“COVID-19 is Airborne!” was the name of a recent global forum hosted by environmental justice group, Windsor on Watch. It featured epidemiologist, Internist and University of Toronto professor of epidemiology, Dr. David Fisman alongside David Elfstrom, an independent energy engineer.
“Despite the scientific evidence that COVID-19 is airborne, public health messages and practices are operating on the basis of outdated science,” says Jane McArthur, Toxics Campaign Director at the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and moderator of the event. “It’s time to say it and act on it; COVID-19 is airborne.”
During the talk, Dr. Fisman referenced a Twitter thread made by Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam. The thread says aerosols from the respiratory track can “remain suspended in the air” causing those in close contact with an infected person to inhale more aerosols. Dr. Fisman says that Tam danced around the word airborne. “She didn’t use the word airborne because this word has very specific regulatory meaning. Once it’s airborne, worker protections kick in.”
1/4 Since the outset of the pandemic, we’ve learned a lot about the #SARSCoV2 virus that causes #COVID19. Importantly, we’ve learned how the virus can linger in fine aerosols and remain suspended in the air we breathe. https://t.co/V5p7kz3ioX
— Canada's CPHO (@CPHO_Canada) November 12, 2021
“I think what we’re seeing is public health bumping headlong into politics and it’s really holding us back.”
Dr. Fisman says he never regarded himself as much of an expert on aerosol transmissions of COVID. “I’m a bit of a late comer to the party. But I came to realize a lot of what I’ve been taught as an infectious disease fellow about how communicable diseases spread was actually wrong and frankly non-sensical.”
Reminiscing on the times when smoking was allowed on Via trains, Dr. Fisman reflected on the shoulder high plexiglass intended to separate smoking and non-smoking areas. “It was supposed to keep the smoke in one half of the train car and it just didn’t work at all,” chuckled Dr. Fisman. “It’s like smoke and smoke is an aerosol. So, this virus spreads like smoke. Sometimes people make more smoke and sometimes they make less.” He also noted that you can always open a window to make a room less smoky.
“I had the experience of giving a talk to the chief medical officers of health from the different Canadian provinces in September of 2020. And what astonished me was the amount of pushback. There were clearly folks who were very invested in this status quo medical model that’s based on nothing at all and I’m really sorry to tell you, but this continues to this day.”
With the Omicron variant on the horizon, Dr. Fisman says there is so much we don’t know yet. “If you look at this virus, and you look at the South African epidemic and the genetics of this virus, you would expect that we should at least be dealing with it with caution.” Dr. Fisman says that it’s going to get harder if this is a vaccine evading variant. “If this is the case, we’re gonna have to use different tools and a lot of those tools relate to the fact that COVID is airborne.”
One of these tools are ventilation systems.
David Elfstrom says having proper ventilation in indoor spaces is one of the key ways to stay safe. “It doesn’t mean just blowing air around. The engineering definition of ventilation is the minimum amount of outdoor air required to control indoor contaminate levels.”
Elfstrom says there are a few ways you can make sure your structure is properly ventilated. You can use a CO2 meter, and while they are pricey Elfstrom says he’s beginning to see moves made to have these meters available in more public spaces.
He also says you should check when your building was constructed. Some buildings built before 1990 that have fewer than three storeys, may be lacking ventilation completely. “We see this in lots of retirement homes built in the 1980s. Any building that is small enough to fit Part 9 of the building code doesn’t have to have ventilation whatsoever.”
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