CDC Removes Guidance on Airborne COVID-19 Transmission

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have caused confusion for taking down an update on how COVID-19 is spread, saying the change was a mistake.

CDC officials say that the virus spreads primarily through small airborne droplets, such as those produced through coughs or sneezes. But in interviews, officials have seemed to gather more evidence that the virus can in some cases spread with smaller droplets, known as aerosolized particles or droplets, that spread over a wider area.

The CDC posted their recent knowledge on Friday about the aerosolized particles, further explaining that the virus can remain in the air and move around further than the six feet that they have suggested from the beginning of the pandemic. But today, federal health officials have said the posting of this information was a mistake and was released without being fully edited.

Dr. Howard Koh, a Harvard University public health professor who was a high-ranked official in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama Administration, stated that “the consistent inconsistency in this administration’s guidance on COVID-19 has severely compromised the nation’s trust in our public health agencies.