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Coronavirus Is Airborne and WHO Should Update Its Guidance, Scientists Say

A group of 239 scientists from 32 countries wrote an open letter encouraging the WHO to update its guidance on the novel coronavirus.

A group of 239 scientists from 32 countries is calling on the World Health Organization in an open letter to revise its guidance on the novel coronavirus to state that it is an airborne virus. The WHO currently states in its guidance that airborne transmission of the coronavirus can only occur after medical procedures that produce aerosols and that it is mainly spread by large respiratory droplets. The scientists’ open letter is set to be published in a scientific journal next week. Scientists stated that the virus has spread more readily indoors and during superspreader events, which is expected behavior of airborne viruses. The WHO has disagreed with scientific consensus at other points during the coronavirus pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long held that asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 is common, while the WHO still holds that it is a rare phenomenon.