Virus transmitted as dust: CDC finally catching on

Vincent J. Curtis

5 Oct 20

 https://www.foxnews.com/health/cdc-coronavirus-guidance-airborne-transmission#

This just released by the CDC: the virus can be transmitted as an airborne dust.

Readers will recall my piece of August 1, 2020, headlined "The futility of masking" in which I declare that the virus must be transmitted primarily as a dust, and that mandated masks were useless against dust.  Unless the mask in question was an N-95 respirator-mask or stronger, like a rubberized canister style respirator-mask, masking was practically useless.  Several subsequent articles predicated criticisms of masking on the grounds that they were ineffective against airborne dust, but could give people a false sense of security.

That virus had to be transmitted as a dust wasn't hard to figure out.  The old theory was that the virus was transmitted in the droplets of mist by a person sneezing or coughing.  But it was obvious that not enough people were sneezing on each other to account for all the infections.

Now, a little point from physical chemistry.  The vapor pressure over a sharply curved surface is much higher than over a flat surface, part of the phenomenon of surface tension.  The high vapor pressure means that the liquid will evaporate much quicker, provided the atmosphere is not saturated with water vapor.  These facts explains why mists over boiling water and from human breath in cold temperatures disappear so quickly.

Well, what happens to a virus in a tiny droplet of sneeze?  The water quickly evaporates, and the poor virus is left there, naked and alone, suspended in the air.  The virus doesn't die immediately, it may take several hours to die, and so can infect a person if it gets inside them.  Meanwhile, the virus can drift in the air, or settle onto a surface, only to be swept up into the air again by air currents.  The settling of active virus is the reason why we're supposed to clean surfaces.

Anyhow, physical chemistry is not taught in biochem, or to medical students, obviously.  Slowly, the medical community found by their own methods that the virus had to be transmissible as a dry dust.

Now, let's see if they can put two and two together and realize that the masking mandate is practically useless, if not worse than useless.  Their reputations may be too heavily invested to change course on masking, however.  They may also understand that there aren't enough N-95 masks to go around and continue to advise wearing useless masks, like some kind of comfort toy, or a talisman.

Let's see what develops.

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