COVID-19 spreads through the air. Here’s what you can do about it this winter – CBC

Layering protection of masks, ventilation and filtration can help fight airborne spread

Nov 06, 2021

Canadians looking for guidance on how to reduce their risk of COVID-19 indoors this winter may be feeling left out in the cold.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) now recommends opening windows to increase ventilation and using HEPA filters to clean indoor air, but it stops short of advocating for better-quality masks or saying outright that the virus is primarily airborne.

“From what I’ve seen, Canada is now an outlier in terms of not acknowledging transmission through the air,” said Linsey Marr, an expert on virus transmission at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. “I think the messaging could be more clear.”

Canada’s guidelines on masking also haven’t been updated in more than a year, with non-medical masks containing a filter still recommended — despite research showing cloth masks are less effective than surgical masks against the airborne spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 spreads through the air. Here’s what you can do about it this winter – CBC

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