WHO described SARS2 as a cough & sneeze droplet-transmitted virus
Prevention: 'wash your hands, don't touch your face'
At 12:37: #COVIDisAirborne!
'[emitted] small liquid particles...droplets to smaller aerosols'
Prevention: 'wear a mask'
Did you know?
WHO anti-airborne starting point:
'The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes'
WHO anti-airborne: prevention
🤦♂️Wash your hands regularly with soap & water, or clean them with alcohol-based hand rub.
🤔Maintain at least 1m distance between you & people coughing or sneezing [Ed: what about breath-exhaled aerosols; & why 1m?!].
🤦♂️Avoid touching your face.
'The virus can spread from an infected person’s mouth or nose in small liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, sing or breathe. These particles range from larger respiratory droplets to smaller aerosols.'
✅Get vaccinated
Stay at least 1m apart from others
Wear a properly fitted mask when physical distancing is not possible or when in poorly ventilated settings.
✅Choose open, well-ventilated spaces over closed ones. Open a window if indoors.
Comment 🙏: there's nothing magical about physical distancing alone.
If you're indoors & the air quality is poor (inadequate fresh air supply, recirculation mechanical ventilation w/o HEPA filtration), transmission risk can be very high when sharing unfiltered, infectious air...
Like this: Jan 2020
2 buses, 1 pre-symptomatic case on bus 2: ALL secondary cases on bus 2
'in closed environments with air recirculation, SARS-CoV-2 is a highly transmissible pathogen.'
[No mask wearing: no known SARS2 cases in Ningbo city, China at the time]
'cases C5 & C10 seated in the last row were MORE THAN 5m from the index patient on the bus & neither reported direct contact nor sharing of spaces with the index patients during the event, YET THEY BOTH DEVELOPED INFECTION'
So please wear a mask indoors, regardless of distance.
As @WHO teams have come so far on this, hopefully it won't be long before they finally accept universally applicable physical laws underlying aerosol behaviour & change this element of their guidance on SARS2 prevention, for the benefit of all. @mvankerkhove@kprather88@DFisman
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
TL/DR in evidence to @covidinquiryuk, CH stated SARS2 transmission is via large droplet & fomites
But:
Following peer review triggered changes 6 Jul 2022, CH's own work stated that SARS2 transmission is via 'fine aerosols & respiratory droplets, & to a lesser extent...fomites'
Why omit the empirical truth that SARS2 transmission occurs importantly via the airborne [aerosol inhalation] route?
Why do this, particularly as David Heymann's 13th Oct 2023 evidence to the PI clarified the @WHO position:
WHO knew SARS2 transmission was via aerosols, Jan 2020
'Arguably the most fundamental misstep in the UK response was the presumption that covid would be an unstoppable flu-like wave'
This
underpinned the early (Chris Whitty) position on T&T, & the Vallance view on 'herd immunity' (later air-brushed)'
Aside
Early SAGE minutes clarify the UK rationale for stopping community SARS2 testing: it was deemed unnecessary because with rapidly increasing case numbers there was no point in testing, as there were insufficient personnel to contact trace
Good to know whose plan this was
'But there was an alternative'
'This led us to question...though we found ourselves quietly dismissed as not understanding the science'
'Ironically, the pride in our science & our capabilities, slowed our ability to learn lessons from other countries'
In his capacity as co-chair of the 2016 pandemic respirator stockpile committee, where does JVT stand legally with this description of healthcare workplace protection 'logic' like this?
🚨Respirators only specifically recommended for ICU/HDU staff - i.e. AGP 'hotspots'
/1
DESPITE
🚨Stronger evidence of aerosol transmission since 2009
🚨His own 2013 review now already used by David Heymann at @covidinquiryuk M1 to describe optimal protection against aerosols - FFP3 mandated as per COSHH
/2
In his witness statement, JVT's logic rests on this concept:
🚨FFP3 is fine for MERS/SARS1 because of 'high case fatality rate & transmission to HCWs was well documented'
But what is unstated is the completion of this 'logic circle': I hope you don't mind me speculating?
By now 2 of you will have an email alert about my @PubPeerBot response to your Letter
UK Research Integrity Office (@UKRIO) teams suggested this route, on reading my detailed evidence submission pubpeer.com/publications/B…
To overcome an unexpected formatting issue on upload to the PubPeer site, below please find my correctly formatted letter expressing concerns & questions over your 'research behaviour'
[your letter, plus summary comments from 2 down this thread]
Prof Jimmy Whitworth & Dr Charlotte Hammer [p36] make an 'interesting' (i.e., exposing their bias &/or COI) statement concerning future recommendations covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/upl…
/1
'Engagement...with academic research groups is needed so that key unanswered Qs arising during the early stages of an epidemic can be rapidly addressed. An example from the COVID-19 epidemic would have been to determine the role of airborne and droplet spread of infection'
/2
This, as we know, is a 'controversy' manufactured by WHO et al
van Doremalen (you know, whose research group's experimental aerosol viability work affirmed the airborne nature of MERS in 2013) proved beyond doubt that SARS2 was airborne in their 17 Mar 2020 @NEJM paper
/3