Thread by @HuffmanLabDU

Excellent OpEd by @linseymarr & @jljcolorado on the early and persistent confusion around the word "airborne" wrt the pandemic. It's a short overview on the effects of these miscomms across medical & disciplinary boundaries.
Some salient quotes, links (1/)
time.com/6162065/covid-…

2/ “This fundamental misunderstanding of the virus disastrously shaped the response during the first few months of the pandemic & continues to this day. We still see it now in the surface cleaning protocols that many have kept in place even while walking around without masks. …”

3/ “… There is a key explanation for this early error. In hospitals, the word “airborne” is associated w/ a rigid set of protective methods, incl. the use of N95 respirators by workers and negative pressure rooms for patients. These are resource-intensive and legally required.”

4/ “Due to its specific meaning in hospitals and longstanding misunderstanding about how airborne transmission actually happens and underappreciation of its importance, public health officials were wary of saying the word, even though it would have been the clearest way …”

5/ “…As one article put it, “They say coronavirus isn’t airborne–but it’s definitely borne by air.” Because the word “#airborne” was off-limits, it felt like we showed up to a basketball game thinking it was a boxing match.”
[⬇️ via @rkhamsi]
wired.com/story/they-say…

6/ “We have studied viruses in the air long enough to understand that “#airborne” is a #trigger word in healthcare, yet we found it maddening that the word was off-limits during a pandemic. It was okay to talk about aerosols but not to say “airborne” or explain “like smoke” … ”

7/ “…easy for us to see that a trad'l, medical-centric approach has contributed to a sclerotic response to the airborne spread of Covid-19. … we need to recognize that broader expertise beyond medicine is required for public health, & certainly for combating an airborne virus.”

8/ We “know how a virus behaves in the environment—whether indoors or outdoors—and how to remove it. This is the domain of environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, atmospheric science & aerosol science, …”
time.com/6162065/covid-…

9/ “…fields devoted to understanding the movement and control of gases and particles in the environment. This type of expertise has been sidelined in our pandemic response.”

[E.g. see the call in "A paradigm shift to combat indoor respiratory infection"]
science.sciencemag.org/content/372/65…

10/ “We can’t let “airborne” be a dirty word. Instead, increased public attention to the air we breathe is an opp. to dedicate science, technology, & policy tools to ensure that the air in our buildings is clean & healthy.”
👏 @linseymarr @jljcolorado
time.com/6162065/covid-…

11/ Along the lines of the word "airborne" wrt COVID & other infectious resp. diseases, there have been many excellent articles published by various combos journalists & scientists.

This by @MeganMolteni is one of the best walks through that fasc. story.
wired.com/story/the-teen…