The virus is NOT airborne - WHO

[TheReelSlimShady]

So the WHO have officially stated that the virus is NOT airborne as has been stated many times :

twitter.com/WHO/status/1243972193169616898

Their recommendation is to keep 1 metre apart , not 2 metres as many countries have been using (including in the UK).

Does this change anything? I guess it may calm the anxiety of picking up the virus when out and about doing exercise if someone gets a bit too close, or in the supermarket.

I wish the WHO hadn't said that. Now we'll have people saying there's no need to avoid others as long as you don't touch. It would have been more helpful to say it doesn't stay airborne.

You can still catch it from someone sneezing of course.

She says "that's the same thing". Anyone know why we have two different words that apparently mean the same thing?

I wouldn't say they mean the same thing.
Propelled means that it is pushed through the air using an external force. It is a passive motion. Unless it continues to be propelled, it will stop moving through the air. This would be like a sneeze that initially sends it moving, hence 2m being safe.

Fly means it is moving using it's own force, and can continue indefinitely unless prevented by a greater force.

@offwarren you are currently hospitalised? That is the only way you could have and the test done and know you have it.

If it's spread by touch, then that blows a hole in immunity and passing it on.

If people have it on their hands, they then can easily pass it from surface to surface - even if they have had it.

Why would the way of transmission matter about the immunity? Makes no sense at all.
Mutation, yes. How you catch it, no.

The disease is highly contagious, that much we do know, so if now it is ok to be closer to someone without risk, then how is it being passed?

If its surface spread then pretty much everything you bring home from the shop needs washing, until the entire supply chain and customers wear gloves, which won't happen.

Fuck me, some people are desperate to believe the worst and are sitting rubbing their hands together at the thought of thousands of deaths. Grim

Not at all - but I do welcome any reporting that reinforces the need for us to stay inside, keep a distance etc to try to prevent eg my elderly parents (or me!) catching it.

I hate the idea of all the deaths to come - but I hate even more that there may be many more deaths if people become complacent.

Why would the way of transmission matter about the immunity? Makes no sense at all.

If you are immune to it, that doesn't make much difference if you pick it up on a surface and then touch another surface.

If I put my hand in paint, I can spread that paint around.

If I get a virus in me from the air and it replicates inside me and then I spread it around with a cough, then immunity matters as it can't replicate inside me.

However - you are probably less likely to infect many people if it's spread on the surface

The difference between mortality rates in men and women is not necessarily due to men smoking more than women. That was one conclusion drawn from Chinese data, because more men than women smoke there. But the rates are the same worldwide. There may be hormonal/genetic factors at play as well as cultural ones (men being less likely to comply with official instructions).

The science on this new virus is constantly having to catch up with the emerging data, some of which is not clear enough (not all countries provide figures on male/female death rates) or transparent enough (China, Russia, Iran...) to be reliable.

Having to rely initially on data from China alone was unhelpful (euphemism of the century) but doesn't necessarily mean the WHO was lying.

This virus does not spread itself. It is spread by the actions of human beings

I keep saying this. It is the truth.
Coughing
Sneezing
Spraying saliva when we speak
Touching our face and then touching something else or someone else
Touching things someone else who has it has touched and then touching our faces

And judging from the way many people are still behaving, they just do not understand this. They also do not understand the difference between what is 'essential' and what is 'something I want to do'.

Every single time we leave our house we risk spreading this virus or catching it.

Every time we are within 2m of another person we risk spreading this virus or catching it.

That is why they are telling us to stay at home and stay away from anyone, family and friends included, who we do not share a house with.
If we have to go out for something essential- food or medication, we should go alone and return home as quickly as possible.

Do not touch your face outside. Wash your hands as soon as you return home and at least every 2 hours while you are at home.

Too many people are not following these instructions.

Things that are not essential

• sunbathing on a beach *picnicing in a park *group exercise in a park *family shopping *day or half-day outings to somewhere you don't live
• shopping daily for 1 or 2 items
• more than 1 exercise a day *buying takeaway coffee/chips/icecream and sitting on benches to consume it. *playing football in a park or on a beach *having a BBQ *meeting friends or family for a walk *having visitors to your house

cinnamonbunns
My GP says I have it and there is no mistaking the symptoms.
It's fucking painful and you can't breathe.
It's like having a red hot poker down your throat and like swallowing glass.
You shudder and shake as your body tries to fight the virus.

I'm not having the conversation with people who dismiss you having it because you haven't had the test. Wait till you get it yourself and then come back to me.

They're full of shit

Please tell us more @PicsInRed

chomalungma yes I suppose an immune person could carry it on their hands and pass it on, but not if they take reasonable precautions. Unlike an infected person they could wash their hands and it would be gone.

I caught it from the dentist. The only place I visited in 25 days. I went there in an FFP3 mask and only took it off in the chair.
The dentist was wearing a mask herself and only touched my teeth with tools.
I can only conclude that the previous patient had some drilling done and it created aerosol.
I wore a new mask on the way out and disposed of them correctly. I washed my hands thoroughly and even had a shower straight afterwards.

Have you been tested? Has the dentist been tested? Because that's the only way to know, everything else is just guessing.

Masks aren't effective. The dentist, or someone else there, had CV19.

My dentist told me on Friday that they can not treat patients unless absolute emergencies and must not use any of the powered tools at all.

Lulu why is a father and son, kicking a ball around in a large park anymore likely to spread disease than said father & son running together?
Come to that, why is exercising twice a day for 30mins more dangerous than 1 bout of exercise for 60mins?

If the public see restrictions as draconian and senseless then they won't follow them (we can't police everywhere) and that really would be dangerous.

So if I went the dentist and no place else in nearly a month and 7 days after my GP says the horrendous symptoms I have are most likely coronavirus, I cannot deduce that I picked it up from the dentist? Yeah, ok..

@Pompei36 - we're not talking nuclear fallout.

See a vape smoker. Huge cloud comes out of mouth. Lingers for a couple of seconds..

Then you're in the same space (confined)... Doctor's surgery, corridor, tube, train, bus, work, concert, coffee shop, hospital ward, family kitchen etc..

Up to 14 day incubation.

The 2m thing is just to give us some leeway. It's a good guide.

Aerosol transmission 'is plausible' for up to three hours (source: paper from Princeton University www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v1.full.pdf )

Even if it hasn't been definitively proven, it's better to err on the side of caution.

"Masks aren't effective. "

Yes, they are. Not 100% but somewhat. We're told in the west that they're not effective because there is a shortage and they want to prioritise frontline workers.
They do help to some extent. You can look up the stats.

I also read this today

The two-metre social distancing rule being used to keep people apart may need to be four times bigger to prevent coronavirus from spreading, a new study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests.

So now I’m not sure which

Masks are effective.
There are several peer reviewed academic papers that confirm masks are effective to varying degrees, depending on what type it is.
Even a homemade mask can help to reduce the spread of infection.

Is it just a coincidence that the virus is just starting to take hold in the US (and especially New York where their HQ is) and there is a huge shortfall of PPE for healthcare workers there? The CDC has told them to tie a scarf around their faces. Many healthcare workers are reduced to making their own material masks which will offer them little to no protection from Covid.

Article here Telegraph

It’s not hard to accept that a cough or sneeze can propel it pretty far then it lingers.