Misc Videos are collected on the sister site

SkippySkep - Reddit Post

I'd be careful using the term droplets without a qualifier because covid aerosols are also respiratory droplets. The difference is the size of the droplets. Larger droplets tend to drop to the ground after traveling a few feet, but light, smaller droplets can linger in the air for hours. But they are both droplets.

Many lives were lost early in the pandemic because officials refused to acknowledge that COVID was spread by lingering aerosols that float in the air and can spread further than 6 ft, much much further. And many lives are still being lost because people refuse to treat COVID aerosols seriously. This fundamental error that killed people is sometimes referred to as "droplet dogma", and it's so pervasive that years later that many people still have this same misunderstanding. It's important to understand that COVID is primarily airborne, spread by aerosols that linger in the air for a long time, not by heavy ballistic droplets, though it can spread that way as well.

Airborne transmission of respiratory viruses
CHIA C. WANG, KIMBERLY A. PRATHER, JOSUÉ SZNITMAN, JOSE L. JIMENEZ

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted controversies and unknowns about how respiratory pathogens spread between hosts. Traditionally, it was thought that respiratory pathogens spread between people through large droplets produced in coughs and through contact with contaminated surfaces (fomites). However, several respiratory pathogens are known to spread through small respiratory aerosols, which can float and travel in air flows, infecting people who inhale them at short and long distances from the infected person

Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Shedding in Exhaled Breath Aerosols

Jianyu Lai, Kristen K. Coleman, S.-H. Sheldon Tai, Jennifer German, Filbert Hong, Barbara Albert, Yi Esparza, Aditya K. Srikakulapu, Maria Schanz, Isabel Sierra Maldonado, Molly Oertel, Naja Fadul, T. Louie Gold, Stuart Weston, Kristin Mullins, Kathleen M. McPhaul, Matthew Frieman, Donald K. Milton

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.07.27.22278121

In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that infected persons shed infectious SARS-CoV-2 aerosols even when fully vaccinated and boosted. Evolutionary selection appears to have favoured SARS-CoV-2 variants associated with higher viral aerosol shedding. Comparison with shedding rates for influenza suggests that continued evolution of still higher aerosol shedding rates may be possible. The combination of immune evasive properties and high viral aerosol shedding were likely responsible for Omicron’s rapid spread and replacement of the Delta variant, even as infection- and vaccine-acquired immunity increased. Thus, non-pharmaceutical interventions, especially indoor air hygiene (e.g., ventilation, filtration, and air disinfection with germicidal UV) and targeted masking and respirators, are still needed to mitigate COVID-19 transmission in vaccinated communities to prevent post-acute COVID-19 sequalae58 and to protect vulnerable populations.

Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks

Nancy H. L. Leung, Daniel K. W. Chu, Eunice Y. C. Shiu, Kwok-Hung Chan, James J. McDevitt, Benien J. P. Hau, Hui-Ling Yen, Yuguo Li, Dennis K. M. Ip, J. S. Malik Peiris, Wing-Hong Seto, Gabriel M. Leung, Donald K. Milton & Benjamin J. Cowling

Abstract
We identified seasonal human coronaviruses, influenza viruses and rhinoviruses in exhaled breath and coughs of children and adults with acute respiratory illness. Surgical face masks significantly reduced detection of influenza virus RNA in respiratory droplets and coronavirus RNA in aerosols, with a trend toward reduced detection of coronavirus RNA in respiratory droplets. Our results indicate that surgical face masks could prevent transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals.

The Efficacy of Facemasks in the Prevention of COVID-19: A Systematic Review

Bedir Alihsan, Arrianna Mohammed, Yash Bisen, Janice Lester, Christian Nouryan, Joseph Cervia

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.07.28.22278153

- overall, masks cut infection risk 7-fold
- the probability of getting #COVID19 for mask wearers was 7% versus 52% for non-mask wearers.

Facemasks have become a symbol of disease prevention in the context of COVID-19; yet, there still exists a paucity of collected scientific evidence surrounding their epidemiological efficacy in the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. This systematic review sought to analyze the efficacy of facemasks, regardless of type, on the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in both healthcare and community settings.

The initial review yielded 1732 studies, which were reviewed by three study team members. Sixty-one full text studies were found to meet entry criteria, and 13 studies yielded data that was used in the final analysis.

In all, 243 subjects were infected with COVID-19, of whom 97 had been wearing masks and 146 had not. The probability of getting COVID-19 for mask wearers was 7% (97/1463, p=0.002), for non-mask wearers, probability was 52% (158/303, p=0.94). The Relative Risk of getting COVID-19 for mask wearers was 0.13 (95% CI: 0.10-0.16).

Based on these results, we determined that across healthcare and community settings, those who wore masks were less likely to contact COVID-19. Future investigations are warranted as more information becomes available.

This defiantly goes under the "etc" part of the title. CDC changes verbage on website abut mpox being airborne, and tries to discredit a science writer who calls them out on it. original tweet https://twitter.com/LazarusLong13/status/1556198024262533121?s=20&t=ad8PTsORbbkG4dmNt7pILw and threadreader https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1556198024262533121.html

Common mis-information is to say masks trap CO2 and use a flawed study to back it up. Here is a debunking (including the author of one study was fired from his university) https://twitter.com/LazarusLong13/status/1565874812786208768?s=20&t=ykuXr8c4kX6rRpdos6SR6A

https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/226/2/199/6582941?login=false

Fit-Tested N95 Masks Combined With Portable High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filtration Can Protect Against High Aerosolized Viral Loads Over Prolonged Periods at Close Range

Conclusions

N95 masks that have passed a quantitative fit-test combined with HEPA filtration protects against high virus aerosol loads at close range and for prolonged periods of time.

https://twitter.com/subzerocovid/status/1582379345762742272?s=20&t=XRpEs1McdfseY4A0BYQYBA
"Here is a short list of publications I've compiled from TOP medical and scientific journals, all FREE to the public. They *ALL* provide evidence that masking controls the spread of COVID19."

All non-Covid19 disease timeline

(Link to timeline) Many diseases other than Covid-19 have been known to be airborne (transmitted in aerosols) over the years. Politicians and medical professionals should NOT have called SARS‑CoV‑2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) a droplet or fomite transmitted disease at the outset. This timeline also broken out into Monkey Pox, Measles, Epstein Barr, Influenza, Tuberculosis, Polio, Staphylococcus, Strep A.

See also, a searchable list version of this page that is better for visually impaired people. See also a companion pre-1900 ‘many diseases are airborne’ timeline for even older evidence that airborne transmission was real for diseases.