The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday updated its coronavirus guidelines to stress that it spreads through the air and that inhalation is one of the main ways it’s transmitted.
What You Need To Know
- The CDC now emphasizes that airborne transmission is one of the primary means of coronavirus spread
- The federal agency made the update to its website’s transmission page Friday
- Experts say current prevention methods — masks, distancing, washing hands — has not changed
The update posted to the CDC website Friday said the new information is in line with a gradual shift in advice to stress that the virus is airborne and spreads by either being breathed in or coming in contact with the eyes, nose or mouth.
The risk of contracting the coronavirus is more likely to happen to “people who are closer than 6 feet from the infected person,” the CDC website says.
However, “we know that transmission at distances beyond 6 feet occurs because of superspreader events, careful studies of smaller outbreaks, and the physics of aerosols. It can easily happen indoors in a poorly ventilated environment, when people are not wearing masks,” says Dr. Donald Milton and six other aerosol experts in a signed letter urging the CDC to be more specific about the virus’ spread.
“If you and I are standing within a few feet of each other talking, we now know infectious particles are flying out, even if you are talking softly,” Dr. John Brooks, chief medical officer for the CDC’s COVID-19 response, told CNN.
The guidance on how to prevent spread has not changed: Wear a face covering when near other people and indoors, sharing air with others; maintain physical distancing around strangers, wash your hands often and get vaccinated.
Although still a means of transmission, the risk of coming down with COVID-19 — the illness caused by the virus — from surfaces is not as great as breathing it in or landing on a person’s eyes, nose, or mouth, the federal agency said.
