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> FACT: COVID-19 is NOT airborne. > The coronavirus is mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. > To p

by nmz 5y ago

> FACT: COVID-19 is NOT airborne. > The coronavirus is mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. > To protect yourself: > -keep 1m distance from others > -disinfect surfaces frequently > -wash/rub your > -avoid touching your From: https://www.facebook.com/WHO/posts/fact-covid-19-is-not-airborne-the-coronavirus-is-mainly-transmitted-through-drop/3019704278074935/ https://www.facebook.com/WHO/posts/fact-covid-19-is-not-airb... Further reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2021/05/28/who-wrong-airborne-coronavirus/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2021/05/28/who-wrong-... Semantics played a huge role in this whole debacle. even to the point of what "airborne" means.

faeriechangling 5y ago
Years later I still run into people not aware of the semantics and the difference between a disease being an aerosol and a disease being airborne. Which smacks of poor communication.
- sneak 5y ago
  Lots of people are bad at listening/reading, sadly. There's only so much that can be done as a speaker/writer. They could and should have done more here, but there will always be a lossy step when people doing the actual work take the information to "the public".
  - teekert 5y ago
    Airborne: Done or being in the air : being off the ground ... [0] Aerosol: A suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in gas [1] Air: The mixture of invisible odorless tasteless gases (such as nitrogen and oxygen) that surrounds the earth. Also : the equivalent mix of gases on another planet [3] Are people bad at listening or bad at explaining? [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/airborne https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/airborne [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aerosol https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aerosol [3] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/air https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/air
- bregma 5y ago
  The root cause is that intelligent, educated people misunderestimate the reactionary idea among the masses that their ignorance is just as, or more, valid. Revolutions are not won by people who are smart at facts but by people who are smart at manipulating ignorance.
shaicoleman 5y ago
Interesting to look at the replies to the Facebook post from over a year ago. It was patently clear to everyone back then that the WHO was wrong about this.
- tremon 5y ago
  No, the WHO was right, and still is, epidemiologically speaking. The problem is that there is a difference in meaning between "this virus is airborne" and "this virus can spread through the air via aerosols". The former means that the virus itself can survive being exposed to the air, which means it can float for hours and spread easily over large distances. The latter means that the virus can only survive in the air when encapsulated in a liquid, which means it can not hover in the air for long (due to the weight of the droplet) and thus not spead over large distances.
Uberphallus 5y ago
> The coronavirus is mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. Emphasis mine. Honestly there was no way around the mess, thanks to social media amplifying any popular outrage and misunderstanding to 11. And I'm not excusing the WHO, their role has been borderline criminal at the beginning, and their reactions slow, but it's also very difficult to convey complex information in platforms that are designed to destroy anything resembling attention span. Their mistake was using a questionable dictionary definition to counter fake news (about COVID-19 being mainly airborne, i.e. lingering for hours in the air like measles, which would have made it a doomsday scenario), and it blew back into their face since it's still airborne under certain conditions. If they said it's indeed airborne, then it would have blown back as it's not really transmissible in the way other airborne diseases are, and would have been seen as overreaching and exaggerated. As most things, the truth lies in the middle: limited ventilation may let the virus accumulate in the air enough to reach a viral load that can cause an infection, but social media just flattens everything to black and white, because it's what brings engagement and ad revenue. Then you have tons of nuances: cold humid environments (vs. hot dry) boost droplet transmission as they can travel farther, but hot dry environments make the droplets turn to aerosols faster (and hence, accumulate in a poorly ventialted area more easily) [0]. Note that while this study is from September 2020, this kind of effect is seen in other respiratory viruses and is not unusual at all. You just can't convey all of that swiftly and in a convincing way between a cat meme and a gif reaction to the latest Trump tweet. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7496593/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7496593/
- prox 5y ago
  Isn’t the word aerosol appropriate? A droplet is just that, and an aerosol is a speck that can travel through air under the right conditions.
- throwaway316943 5y ago
  They could have just pointed everyone to that video made by Japanese researchers that shows how long aerosols can remain airborne and circulate in a room as well as how they are dispersed from the mouth by coughing, sneezing and talking. It was very illustrative and was ready made and waiting for a situation like this.

by nmz 5y ago

faeriechangling 5y ago

Years later I still run into people not aware of the semantics and the difference between a disease being an aerosol and a disease being airborne. Which smacks of poor communication.

sneak 5y ago
Lots of people are bad at listening/reading, sadly. There's only so much that can be done as a speaker/writer. They could and should have done more here, but there will always be a lossy step when people doing the actual work take the information to "the public".
- teekert 5y ago
  Airborne: Done or being in the air : being off the ground ... [0] Aerosol: A suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in gas [1] Air: The mixture of invisible odorless tasteless gases (such as nitrogen and oxygen) that surrounds the earth. Also : the equivalent mix of gases on another planet [3] Are people bad at listening or bad at explaining? [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/airborne https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/airborne [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aerosol https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aerosol [3] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/air https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/air
bregma 5y ago
The root cause is that intelligent, educated people misunderestimate the reactionary idea among the masses that their ignorance is just as, or more, valid. Revolutions are not won by people who are smart at facts but by people who are smart at manipulating ignorance.

shaicoleman 5y ago

Interesting to look at the replies to the Facebook post from over a year ago. It was patently clear to everyone back then that the WHO was wrong about this.

tremon 5y ago
No, the WHO was right, and still is, epidemiologically speaking. The problem is that there is a difference in meaning between "this virus is airborne" and "this virus can spread through the air via aerosols". The former means that the virus itself can survive being exposed to the air, which means it can float for hours and spread easily over large distances. The latter means that the virus can only survive in the air when encapsulated in a liquid, which means it can not hover in the air for long (due to the weight of the droplet) and thus not spead over large distances.

Uberphallus 5y ago

> The coronavirus is mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. Emphasis mine. Honestly there was no way around the mess, thanks to social media amplifying any popular outrage and misunderstanding to 11. And I'm not excusing the WHO, their role has been borderline criminal at the beginning, and their reactions slow, but it's also very difficult to convey complex information in platforms that are designed to destroy anything resembling attention span. Their mistake was using a questionable dictionary definition to counter fake news (about COVID-19 being mainly airborne, i.e. lingering for hours in the air like measles, which would have made it a doomsday scenario), and it blew back into their face since it's still airborne under certain conditions. If they said it's indeed airborne, then it would have blown back as it's not really transmissible in the way other airborne diseases are, and would have been seen as overreaching and exaggerated. As most things, the truth lies in the middle: limited ventilation may let the virus accumulate in the air enough to reach a viral load that can cause an infection, but social media just flattens everything to black and white, because it's what brings engagement and ad revenue. Then you have tons of nuances: cold humid environments (vs. hot dry) boost droplet transmission as they can travel farther, but hot dry environments make the droplets turn to aerosols faster (and hence, accumulate in a poorly ventialted area more easily) [0]. Note that while this study is from September 2020, this kind of effect is seen in other respiratory viruses and is not unusual at all. You just can't convey all of that swiftly and in a convincing way between a cat meme and a gif reaction to the latest Trump tweet. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7496593/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7496593/

prox 5y ago
Isn’t the word aerosol appropriate? A droplet is just that, and an aerosol is a speck that can travel through air under the right conditions.
throwaway316943 5y ago
They could have just pointed everyone to that video made by Japanese researchers that shows how long aerosols can remain airborne and circulate in a room as well as how they are dispersed from the mouth by coughing, sneezing and talking. It was very illustrative and was ready made and waiting for a situation like this.