Why WHO Took Two Years to Say Covid is Airborne." It was a mistake that eroded public trust and confused people about how to avoid the virus.
The problem, it turns out, was not one of evidence but burden of proof. The WHO officials thought they should assume Covid-19 was not airborne until they saw proof that it was.
But why not assume it was airborne and put the burden of proof on other modes of transmission? Looking back on my own columns on the question of how Coved was transmitted, I quoted different experts back in March of 2020 about the way infected people emit viral particles in little bits of saliva, from larger “droplets" that fall within six feet or smaller aerosols that can linger in indoor air and travel larger distances.
Most experts favored droplets as Covid’s primary mode of spread, but others were very concerned about airborne transmission, in which the virus contaminates stagnant indoor air and spreads despite physical distancing and loose-fitting cloth masks.