For months, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said COVID-19 spread primarily by direct contact with large respiratory droplets expelled as a sick person coughs or sneezes. was in a letter published this week in Clinical Infectious Diseases, 239 scientists say the agency may be wrong. It ‘just the latest chapter in a shot during the war between the WHO and the rest of the world of public health. “This is one mistake in a series of many,” says Dr. Eric Topol, director and founder of the Scripps Translational Research Institute. “It ‘s really a shame as the WHO have led to all kinds of confusion.” The new letter from one-WHO consultants created and was co-written by experts from more than 30 countries, WHO and other health authorities are not supported enough attention to air COVID-19 gearbox payment is a ‘ infection through inhalation of breath tiny droplets can linger in the air. WHO officials have acknowledged that a possible transmission at a press conference on Tuesday after the letter was released, but said it continued to gather evidence. “We have to mention the possibility of transmission through the air and aerosol transmission as one of the forms of transmission of COVID-19,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO technical management COVID-19, said. other studies completed before the pandemic virus have “proved beyond doubt” that ill ejected droplets can “stay in the air and present a risk of exposure to distances greater than 2.1 [m] from an infected person,” the letter said . More recent research suggests the same is true for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 In some cases, reports that people were hurt after being in the same room with an infected person, even if she does not close or prolonged contact. Remember, like cigarette smoke, says Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, and one of the signatories of the letter. The cloud is more concentrated around the person smoking, but also disperses and drifts across the room. functions of viral aerosol in much the same way, he says. The COVID-19 guidelines of the WHO responded healthcare environments in the air, as some procedures may obscure the virus but have hesitated a threat to the general public to call. A spokesman said the WHO TIME “the issue has been examined by our technical experts.” The letter 239 signatories say that is not good enough. “There is a lot of emphasis on hand-washing state and the social distance, but if it happens [WHO] noted that aerosol transmission, we have additional guidance may be” of such things as ventilation techniques and wearing masks, when people together at home, Marr says. Even very simple guide on how to keep doors and windows open, if possible, could help adds. There is nothing to stop countries or cities to code these types of precautions yourself. But as the world’s preeminent health agency in the world, the words and the Stille WHO have weight. If the WHO is not publicly identify the risks as the transmission through the air, “is only pessimists are more food, the undeniable truth,” says Topol. The letter is just the latest example of simmering tensions between the WHO and the broader scientific community. The COVID-19 fast-moving pandemic, the WHO has exposed weaknesses. First, the global agency for health overloaded and underfunded, countries can not do the job on the field entering without permission, and is based on its Member States much of the data in their analyzes used to provide. The WHO is also with the slow pace and risk aversion of bureaucratic organization, even if the world is again asking for better information on the crown of every day. is “The evidence for the transmission of aerosols is not only perhaps as convincing as they would like,” says Topol. “I call it a purist view.” The institutional care helps explain why there that took the WHO until June 5, recommended that people in high-transmission areas woven wear face masks in public recommendation, which was then already standard in many countries and cities. “Each recommendation that we delete the needs of any kind of situation is applicable. This is a blessing and a curse,” said Van Kerkhove said when the mask is leadership. Topol says that bar is too high at times. “What do you have to lose” recommended additional precautions asks. “Go with the best evidence and the best advice. Maybe not the perfect test. But it’s good enough.” Press conferences almost every day, even though the WHO has stumbled even communicate with the public. In an often criticized Tweet from January, for example, the WHO said that “preliminary to have by the Chinese authorities found inquiries from person to person, no clear evidence of the #coronavirus novel transmission.” The WHO is that the threat of far diffuse transmission from human to human, although media can was still under investigation. For the average person, meant from human to human transmission it was not a big threat. So when it became clear that COVID-19 does not pass from person to person, many people have lost faith in the WHO. For many, the feeling was exacerbated last month when Van Kerkhove transfer asymptomatic crown as “very rare” in a press conference, despite numerous studies and experts months of warnings to the contrary. then they back the comment. These incidents are more than communication gaffes. fears Topol trust the WHO and more generally weakened in science at a time when confidence is crucial. “Who is venerable institution is something that we need, that we rely on,” says Topol. “Every time one of these things happens, where there is a serious mismatch with truth and science and evidence, compress with another reduction of credibility title. We have to go the other way.”
The WHO says coronavirus Airborne transmission is not a big risk. Scientists pushed back
