The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made a change to its website Friday, Sept. 18 , removing language saying that airborne transmission of COVID-19 was “possible” putting into question the previous guiding advice that COVID-19 is primarily spread by droplets. According to the CDC, the new language had not been technically reviewed and was removed.
If COVID-19 were to be widely spread by aerosol (airborne transmission), then those particles stay in the air for a longer period of time making it more infectious than previously thought. The current thinking from the CDC was, and still is, that coronavirus is spread primarily in droplet form, airborne for only a few seconds after someone sneezes or coughs.
In a Sept. 22 WSOC story, Dr. Ryan Shelton talked to reporter Damany Lewis, to cut confusion and explain what this means.