Read on Twitter
Covid is airborne, but the continuing insistence in pushing fomites as the major source of infections makes âthe idea of fomites as the main infection routeâ a large contributor to infections. In a certain twisted way, fomites are the problem.
This insistence in fomites as a mode of transmission is especially problematic with the more infectious variants. For example: Indoor contact with cases for any amount of time as long as wearing a mask is generally classified as low risk in this province.
This means that potentially infected individuals are not considered high risk, and in many situations, small clusters of cases (the majority of transmission events) may not be classified as outbreaks, for not meeting epidemiological link criteria.
When epidemiologically linked clusters are approached as independent introductions (coinciding in time, but missing the âhigh risk contactâ criteria), it gives a false sense of security to the population. It is not helpful to individuals, and it is a serious public health issue.
Additionally, infection prevention strategies are less effective when they only address one mode of transmission. No amount of hand washing and surface disinfection will reduce the proportion of infections acquired through air.
Similarly, when indoors for prolonged periods with possibly infected individuals, distancing will not mitigate the increased risk of infections due to poor ventilation. Same goes for low quality masking or mask removal in such environments.
Questioning the airborne nature of this virus is hindering progress towards control of this pandemic. Itâs the reason schools are unsafe, itâs the reason so many cases miss epi links and the reason the true dynamic of this pandemic is so poorly documented.
It confuses the population, it muddles public health response, and it is undermining public confidence in public health. But it makes the daily theatrical approach to this pandemic so much cheaper... 
See this, same issue, major outbreak as a consequence: https://twitter.com/lisa_iannattone/status/1380308922746208259
And this example of misguided investment strategy, focusing on the least impactful piece of the puzzle: https://twitter.com/davidelfstrom/status/1379821234217684993
Btw: tomorrow this will be debated (I wish it did not need to be...) - it should be good. https://twitter.com/caruzycki/status/1380181672855920643
I could retweet @DavidElfstrom all day long. But here is the last one for today. He is really worth following. https://twitter.com/davidelfstrom/status/1379814589395795975
And this too, fits here: https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1380226453573406730
