In this context these are technical terms. About the only thing public health authorities have been truthful with us about is that the virus is not airborne, but spreads as an aerosol.
That distinction got confused not because there was any doubt as to the science, but because layman's terms started getting used instead. It's ok to think in layman's terms: "if the virus travelled through the air and infected someone else then it's airborne." That isn't what "airborne transmission" means though; that's if nothing stops a pathogen from staying aloft. It could circle the globe on its own. That isn't what we're facing, and if it were masks wouldn't protect anybody.
Aerosol transmission is substantially different from this. It doesn't mean virions floating are magically penned in to a 6' radius. It means they will naturally arc if airborne, being affected by gravity. Since theyre suspended in droplets, that moisture evaporates in low humidity. In heating season, the air circulation can propel it along. It's been theorized this could circulate the same virion throughout any sized room, but I haven't seen any follow-up to substantiate this idea.
In high humidity the virion(s) will travel in the same moisture without any evaporation, so they're going to land on the ground quicker and stay there.
This is an important distinction. It also contributes to flu season being in winter, not summer. The scare about this was that it's "so different and nobody has any immune response." That's all bs.
In this context these are technical terms. About the only thing public health authorities have been truthful with us about is that the virus is not airborne, but spreads as an aerosol.
That distinction got confused not because there was any doubt as to the science, but because layman's terms started getting used instead. It's ok to think in layman's terms: "if the virus travelled through the air and infected someone else then it's airborne." That isn't what "airborne transmission" means though; that's if nothing stops a pathogen from staying aloft. It could circle the globe on its own. That isn't what we're facing, and if it were masks wouldn't protect anybody.
Aerosol transmission is substantially different from this. It doesn't mean virions floating are magically penned in to a 6' radius. It means they will naturally arc if airborne, being affected by gravity. Since theyre suspended in droplets, that moisture evaporates in low humidity. In heating season, the air circulation can propel it along. It's been theorized this could circulate the same virion throughout any sized room, but I haven't seen any follow-up to substantiate this idea.
In high humidity the virion(s) will travel in the same moisture without any evaporation, so they're going to land on the ground quicker and stay there.
This is an important distinction. It also contributes to flu season being in winter, not summer. The scare about this was that it's "so different and nobody has any immune response." That's all bs.