Airborne has special meaning. Clearly covid spreads "through the air" that doesnt mean it is airborne. One problem is there is no strict definition of airborne

Airborne has special meaning. Clearly covid spreads "through the air" that doesnt mean it is airborne. One problem is there is no strict definition of airborne. There is no doubt that covid can spread via an airborne path, but it may not be the dominant path. The original variant had about a .7% infection rate through casual contact. For people living in the same household it was something like 12%. When people talk about airborne, one implication is that it floats in the air and is infectious for a long time. This generally means a much higher rate of transmission. One factor in this is the infectious dose. The lower the infectious dose, the more likely it is to be airborne. A TB infection can start from one bacterium. So even though they are huge, it is airborne. Delta is 2X more infectious than the original, that means it likely needs a smaller infectious dose and is more likely to transmit via airborne particles. Just because covid can transmit via an airborne path doesnt mean it is the main way it is transmitted. When we think of airborne we think of highly infectious viruses like the measles virus. << Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected. Measles virus can live for up to two hours in an airspace after an infected person leaves an area. >>