San Diego scientists among the group calling on the CDC to reinforce the COVID-19 orientation

Credit: Associated Press

Above: Chris Van Gorder, CEO of Scripps Health, inoculated Christian Dollahon, 66 of Oceanside with the Pfizer vaccine at Del Mar Fairgrounds on Friday, February 12, 2021, in Del Mar, Calf.

Some prominent researchers, including two from San Diego, are calling on federal officials to do a better job of explaining how COVID-19 spreads.

Kim Prather, an atmospheric chemist at UC San Diego, and Robert Schooley, an infectious disease specialist, are among those asking the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to change their safety guidelines and the COVID-19 virus.

They worry that small airborne particles, known as aerosols, are responsible for most COVID-19 infections.

“Indoors, aerosols are like being in a room with a smoker,” said Prather. “There is no other way to describe it. They float out. They are produced simply by speaking. Not by coughing or sneezing. They just leave people when they are talking. “

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Tiny aerosols can fill the air in a poorly ventilated room, allowing the disease to spread even after an infected person leaves the room, according to Prather.

Prather joined researchers from across the country asking President Biden, the CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci to take immediate steps to address the risk of transmission through inhalation.

“The CDC’s guidelines and recommendations do not include the control measures necessary to protect the public and workers from SARS-CoV-2 inhalation exposure,” wrote the letter’s authors. “Failure to address inhalation exposure to SARS-CoV-2 continues to put workers and the public at serious risk of infection. People of color, many of whom work on the front lines in essential jobs, have suffered – and continue to suffer – the greatest impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic ”.

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Concerned scientists say the emergence of even more variants of communicable viruses should make swift action a priority.

“Honestly, I believe that, and that’s the main point of the letter, which, once we recognize it is in the air, is the main way to reach us,” said Prather. “So we can implement all the measures we need to take to put the right infrastructure in place. We can tell people how to make sure the air is clean. ”

The letter included four specific recommendations:

• The CDC should make it clear to the public that exposure by inhalation through small aerosols is the main way in which the virus spreads and updates its policy and guidelines for dealing with the inhalation of small particles in public and work environments, and should develop guidelines for better facial coverage for the public.

• CDC and OSHA should issue recommendations and requirements for the use of NIOSH approved respirators – such as N95 filter face mask respirators – to all healthcare professionals and other high-risk workers, including those in meat and poultry, corrections and transit operations. One year after the start of this pandemic, we must provide adequate respiratory protection to all workers who need it.

• OSHA should issue an emergency workplace standard on COVID-19 that requires an assessment of the risk of inhalation, adoption of controls, including improved ventilation, physical distance, effective respiratory protection for workers in high-risk jobs and covers and high quality barrier masks for other workers exposed to the virus at work.

• The federal government should use the Defense Production Act to increase the production of high-quality barrier respirators and facial covers.

Proper masks, better ventilation and internal HEPA filters can go a long way in reducing internal risk.

Don Milton, an environmental health researcher at the University of Maryland, is among the academics and doctors who ask the CDC to recognize airborne risk.

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“The country is moving forward to face this pandemic,” said Milton. “Increasing vaccines, expanding the use of masks to address the disparate impact of the virus on people of color. But in order to be truly successful, we must finally recognize exposure to inhalation. “

The American Industrial Hygiene Association is among several organizations that are calling for changes to protect people in their workplaces.

The letter was signed by the following:

• Rick Bright, PhD, former director of BARDA, Department of Health and Human Services;

• Lisa M. Brosseau, ScD, CIH, professor (retired), research consultant, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), University of Minnesota;

• Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MS, MPH, Michael and Lori Milken Dean and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University;

• Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, assistant clinical professor, Department of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine & Bellevue Hospital Center;

• Jose-Luis Jimenez, PhD, University of Colorado at Boulder;

• Yoshihiro Kawaoka, DVM, PhD, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Tokyo;

• Linsey Marr, PhD, Charles P. Lunsford Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech;

• David Michaels, PhD, MPH, professor of Occupational and Environmental Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University;

• Donald K. Milton, MD, DrPH, Professor of Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Professor, Internal Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, University of Maryland;

• Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, Regent Professor, Chair with McKnight Presidential Endowment in Public Health and Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), University of Minnesota;

• Kimberly Prather, PhD, Distinguished Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry and Director, NSF Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego;

• Robert T. Schooley, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health and Co-Director, Center for Innovative Phage and Therapeutic Applications, University of California, San Diego;

• Peg Seminario, MS, Director of Safety and Health (retired), AFL-CIO

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