With health agencies like these, what could possibly go right?
"After two years of argument and discussion, it has officially rebranded airborne viral transmission as “through the air” transmission. Airborne particles aren’t aerosol anymore; they’re “Infectious Respiratory Particles,” or IRPs. Jargony language aside, the major practical implications of this document are that, unlike previous airborne infection control guidance, their new guidance will not, in fact, control airborne infections."
Basically, we are fucked. And by we i mean the immunocompromised, chronically ill, disabled and all the others who deserve protection, plus all the people who choose to not get infected by preventable airborne diseases.
"This word salad essentially means “yeah, all these viruses can spread via airborne transmission, but since airborne precautions are annoying and expensive, you don’t really have to do them”. It provides legal and institutional cover for the medical bodies who are still refusing to acknowledge airborne spread of COVID-19 and implement proper infection control. Vague terms like “balance of risk,” “severity,” “individual and population immunity,” all leave open an incredibly dangerous window for continued spread of COVID in medical settings; especially as one man’s “mild” is, quite literally, another man’s “severe”."
"This document exists to handhold a small group of elite scientists who were incredibly, undeniably, dangerously wrong, and allow them to continue pushing their failed model of “infection control” which does not, in fact, control infections. It exists to assuage their damaged and bruised egos while assuring them they weren’t wrong to tell people to stand six feet apart and wipe down surfaces and cover their sneezes; this is, after all, the most practical and feasible form of infection control to implement even if it turns out the virus itself maybe, kind of, sort of, spreads in a completely different way."
@tully Yes, and also muddying the discourse and now even the terminology to then better be able to justify all decisions as reasonable, when in actuality they are only about maintaining the status quo and not rocking the boat in regards to capitalist interests.
When the inevitable happens, like another respiratory pandemic, mass firestorm, or fossil fuel air pollution, these companies will have had the R&D prepared for products to protect people in nursing homes, prisons, schools, and hospitals etc.