Altered CDC Guidance On Aerosols Was Posted 'In Error': BLOG

Tim Moran
Updated ·3 min read

ACROSS AMERICA — New guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the coronavirus can spread through aerosols was posted "in error," the agency says.

The guidance had said the virus spreads most commonly when people are in close contact with each other and that aerosols are inhaled into the nose, mouth, airways and lungs. Aerosols are defined by the CDC as "a suspension of tiny particles or droplets in the air, such as dusts, mists, or fumes."

But it turns out the new guidance was not official and was just a draft of a proposed change.

“A draft version of proposed changes to these recommendations was posted in error to the agency’s official website,” the CDC said, according to a CNBC report Monday. “CDC is currently updating its recommendations regarding airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Once this process has been completed, the update language will be posted.”

On the vaccine front, things are going "very well," according to Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the leader of the Trump administration's "Operation Warp Speed" effort to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus. He said Monday on CNBC the "most susceptible" Americans could be vaccinated before the end of 2020 and all Americans by April.

But even now — more than six months into the pandemic — there remains a shortage of N95 masks for health care professionals, according to a Washington Post report.

This as states throughout the Southwest and Midwest are still reporting record numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases. The return of students to school and college campuses is partly to blame for the spikes, officials say.

Cases are rising sharply in North Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming, according to a New York Times database.

At least 213 new coronavirus deaths and 36,401 new cases were reported in the United States on Sunday, according to a New York Times database. Over the past week, there have been an average of 41,101 cases per day, an increase of 1 percent from the average two weeks earlier.

A separate New York Times survey shows at least 88,000 cases and at least 60 deaths at more than 1,190 American colleges and universities since the pandemic began. Most of those deaths were reported in the spring and involved college employees, not students.

As of Monday, 28 states and Puerto Rico remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

More than 6.83 million people in the United States had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Monday evening, and more than 199,700 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on current coronavirus news via The New York Times or Washington Post.

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This article originally appeared on the Across America Patch