The WHO has finally admitted that Covid is transmitted …

The transmission of the coronavirus by aerosols, small droplets that are emitted just by breathing and that can remain floating in the air, has been clearly incorporated by the World Health Organization (WHO), a request from specialists from around the world who for months have argued that this is the main route of infection.

The update, which was made on April 30, is currently only available on the English page (https://www.who.int/news-room/qa-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19- how -is-it -transmis), noted that “we know the disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is spread between people in different ways.”

Among these forms, the WHO has described: “The virus can be spread through the mouth or nose of an infected person as small liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, sing or breathe. These particles range from the largest respiratory droplets to the smallest aerosols. “

“Current evidence suggests that the virus spreads mainly between people who are in close contact with each other, usually within a meter (close range). A person you can get infected by breathing in aerosols or droplets containing the virus or by coming into direct contact with your eyes, nose or mouth“, he said.

And he added: “The virus can also spread in poorly ventilated and / or overcrowded indoor environments, where people tend to spend longer periods of time. In fact, aerosols remain suspended in the air or travel more than a meter (long range). “

Finally, the document recalls that “people they can also become infected by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus by touching their eyes, nose or mouth without washing their hands. “

“This is the first time that the WHO has clearly declared and in a publicly available document the role of aerosols in contagion, so that there is no room for confusion,” said the researcher Spanish José Luis Jiménez, one of the best in the world. references on the subject.

Until now, the WHO had only recognized the possibility of transmission by “aerosols” but had not specified the importance that these had in the proximity and the He kept saying that the contagion was due to the droplets falling on “the eyes, nose or mouth”.

In addition, it reduced the spread of aerosols in “specific environments, especially indoors, overcrowded and poorly ventilated” where infected people “spend a lot of time with other people, for example restaurants, choir practices, gymnastics classes, nightclubs, offices and / or places of worship ”.

“On March 28 of last year, the WHO directly stated that the virus does not pass by air and that to say that it is disinformation.. It touched everyone and they never came out with the same firmness to retract; it appeared in a document, they said the ventilation was important but they didn’t explain why, ”said Jiménez, a professor at the University of Colorado, United States.

Although it seems like a subtle difference, The fact that the WHO clearly accepts that the coronavirus is spreading in this way has consequences in the forms of prevention and care to reduce the risk of contagion.

“An example of the impact that the message arrives clearly: in February I spoke with a secretary of Education of a Latin American country facing the start of the school year who informed me of the protocol of the presence and the care was focused on cleaning surfaces and had no ventilation or carbon dioxide measurement, ”Jiménez described.

And he added: “And it was a problem that went through the whole world, millions were spent on disinfectants and ventilation and the distance was minimized, and explain why “.

In July 2020, Jiménez was part of the 239 scientists who have asked in a letter to the WHO to recognize the preponderant role that aerosols play in the pandemic.

“Now with this update there is no doubt, so if they don’t ventilate in a school or workplace, there is a clear tool to demand it,” he said. concluded.

Jiménez recalled that “to say that the coronavirus is spread by air is not a ghostly definition, it does not mean that the virus will travel for miles and will come to infect”.

“It means,” he continued, “that it comes out of infected people in the form of invisible smoke that can contain the virus with the ability to infect. This smoke is respiratory aerosols, very small invisible particles that remain floating in the air. and that another person can inhale in two situations: when you are very close (especially when both are without a mask) or when you share the air in a closed room, because the closed space traps the air that that person expires ”.