What disturbs me more than the fact that the transmission question hasn’t been settled yet is that public health policy still seems to assume, even after Covid, that fomite and droplet transmission are the only ways for the common cold (and other respiratory viral infections like the flu) to spread, entirely ignoring the possibility of airborne aerosol transmission.
Even without definitive evidence of how a particular strain of common cold virus is transmitted, we know that respiratory viruses can only spread through three possible routes: fomites, droplets, and aerosols. So, the missing piece of public health advice, besides washing hands (for fomite protection), is at least to wear a respirator (for droplet and aerosol protection) or isolate during a bad common cold (or flu) season. Eye protection can also considered, though transmission via the eyes is probably much less common.
Personally, I lean more toward airborne aerosol transmission, because it seems that a bunch of stuff needs to line up just right for fomite and droplet transmission to produce fast and significant spread. For instance, coughing or sneezing into someone else’s face doesn’t seem likely to be a common occurrence to me.
But would knowing the correct route of transmission make any significant difference for the public? Would most people start washing their hands more than they do today? Would they start wearing respirators or isolate at home for months? I doubt it; they’d probably only take extreme measures if the threat was perceived to be extreme, something at least as deadly and as transmissible as Covid. Still, some people (the elderly or people with compromised immune systems, for instance) might want to take some of these more extreme measures. It may also help the broader public get used to the idea of wearing respirators during a bad pandemic in order to avoid disruptions, such as lockdowns, that occurred during the Covid pandemic.
What disturbs me more than the fact that the transmission question hasn’t been settled yet is that public health policy still seems to assume, even after Covid, that fomite and droplet transmission are the only ways for the common cold (and other respiratory viral infections like the flu) to spread, entirely ignoring the possibility of airborne aerosol transmission.
Even without definitive evidence of how a particular strain of common cold virus is transmitted, we know that respiratory viruses can only spread through three possible routes: fomites, droplets, and aerosols. So, the missing piece of public health advice, besides washing hands (for fomite protection), is at least to wear a respirator (for droplet and aerosol protection) or isolate during a bad common cold (or flu) season. Eye protection can also considered, though transmission via the eyes is probably much less common.
Personally, I lean more toward airborne aerosol transmission, because it seems that a bunch of stuff needs to line up just right for fomite and droplet transmission to produce fast and significant spread. For instance, coughing or sneezing into someone else’s face doesn’t seem likely to be a common occurrence to me.
But would knowing the correct route of transmission make any significant difference for the public? Would most people start washing their hands more than they do today? Would they start wearing respirators or isolate at home for months? I doubt it; they’d probably only take extreme measures if the threat was perceived to be extreme, something at least as deadly and as transmissible as Covid. Still, some people (the elderly or people with compromised immune systems, for instance) might want to take some of these more extreme measures. It may also help the broader public get used to the idea of wearing respirators during a bad pandemic in order to avoid disruptions, such as lockdowns, that occurred during the Covid pandemic.