Washington – The new coronavirus might spread through the air via normalbreathing and speaking, a top US scientist said Friday as the governmentwas poised to recommend the use of face masks for everyone.
Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes ofHealth, told Fox News the guidance on masks would be changed “because ofsome recent information that the virus can actually be spread even whenpeople just speak, as opposed to coughing and sneezing.”
As it stands, the official advice is that only sick people need to covertheir faces, as well as those caring for them at home.
Fauci’s comments come after the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) sent aletter to the White House on April 1 that summarized recent research on thesubject.
It said that though the research isn’t yet conclusive, “the results ofavailable studies are consistent with aerosolization of virus from normalbreathing.”
Until now, US health agencies have said that the primary pathway oftransmission is respiratory droplets, about one millimeter in diameter,expelled by sick people when they sneeze or cough.
These quickly fall to the ground around a meter away.
But if the virus can be suspended in the ultrafine mist we expel when weexhale, in other words an aerosol, it becomes much harder to prevent itsspread, which in turn is an argument in favor of everyone covering theirfaces.
– The aerosol debate –
A recent NIH funded study published in the New England Journal of Medicinefound that the SARS-CoV-2 virus could become an aerosol and remain airbornefor up to three hours.
This triggered a debate even as critics said the findings were overblownbecause the team behind the study used a medical device called a nebulizerto deliberately create a viral mist and argued this would not occurnaturally.
The NAS letter pointed to preliminary research by the University ofNebraska Medical Center that found the genetic code of the SARS-CoV-2virus, its RNA, were found in hard to reach areas of patients’ isolationrooms.
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The NAS scientists also pointed to two other studies — both not yet peerreviewed — from Hong Kong and from mainland China.
The Hong Kong researchers collected viral samples from patients with thecoronavirus and other viral respiratory illnesses, and gave some of thepatients face masks.
The masks reduced the detection of both droplets and aerosols forcoronavirus patients.
The Chinese paper on the other hand raised concerns that personalprotective gear used by health care workers could itself be a source ofairborne virus.
The team studied hospitals in Wuhan and found that there were two majorareas where the virus was aerosolized: the bathrooms of patients, and roomswhere medical staff removed their protective gear.
This may be because doffing protective gear causes the particles to getre-suspended in the air. Even if these particles are not of breathablesize, they could settle on people’s hands and bodies, the NAS panel said.
So far, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been more cautious on theairborne threat.
In an analysis published on March 29, it wrote that aerosol transmissionwas only known to occur during particular medical treatments that requiredassisted breathing.
On the recent preliminary research, such as the University of Nebraska’spaper, the WHO cautioned that the detection of the virus’ genetic code inpatient’s rooms did not necessarily amount to viable amounts of thepathogen that could be transmitted onward. -APP / AFP
