Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Editorials

Airborne transmission of covid-19

BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3206 (Published 20 August 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m3206

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Rapid Response:

Re: Airborne transmission of covid-19

Dear Editor,

We would like to congratulate Dr. Fluxman on supporting the Editorial relating to aerosol spread of COVID. We raised this recently (https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3249/rapid-responses) and it is highlighted in another article today (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/369/6508/1146.full.pdf).

The research and computer simulations clearly show blasts of virus are carried in the air over distances of many metres. We have been arguing from the beginning of the pandemic, that common sense should inform us, COVID an essentially respiratory condition mainly acquired through inhalation of a virus, is transmitted by aerosols. It is therefore very disconcerting that WHO and other agencies have repeatedly asked for more scientific evidence, when as Dr Fluxman has indicated, this is already available for the closely related SARS! Ironically, the scientific evidence presented by WHO, PHE and SAGE to support their policies, is quite often inconsequential, indirect and not overwhelming.

It is highly unlikely we would have a pandemic on this scale purely by direct person to person spread. In the week, schools and many office workers return to work, some secondary schools are choosing to keep children in the classrooms during lunch breaks to stop the spread of virus, but the classrooms lack adequate ventilation! In many modern buildings of course there is no option to open windows, which raises another problem.

Competing interests: No competing interests

04 September 2020
Jamal Nasir
Associate Professor in Human Genetics & Genomics
Nirmal Vadgama
University of Northampton
Waterside Campus