Aerosols where COVID viruses may be present
WHO has also noted that airborne transmission of the COVID-19 virus may be possible in circumstances and places specific procedures in which aerosol-generating treatments are performed or treatments are administered, for example, endotracheal intubation, bronchoscopy, open aspiration, administration of a drug by nebulization, manual ventilation before intubation, turning the patient prone, disconnecting the patient of a ventilator, noninvasive positive pressure ventilation, tracheostomy and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
For its part, the study indicates that respiratory sprays are formed in respiratory activities, such as breathing, speaking, singing, screaming, coughing, and sneezing.
In all the over-diffusion events, the cases occurred when the air was inhaled in the same room from very crowded places where they stayed an hour or more, which were poorly ventilated, and where the masks were misused or not used.
Research led by Chia C. Wang revealed that aerosols have an important advantage: they can be eliminated simply by ventilating, filtering and renewing the air, a measure that reduces the airborne transmission of viruses.
Regarding the widespread use of masks – a measure that many governments and national organizations have chosen to stop infections caused by the Delta variant and infections in people vaccinated with the full schedule – the study concludes that it is an effective and economical way to block virus-laden aerosols.
However, a single strategy is unlikely to be sufficient to eliminate transmission of emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the authors note.