Making a plea to those involved in media interviews to clearly state this virus is being transmitted through the air. In your next interviews, say the words “Covid is airborne”. Schools are still not focused on cleaning indoor air which indicates they don’t understand. (1/2)
It is great people have done so many media interviews. But given the majority of the public still do not understand the key mode of transmission, we have failed in helping them understand how to protect themselves @EricTopol @PeterHotez @DrLaPook @mehdirhasan @j_g_allen
Here is one example. @andersoncooper hadn’t heard the smoke analogy LAST NIGHT (not last year). That says it all. I think “the guy” was @mtosterholm who has been saying airborne for a while…he and I have been pushing behind the scenes where we can.
@JoyVBehar @ms_whoopie can you get this info out on the view? Happy to help!
@WhoopiGoldberg I get my main news from you…can you help get the word out that this virus travels in the air in aerosols and is inhaled? We need to focus on cleaning indoor air in schools and businesses.

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More from @kprather88

30 Jul
Albertans are upset as they should be. @CMOH_Alberta should be ashamed and embarrassed. No other way to say it but she is now directly responsible for making key decisions that infect kids and families going forward…likely leading to lifelong complications.
And more people in key positions that could have made a difference that have allowed this fiasco to happen…@AntibioticDoc
Read 4 tweets
25 Jul
Below is my favorite video showing how masks work to filter aerosols. Key point: really good at blocking infectious aerosols (produced in speech; singing and yelling produce even more) so ideally infectious aerosols never escape into room air. (1/6)

nytimes.com/interactive/20…
If they do escape into the air, they can build up like cigarette smoke and be inhaled by anyone sharing the air in that same room who is not wearing a mask (filter both ways). Good news is infectious aerosols (and air pollution!) can be removed with filters and ventilation. (2/6)
I helped SD Unified (@sdschools) reopen safely last year by cleaning their indoor room air. They also wore masks indoors. Not a single outbreak. I hope all schools are putting in controls to clean their air. It will help protect our kids and families long after #COVID19. (3/6)
Read 8 tweets
17 Jul
Just read this in doc created by an infection control specialist:

"Breaking the chain at the ‘mode of transmission’ is one of the most important ways to interrupt the spread of infection. This is where infection prevention and
control strategies can be most successful." (1/3)
Yes, this is exactly WHY acknowledging #COVIDisAirborne is so critical. It allows one to implement the most effective measures to control the /airborne/ emission source. In this case, the key is to use the right masks to block aerosols produced by an infectious individual. (2/3)
If you block viruses at the source, stopping the spread is so much easier than containing them after they are released. I am left wondering if this is common knowledge, why are so many ID specialists the ones fighting the hardest against using the word "airborne"? (3/3)
Read 4 tweets
14 Jul
HEPA filtration works. We have known this for decades (below). They effectively filter out infectious aerosols in the correct (1-5 micron) size range (>99.9%). If you see "HEPA-like" (which always cost more) or other added bells and whistles (plasma/ionizers), DO NOT BUY!!(1/2)
These don't help and can lead to worse air quality. Snake oil salespeople are coming out of the woodwork and stealing precious money from schools. It is a crime as they are taking advantage of schools who think "if we pay more, we better protect our kids". This is NOT true. (2/2)
HT @jmcrookston for digging up this old paper. There are literally hundreds of pubs on how well HEPA's work in reducing aerosol concentrations indoors. The good performance can be explained/predicted by basic physics. No RCT needed (end).
Read 4 tweets
5 Jul
The goal is to make sure aerosol counts are lower. We often use the analogy of cigarette smoke building up in poorly ventilated room as a visual analogy for being in a room with an infectious (speaking) supershedder. Lower counts = lower risk. CO2 alone won’t tell you this. 1/3
Having lower PM in a room has many health benefits. People often focus only on CO2 but if you are in a room where it is difficult to increase ventilation, you have no choice but to add HEPA filtration. In this case, aerosol sensors (with size) are your only helpful metric. (2/3)
PM measurements tell you how effective your HEPA filtration is—shooting to be in upper left corner (see below). There is no question that avoiding the situation in the lower right corner lowers risk of infection. CO2 measurements alone cannot be used to assess this. (3/3)
Read 5 tweets
27 Jun
I simply cannot believe the number of people who are content to throw up their hands and say "let's live with this virus" when there are simple measures to clean the air that would protect everyone. (1/)
Many of these "advocates for opening" paint those of us pushing for controls as being too negative. They even go so far as to say we are harming the mental health of kids. Seriously? (2/)
We all want to open and get our lives back--but we want to do so in a safe manner. And there is a way to do it!! It is not rocket science. Let's stop making choices which help this virus spread as we have been doing. Clean the air ASAP and get vaccinated when you can. (3/)
Read 10 tweets

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