Thread by @jmcrookston

"... because #COVIDisAirborne."

Fixed it.

Psst, in actual fact, @WHO's committee on COVID-19 transmission modes is logjammed by some of its members. They refuse to admit SARS-CoV-2 is in the air.

So @WHO has to quote any old doc mentioning "air" to get around its own committee

https://twitter.com/mvankerkhove/status/1379005535857561602

That's why the committee in July 2020 said they were "actively discussing" whether SARS-CoV-2 transmits in aerosols

(see pic, from who.int/news-room/comm…)

Not very actively, apparently, since it's April 2021 now and no change.

The clear statement that SARS-CoV-2 transmits via droplets (that fall to ground) is found also in @WHO's mask guidance from June 2020 @ apps.who.int/iris/handle/10….

And in August the @WHO Committee *LITERALLY WROTE AN ARTICLE THAT SAID SARS-CoV-2 IS NOT AIRBORNE*

In pic below, "does not spread by the airborne route to any significant extent"

So, come on now. Always said it was airborne? Let's get serious.

You can read this article (in all its glorious nonsense) here:

aricjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…

Note author: "on behalf of the IPAC R&D Expert Group for COVID-19"

(Yeah, that's a mouthful.

It's such a mouthful the committee got their own name wrong and had to correct it:

aricjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…)

But hey. There's more!

Let's say you don't believe the @WHO's own guidance saying it's not in the air.

And let's say you don't even believe their own committee saying it's not in the air.

Let's check out what they said in the news ...

In September, 2020, when the CDC accidentally changed their website to say COVID-19 was airborne (then took it down, then put it back up), people asked @WHO whether that meant they were changing their guidance...

... they said no.

reuters.com/article/health…

That was in Sept. 2020

In November, 2020, the New York Times reported that the letter written by 260 aerosol scientists was pushing @WHO to accept SARS-CoV-2 transmits through air

A @WHO committee member was quoted and said @WHO was reviewing the evidence

nytimes.com/2020/07/07/hea…

It's now April 2021

Of course, I haven't even mentioned the elephant in the room which is @WHO's

LITERAL TWEET THAT SARS-CoV-2 IS NOT IN THE AIR.

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1243972193169616898

It only has about a billion retweets so I'm sure nobody saw it.

So I leave it up to people to decide what's what.

But regardless, please stay out of indoor spaces, open windows, use air filters, wear masks. These little viruses float in rooms and you don't want to breath them in.

#COVIDisAirborne and the faster we acknowledge it, the better

Some notes:

1. Evidence pointed to airborne years before March 2020

2. Speed of SARS-CoV-2 spread was fast out of Wuhan should have warned us. Top @WHO scientific ppl said exactly this

3. Precautionary principle says be careful

4. It's April 2021. Plenty of time to adjust

By the way, @WHO if you are having troubles with the committee, try majority vote.

If you cannot do majority vote, disband the committee and make an executive decision.

Process should not be let to wag this dog.

It shouldn't need to be said: the @WHO does all sorts of good work.

But this, this is just bureaucracy gone wild.

Also, yes, the same complaint can be levied at health orgs. The ppl on this committee are from those health orgs. So unlikely see change until/unless from the top