Tag: airborne transmission

Bird Flu May Be Airborne on Dairy Farms, Scientists Report

Published August 4, 2025

Published by: The New York Times
Published on: August 4, 2025
By Apoorva Mandavilli, Emily Anthes

The bird flu virus that has beset dairy farms since early last year may be spreading through the air in so-called milking parlors and through contaminated wastewater, as well as from milking equipment, scientists have found.

The Department of Agriculture has said that the virus spreads primarily from milking equipment or is carried by dairy workers and vehicles traveling between farms.

But in the new study, scientists found live virus in the air of milking facilities, suggesting that cows and farmworkers might have become infected by inhaling the pathogen. The virus may also spread by water used to clean cattle barns or contaminated with discarded milk.

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avian flu

Could the Bird Flu Become Airborne?

Published February 3, 2025

Published by: The New York Times
Published on: February 3, 2025
By Carl Zimmer

In early February 2020, China locked down more than 50 million people, hoping to hinder the spread of a new coronavirus. No one knew at the time exactly how it was spreading, but Lidia Morawska, an expert on air quality at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, did not like the clues she managed to find.

It looked to her as if the coronavirus was spreading through the air, ferried by wafting droplets exhaled by the infected. If that were true, then standard measures such as disinfecting surfaces and staying a few feet away from people with symptoms would not be enough to avoid infection.

Dr. Morawska and her colleague, Junji Cao at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, drafted a dire warning. Ignoring the airborne spread of the virus, they wrote, would lead to many more infections. But when the scientists sent their commentary to medical journals, they were rejected over and over again.

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research

Scientists discover higher levels of CO2 increase survival of viruses in the air and transmission risk

Published April 26, 2024

Published by: University of Bristol
Published on: April 26, 2024

A new study has revealed for the first time the vital role carbon dioxide (CO2) plays in determining the lifespan of airborne viruses – namely SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

It clearly showed keeping CO2 levels in check helps to reduce virus survival, and therefore the risk of infection.

The research, led by the University of Bristol and published today in Nature Communications, shows how CO2 is a major factor in prolonging the life of SARS-CoV-2 variants present in tiny droplets circulating in the atmosphere.

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airborne transmission

WHO experts now agree diseases like COVID spread through the air

Published April 18, 2024

Published by: CBC News / Reuters
Published on: April 18, 2024

The World Health Organization (WHO) and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.

The Geneva-based U.N. health agency released a technical document on the topic on Thursday. It said it was the first step toward working out how to better prevent this kind of transmission, both for existing diseases like measles and for future pandemic threats.

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students

Probe links COVID spread to school bus riders from sick driver

Published March 21, 2024

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: March 21, 2024
By Mary Van Beusekom

The proportion of children infected with COVID-19 while riding a bus to a school in Germany was about four times higher than in peers who didn’t ride the bus, illustrating efficient transmission during multiple short rides on public transport, finds a study published this week in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

A team led by researchers from the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin and public health officials used surveillance data, lab analyses, case-patient and household interviews, a cohort study of all students in grades 1 to 4, and a cohort study of bus riders to investigate a 2021 COVID-19 outbreak that involved an infected bus driver and his passengers. The rides lasted 9 to 18 minutes, and multiple schools in a single district were involved.

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Scotland

Government ‘dismissed’ concerns over airborne Covid transmission, inquiry told

Published March 20, 2024

Published by: Independent
Published on: March 20, 2024
By Sarah Ward

The Scottish Government “dismissed” concerns about the airborne transmission of Covid during the pandemic, an inquiry has heard.

Colin Poolman, director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Scotland, also paid tribute at the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry to the “ultimate sacrifice” made by health workers who lost their lives in the pandemic.

He told the inquiry that attempts were made from 2020 by the RCN to raise concerns about airborne transmission with the Scottish Government, due to considerations about personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilation.

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indoor air quality

Mitigating Airborne Transmission in Your Home — ASHRAE 241 Part 7

Published November 12, 2023

Published by: It’s Airborne
Published on: November 12, 2023
By Joey Fox

ASHRAE’s recently released standard for control of infectious aerosols also provides guidance on mitigating airborne diseases in residential settings. Here is how you can apply the standard to your home.

