>>12090681So no evidence of actual spread through aerosols, just that it may be possible under some circumstances. Medical "masks" would not prevent aerosol spread, as mentioned in the next paragraph, only a respirator would be protective. In the next paragraph, droplet and fomite transmission is more likely.
>Recent clinical reports of health workers exposed to COVID-19 index cases, not in the presence of aerosol-generating procedures,found no nosocomial transmission when contact and droplet precautions were appropriately used, including the wearing of medical
masks as a component of the personal protective equipment (PPE). (38, 39) These observations suggest that aerosol transmission
did not occur in this context. Further studies are needed to determine whether it is possible to detect viable SARS-CoV-2 in air
samples from settings where no procedures that generate aerosols are performed and what role aerosols might play in transmission.
>Outside of medical facilities, some outbreak reports related to indoor crowded spaces (40) have suggested the possibility of aerosoltransmission, combined with droplet transmission, for example, during choir practice (7), in restaurants (41) or in fitness classes.(42)
In these events, short-range aerosol transmission, particularly in specific indoor locations, such as crowded and inadequately
ventilated spaces over a prolonged period of time with infected persons cannot be ruled out. However, the detailed investigations of
these clusters suggest that droplet and fomite transmission could also explain human-to-human transmission within these clusters.
Further, the close contact environments of these clusters may have facilitated transmission from a small number of cases to many
other people (e.g., superspreading event), especially if hand hygiene was not performed and masks were not used when physical
distancing was not maintained.(43)
