3 ms·
> But coronavirus specifically does not spread like cigarette smoke. It was one of the models that turned out to be wrong. Wait, I think your mental model is o
by divbzero 5y ago
> But coronavirus specifically does not spread like cigarette smoke. It was one of the models that turned out to be wrong.
Wait, I think your mental model is out of date. OP is all about how COVID-19 is indeed airborne [1] — i.e. it can float through air for considerable distances — and how it took a long time for WHO to correct its messaging. I guess this is case-in-point on how initial public messaging can be really hard to correct later on, and needs to be corrected quickly and loudly.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_transmission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_transmission
- native_samples 5y agoThere are many degrees of airborne. One of the theories for why the models break for COVID (and influenza) so badly is the possibility that these viruses can travel very long distances and remain viable. Like in the upper atmosphere, long distance. This is hardly a radical notion. Ferguson's useless 2001 era foot-and-mouth models relied heavily on the idea that the virus would be spread by the wind between nearby farms, even if there was no close physical contact between animals. The field of "aerobiology" investigates this topic (whether our understanding of what can survive long distance travel might be flawed). If this is correct then it'd explain many otherwise unexplainable facts about COVID and influenza, like the way outbreaks start and stop more or less simultaneously over huge geographic areas.