The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted on its website describing how the COVID-19 virus spreads, removing language about the virus’s airborne transmission it had posted just days earlier. It was the third primary revision CDC has made on its COVID-19 information and guidelines since May.
The agency had written on their website Friday, saying that the virus can be transmitted over a distance beyond six feet, signifying that indoor ventilation is crucial to protecting against the novel coronavirus.
CDC has shifted its guidelines Friday, but the changes were not widely spotted until a CNN report Sunday. The agency previously warned that the COVID-19 virus mostly spreads through large droplets encountered at proximity. On Friday, they had said that small particles, including those in aerosols, were a common vector for virus transmission.
The US CDC’s deputy director for infectious disease, Jay Butler, said that the Friday update was posted in error. He noted that it was an “early draft of a revision” that was published on the agency’s website without any technical review.
Currently, the edited web page has deleted all references about the airborne spread. What remains is a disclaimer saying that the recommendations about this mode of transmission are still under review. According to Butler, they are returning to the previous version and reviewing the process. He acknowledged that what happened is a failure process on CDC’s side.
For the past few months, many public health experts and scientists have warned of mounting evidence that the COVID-19 virus is airborne, transmitted through small droplets called aerosols that stay in the air much longer than the more massive globs produced from sneezing or coughing.
According to health experts who reviewed the Friday post on CDC’s website, the language change had the power to shift public behavior and policy. Some have suggested that it should encourage a primary rethinking of public policy, especially at today’s time when most students in the country are returning to indoor classrooms.
According to chemistry professor Jose-Luis Jimenez who studies the process of aerosol transmission of the virus at the University of Colorado, he sees it as a “major change.” Jimenez added that more people are becoming aware of how the virus spreads and may reduce virus transmission since they now know how to stop it.
Since the start of the pandemic, medical experts have debated how the virus travels and the best method to stop it. There was widespread fear from contaminated surfaces leading people to bleach even their groceries and mail in the beginning. CDC has clarified this false notion and said that person-to-person transmission is a much more significant threat. The agency focused its guidance on avoiding exposure to large droplets from sneezing and coughing, which are thought to be mostly within a six-foot radius.
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