*Fantastic* deep review by Wang et al. shows why conversations about #airborne viruses are so important -- not just now or for COVID, but also for many other respiratory diseases.

incl. @kprather88 @jljcolorado @Lakdawala_Lab @zeynep @linseymarr (🧵 1/x)
science.sciencemag.org/content/373/65…
2/ This is one press release summarizing the important work:

"IT’S NOT JUST SARS-COV-2: MOST RESPIRATORY VIRUSES SPREAD BY AEROSOLS"
scripps.ucsd.edu/news/its-not-j…
3/ "Given all that we have learned about SARS-CoV-2 infection, the aerosol transmission pathway needs to be reevaluated for all respiratory infectious diseases."

This is well beyond academic -- this knowledge is the critical underpinnings of why airborne mitigations are urgent.
4/ Why important: "Improved understanding of aerosol transmission brought about by studies of ... SARS-CoV-2 infection requires a reevaluation of the major transm. pathways for other respiratory viruses, which will allow better-informed controls to reduce airborne transmission."
5/ Breaking down the basic process of respiratory aerosol disease transmission, from exhalation, through transport, and to deposition.
6/ Remember that viruses don't fly around naked, they are encased in aerosols with complex properties.
7/ The size of a particle expelled through talking or speaking matters a lot, because the bigger a particle, the more quickly gravity pulls it out of the air. Small respiratory aerosols can stay suspended for hours.
8/ The good news with all of this is that there are decades-proven strategies to improve indoor air -- e.g. by flushing out contaminated air & replacing with fresh air; by adding room HEPA filtration; and by disinfecting air i.e. via upper-room gUV.
9/ The particle size in which pathogens are encased matters a lot, because it determines where in your body they will lodge & severity of disease. Smaller aerosols travel deep into the lungs and initiate pulmonary infection.
10/ Review by Wang et al. presents critical & advancing knowledge on airborne disease transmission

See also our related review (pre-preprint) from March:
"Respiratory aerosols & droplets in the transmission of infectious diseases" arxiv.org/abs/2103.01188…

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More from @HuffmanLabDU

16 Sep
🔥 by @DrAliceVirgil1 in @PsychToday. She argues indoor school meals are not only dangerous during COVID, but further destabilize a sense of truth and reality among gaslit students.

Short 🧵 from article + links on lunchtime risk
(ht @kprather88)
psychologytoday.com/us/blog/compas…
2/ "The term gaslighting comes from the 1944 film Gaslight ... invalidating her reality and understanding of her experiences."

"Trust in the person or entity doing the gaslighting is essential for it to be an effective tool to undermine a person’s entire perception of reality." https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
3/ "Yet, every day in countless lunchrooms across America, as both the New York and Chicago school districts have noted, children are eating and talking loudly, unmasked, in crowded indoor spaces without proper ventilation."
Read 9 tweets
16 Sep
Article w/ tips on childrens' masks, by @BetsyMorris2. (🧵 & info, 1/x)

My quotes didn’t make article cut, but I agree w/ many others who have said priority order is:
1) Wearability (quality irrelevant if kid won’t wear)
2) Tight fit
3) Filtration quality
wsj.com/articles/findi…
2/ In the context of kid masks, it’s worth following @masknerd and looking through great contributions he has made to provide test data & evaluations of various adult and kid masks:

3/ The article also mentions an open Google doc put together by @ajprussin & @linseymarr on various kid masks, which is a useful resource:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
Read 7 tweets
11 Sep
Important #CDC update yesterday improves guidance on mask quality & fit; now recommends #N95 respirators as one option for #BetterMasks. (1/x)

Updates like this don't just happen. People like @kprather88 & @linseymarr have been pushing behind scenes. 🙏
cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…
2/ Also important: N95s are not limited due to a supply chain shortage. True for months and why the CDC finally updated their guidance yesterday.
@projectn95 is a non-profit that provides a marketplace for vetted masks at low price:
shop.projectn95.org/all/
3/ Any mask is better than no mask, but given the highly contagious Delta variant that now dominates, you should wear the best mask you can. See this great interview clip with @mtosterholm motivating the use of upgraded masks:

Read 14 tweets
9 Sep
So glad to see growing national push to #EatOutside & increase #school lunch safety. Anytime masks come off indoors, COVID risk increases.

@HeidiNBC 👇: "Does this cost money?"
Principal: “Money?! No, we just used our brains!”

Full 🧵 of links & info. #DrFauci up next ... (1/x)
2/ Parents here realized that if adults need to be very careful w/ indoor dining when masks are off, so do school kids during lunch.
@HeidiNBC: "Here's what they do. It's not hard. They open these doors, the kids come out."

h/t @SmartRestartAPS
3/ #DrFauci today" "You have pretty good prevention measures at the time you’re in the class or working, and then you let your guard down when you get a lunchbreak and you take your mask off, b/c you have to take your mask off to eat."
Read 20 tweets
7 Sep
ICYMI, @By_CJewett did an excellent job last week on #ScienceFriday w/ @iraflatow. Worth a 14-min listen on key points about air cleaners for school & elsewhere.

Here are some additional thoughts & links on in-room air cleaners as a 🧵 (1/x)
soundcloud.com/scifri/are-hig…
2/ I think this bit from @By_CJewett takes it home:
"Your HEPA filter is kind of like a pair of kaki pants or a garden hose. It's not on-patent, it's not expensive, it's not that hard to find, and there's not a salesforce for it."
soundcloud.com/scifri/are-hig…
3/ "But what you do see is the more electronic air cleaners. Those are the companies going to the school boards, talking about ionization ... they sound spectacular"
Read 21 tweets
6 Sep
A great episode of #NOVANow by @AlokPatelMD on back-to-school concerns (Sept. 2).

First 18 min. @linseymarr does an excellent summary of the basics of airborne spread & most important areas for #schools to focus.

"My biggest concern is lunchtime." (1/x)
pbs.org/wgbh/nova/podc…
2/ (14:40) "My biggest concern is lunchtime. Eating in a cafeteria is my pandemic nightmare scenario. In order to eat you have to remove your mask. There are hundreds of kids in there together. They're seated closely together at these long tables. Everyone's trying to talk ..."
3/ "... and be heard. That's kind of the worst possible situation. Crowding. Close together. Loud talking. You release aerosols and droplets when you talk, and the louder you talk the more you release. ..."
Read 6 tweets

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