San Diego scientists among the groups are calling on the CDC to strengthen the COVID-19 guide

Credit: Associated Press

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

Some prominent researchers, including two from San Diego, are asking federal officials to do a better job explaining how COVID-19 is spreading.

UC San Diego atmospheric chemist Kim Prather and infectious disease specialist Robert Schooley are calling on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to change its guidelines for safety and the COVID-19 virus. .

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

“Inside, sprays are like being in the room with a smoker,” Prather said. “There is no other way to describe it. Suren fora. They occur simply by speaking. Not for coughing or sneezing. They just come out of people when they talk. “

RELATED: San Diego International Airport workers requesting the COVID-19 vaccine

According to Prather, small aerosols can fill the air in a poorly ventilated room, allowing the disease to be transmitted even after an infected person leaves the space.

Prather joined researchers across the country calling on President Biden, the CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci to take immediate action to address the risk of inhalation transmission.

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

Related San Diego water managers are pushing for state aid

Concerned scientists say the emergence of even more transmissible virus variants should make quick action a priority.

“Honestly, I think that’s the most important point of the letter, that once we recognize that it’s in the air, that’s the main way it gets to us,” Prather said. “Then we can implement all the measures we need to do to put the right infrastructure. We can tell people how to make sure their air is clean. ”

The letter included four specific recommendations:

• The CDC should make it clear to the public that exposure to inhalation by small aerosols is a major form of virus spread and should update its policy and guidelines for addressing the inhalation of small particles in public and work environments, and should develop guidelines for better quality facial coverage.

• CDC and OSHA must issue recommendations and requirements for the use of NIOSH-approved respirators, such as N95 facial filter respirators, for all health care workers and other high-risk workers, including meat workers. and birds, corrections, and traffic operations. One year after this pandemic, we need to provide adequate respiratory protection to all workers who need it.

• OSHA must issue a workplace emergency standard to COVID-19 that requires inhalation risk assessment, adoption of controls that include improved ventilation, physical distancing, and effective respiratory protection for workers in workplaces. high-risk work and quality barrier coatings and masks for other workers exposed to the virus at work.

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

Proper masks, better ventilation, and indoor HEPA filters can help reduce the risk inside.

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

RELATED: COVID-19 Contract for San Diego Zoo Gorillas; First known transmission in great apes

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

The American Industrial Hygiene Association is among several organizations 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, Dean Michael and Lori Milken and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University;

• Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine & Bellevue Hospital Center;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Robert T. Schooley, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and World Public Health and co-director, Center for Phage Applications and Innovative Therapies, University of California, San Diego;

• Peg Seminario, EM, Director of Health and Safety (Retired), AFL-CIO

To view PDF documents, download Acrobat Reader.