” Butler said. “It was a failure of process at CDC.”

For months, scientists and public health experts have warned of mounting evidence that the coronavirus is airborne, transmitted through tiny droplets called aerosols that linger in the air much longer than the larger globs that come from coughing or sneezing.

Experts who reviewed the CDC’s Friday post had said the language change had the power to shift policy and public behavior. Some suggested it should drive a major rethinking of public policy — particularly at a time when students in many areas are returning to indoor classrooms.

It was a “major change,” Jose-Luis Jimenez, a chemistry professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder who studies how aerosols spread the virus, told The Washington Post before the CDC reversed itself. “This is a good thing, if we can reduce transmission because more people understand how it is spreading and know what to do to stop it.”

Since the pandemic began, experts have debated the ways the virus travels — and the methods to best halt it. At first, widespread fear of contaminated surfaces led some to bleach their groceries and mail. But the CDC soon concluded that person-to-person transmission was a much more pressing threat. Instead, the agency focused its guidance on avoiding the larger droplets hacked up by sneezes and coughs, which are thought to be mostly limited to a six-foot radius.

“We have been saying ‘wear a mask’ and ‘6 feet apart’ for months,” tweeted Abraar Karan, a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School. Karan said six feet of separation may be insufficient, particularly in poorly ventilated indoor areas.

Some researchers suspected that the virus could travel much farther, especially indoors and in places where people talk loudly or sing. Infamously, one infected person in March unknowingly passed the coronavirus to 52 others at a choir practice in Washington state. Similar indoor “superspreader” events added weight to the idea of an airborne threat.

The World Health Organization recognized the threat of aerosols in July, after hundreds of scientists urged the international body to address airborne spread. It is not clear why the CDC finally followed; Jimenez said high-ranking CDC officials were still arguing publicly against airborne transmission as a major vector as recently as late August.
“Evidence has been accumulating for some time,” Jimenez said. “Those of us who have been studying this were frustrated that the change was slow, but it finally came.”

When asked who wrote the draft that was posted in error, Butler said: “I don’t have all of that information. Obviously I’m asking some of the same questions.”
The CDC is “very intensively” discussing guardrails in the publication process to prevent a repeat error. “This cannot happen again,” Butler said. In May, the CDC updated an information page that suggested the coronavirus did not spread easily from contaminated surfaces. It also edited that revision after the update received widespread media attention to clarify that the tweak was “not a result of any new science.”
And last week, the CDC reversed testing guidelines to again recommend that anyone, regardless of symptoms, who has been in close contact with an infected person be tested. The White House coronavirus task force had directed the agency to change those guidelines in August, allowing that asymptomatic people did not need to be tested.

And last week, the CDC reversed testing guidelines to again recommend that anyone, regardless of symptoms, who has been in close contact with an infected person be tested. The White House coronavirus task force had directed the agency to change those guidelines in August, allowing that asymptomatic people did not need to be tested.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...rm_c8yS9i3P7E2AeXO_HRqIFub90hHUI2z0tNsmzsb5kM
 
At this point, my head is spinning.

I don't understand what's new, or controversial about the virus being airborne. Isn't that what the masks are all about? We have known that the virus is airborne since day 1. Is the big difference in what size droplets carry the virus? The article says,
" stay at least 6 feet away from others, whenever possible," and continues to direct people to wear a mask and routinely clean and disinfect. However, it also now says people should stay home and isolate when sick, and "use air purifiers to help reduce airborne germs in indoor spaces."
This is supposed to be new? It's what we've been doing for 6 months!

Sounds a lot like what they used to print on a "slow news day."1600780453259.gif1600780453323.gif1600780453386.gif1600780453639.gifBut we haven't had too many of those lately.1600780453448.gif
 
@Sunny, when reading @Becky1951's OP, I find the "new" guidance states that the aerosolized particles travel farther than 6' feet, suggesting people would be well advised to increase their distance from that 6'.

Since the CDC is under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services (the head of which is a cabinet position), it's fairly obvious why the CDC has gone from an internationally respected entity to a silly marionette forced to dance to the tune of its higher ups. If these tortured machinations were a movie plot, they'd would be dismissed as being too unlikely and far-fetched.

Americans are increasingly being put in the position of having to figure things out for ourselves. Entities with their own agendas offer plenty of spin and advice. It's little wonder we're all over the board on how to react to COVID.

I believe the CDC meant what it said on Sunday and was pressured to take it down. No doubt a watered down version will appear soon.

The US is a hot mess when it comes to this virus and the response to it by various elected and appointed leaders.
 
As I understand it, a mask will catch most droplets but not particularly aerosols. I heard it explained like this. Think of aerosols as smoke. It can travel long distances, can linger (crowded, close room), and can be wind-driven.

Any non-smoker who remembers spending the evening in a smoke filled bar knows that your clothes will smell smoky when you get home.
 
gennie said:
As I understand it, a mask will catch most droplets but not particularly aerosols. I heard it explained like this. Think of aerosols as smoke. It can travel long distances, can linger (crowded, close room), and can be wind-driven.

Any non-smoker who remembers spending the evening in a smoke filled bar knows that your clothes will smell smoky when you get home.
Click to expand...

I double mask in public settings - so four layers of cloth.
Masks won't necessarily catch all aerosolized particles, but they catch a lot and slow down others. Smokers or former smokers will tell you that if they exhale through a cloth mask a lot less smoke will go through. That mask will get mighty dirty in a hurry.

No avoidance technique is foolproof (outside of a full quarantine with zero outside contact of any kind).

All we can do is improve our odds. Masks, clean hands, social distancing, and limited time in public areas are all good virus avoidance techniques. The more of them we rigorously employ, the less likely we are to contract this virus.
 
StarSong said:
I double mask in public settings - so four layers of cloth.
Masks won't necessarily catch all aerosolized particles, but they catch a lot and slow down others. Smokers or former smokers will tell you that if they exhale through a cloth mask a lot less smoke will go through. That mask will get mighty dirty in a hurry.

No avoidance technique is foolproof (outside of a full quarantine with zero outside contact of any kind).

All we can do is improve our odds. Masks, clean hands, social distancing, and limited time in public areas are all good virus avoidance techniques. The more of them we rigorously employ, the less likely we are to contract this virus.
Click to expand...
I believe it.

Cloth fibers seem like they would be more apt to catch and retain particulate better than thinner paper fibres.
 
I have a serious problem breathing through those masks, especially the cloth kind. I think if I tried wearing a double mask, I'd stop breathing altogether.

I do a little better with that paper kind that is white on one side, light blue on the other. It may not offer as much protection as the cloth kind, but then it's nice to be able to breathe. Great choice for someone like me: Either stop breathing, or get COVID!

Of course, I wear a mask at all times when outside of my apartment. I even wear one when going down the hall to throw out the trash, or down to the lobby to get the mail. (I'm required to.} But I really hate them. I wish someone would invent one for ordinary, everyday use that a person can breathe through, and that doesn't fog up your glasses.
 
I'm fortunate to have no breathing problems. No COPD or other lung issues. I wear double masks because I saw a doctor do it and he recommended the practice if one is able to do so. DH & I can - and with no struggle or discomfort - and therefore we double mask when shopping or run errands.

It's like anything. We all do the best we can.
 


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