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New Brunswick

‘Political preferences’ played role in COVID-19 pandemic response, Russell reveals

Published November 2, 2023

Published by: CBC News
Published on: November 2, 2023
By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon

I think New Brunswickers were under the impression that government was looking for recommendations, for opinions from Public Health experts to make these decisions, and [it] feels like that … clearly wasn’t what was happening

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British Columbia

BC’s new masking guidance isn’t enough

Published October 17, 2023

Published by: The Peak
Published on: October 17, 2023
By Michelle Young

As of October 3, masks are mandatory for healthcare workers and visitors in settings that are accessible to patients, including areas where they receive care. This includes spaces like the rooms where doctors and nurses serve patients directly, or areas where patients may stay while waiting, such as lobbies. The policy also extends to contractors or volunteers in the area, but does not include private clinics or patients themselves.

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airborne transmission

This MacArthur ‘genius’ knew the initial theory of COVID transmission was flawed

Published October 4, 2023

Published by: National Public Radio
Published on: October 4, 2023
By Gabriel Spitzer

The groundbreaking research of Linsey Marr, an aerosols expert and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, showed that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is airborne as opposed to traveling in large droplets that fall with gravity.

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universal masking

The evidence shows masks work

Published November 15, 2022

Published by: Montreal Gazette
Published on: November 15, 2022
By Christopher Labos

They aren’t perfect, but they certainly help curb airborne transmission of viruses.

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schools

Opinion: Better protecting schools from COVID is within reach

Published August 17, 2022

Published by: Edmonton Journal
Published on: August 17, 2022
By Joe Vipond, Amanda Hu

Welcome to the “Live with COVID” era, where living with the virus means not talking about it at all. We’ve been told to pretend it’s over, though those “weird summer colds” and “lingering symptoms” indicate otherwise. Rising case rates, hospitalizations, and deaths. Best Summer Ever 2.0 is ending, which means kids are about to return for their third pandemic September.

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Ontario

Citing Omicron’s airborne ‘potential’, Ontario hospitals, LTC homes will now use N95 respirators with COVID patients

Published December 16, 2021

Published by: Toronto Star
Published on: December 16, 2021
By Ed Tubb

Ontario health officials are changing a key recommendation on the use of hospital personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the “potential” that the highly-transmissible Omicron variant can spread at a distance through the air.

Health-care workers providing care to a “suspected or confirmed” COVID-19 patient in hospitals, long-term-care homes, or in a home-care situation will now be required to also use a “fit-tested, seal-checked N95 respirator,” according to interim guidance issued by Public Health Ontario Wednesday.

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droplet dogma

Canada’s culture of silence on airborne virus transmission leaves many confused on how to best avoid infection

Published June 18, 2021

Published by: Toronto Star
Published on: June 18, 2021
By Joe Vipond, Kashif Pirzada, Danielle Cane

It’s the dog days of the pandemic. We continue to follow public health guidance, which is getting less restrictive, as we wait for vaccines to end this crisis. We have learned so much over the last year about how to better protect ourselves, including critical information that COVID is likely transmitted predominantly via airborne spread.

And yet, many of our infectious disease and public health specialists — including our chief medical officers of health — seem to be unable to say the word “airborne” or “aerosol” out loud, and instead continue to emphasize measures such as deep cleaning and plexiglass panels.

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N95 respirators

Ontario, Alberta change policy limiting N95 masks as health-care workers demand greater access

Published April 2, 2020

Published by: The Globe and Mail
Published on: April 2, 2020
By Carly Weeks

At least two provinces have bowed to union pressure to let some health professionals use specialized respirator face masks when treating COVID-19 patients, sparking concern among infection-control experts this will undermine health workers’ trust in their advice.

Alberta and Ontario have reached agreements with unions to allow some health-care workers to use N95 respirator masks if they feel it is necessary. Nova Scotia’s largest nursing union is now calling on provincial officials to do the same.

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Tag: airborne transmission

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