pdlamb

Do try to keep up!

What we're all suffering through is the urgency to get the best available information disseminated widely, even as the virologists, epidemiologists, et al continue to work the science behind this particular virus. It's be hard work, or it'd be a whole lot easier to hire a virologist. So mid-March, it looked like a deep in the lungs respiratory disease, it made sense to compare it to various diseases that are spread by touching a contaminated surface and then rubbing your face. Three months plus later, it looks like it starts as an upper respiratory disease, indicating it's spread by aerosols (or, if you're a fuddy-duddy epidemiologist, air-borne particles. Yes, some people are stuck on these definitions without a distinction.).

But the science is still going on, and there's not yet a definitive answer that either (a) SARS-COV-2 is spread mostly by aerosols, or (b) SARS-COV-2 is spread mostly by those air-borne particles that settle onto a surface, and the next victim touches that surface and picks their nose or wipes their eyes. It's a pretty good bet that the answer is (a) AND (b), so it's smart to wear a mask AND to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.