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With more than 530,000 deaths worldwide the health crisis linked to the coronavirus is far from over. And a new study tells us more about a possible transmission of the virus. In an open letter, 239 researchers from 32 countries alert the World Health Organization (WHO) to the transmission of Covid-19 in the air. Very fine droplets would remain, according to specialists, suspended in the air, promoting transmission.
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Current knowledge suggests that the virus is spread by large droplets when you sneeze and then spray. This thesis supported by the WHO affirms that these large drops, once expelled, fall quickly on the ground. Hence the recommendations to always keep a meter distance between each person.
An explanation for most contaminations in confined spaces?
But in addition to this assertion, the 239 researchers provide clarification on smaller droplets which would be able to float in the air, to stay there and therefore to contaminate people who would be in the same room. This could explain why the majority of contamination occurs in closed or poorly ventilated spaces.
Consequently, this group of researchers requests the WHO to review its positions, but also and above all to apply the precautionary principle, namely forcing the wearer of the mask, in confined spaces. He also asks to systematically set up a suitable ventilation system. WHO has already split a response by the voice of Dr Benedetta Allegranzi, WHO technical manager, who highlights the many debates on this subject within the organization, but which are "not sufficiently substantiated by solid or even clear evidence. "
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"At the moment there is no conclusion"
"What the WHO says is a truth", approves at the microphone of Europe 1 doctor Alexandre Bleibtreu, infectiologist at Pitié Salpêtrière in Paris. "There is no indisputable scientific data on the persistence of these microdroplets in the air and if they are sufficient to infect someone. There are studies under way in the intensive care units with protocols which have been funded by the state. We take samples from the patient, machines, masks, caregivers' coats, door handles to see if the virus's RNA is detected. Other experiments, even more experimental , are carried out by aerosolizing the virus in rooms where filters are installed. For the moment there is no conclusion, "he recalls.