Read and weep how the Skagit choir superspreading outbreak, first in the US, was ignored or explained away as maybe fomites or contact—a theory that required contortions that'd make epicycles blush—despite are-you-kidding-me obvious airborne transmission. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/08/magazine/skagit-valley-chorale-covid-superspreader.html

I remember reading—essentially, jaw-on-the-floor—assertions for months on how it could be snack sharing or chair stacking despite how, even the initial reports made it pretty clear how careful choir members were, and how unlikely contact alone could explain numbers of that kind.

I say the below without excluding myself whatsoever because this has been the biggest struggle for me, too, throughout this pandemic, but I believe this has haunted our response on the science side—and social media has made it both easier and harder. https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1379841672490651648

To recap, 61 careful, pandemic-aware people showed up at a huge space—distanced, no hugs, hand-sanitizers everywhere—and 53 of them got infected in *one evening*. They even propped the door open to avoid knob touching. And we got told that it was maybe fomites or snack sharing.

There is nothing wrong with hand-washing. It's general good practice. What is wrong has been the very lengthy official and expert lack of acknowledgment and proper prioritization of the obvious and, crucially, big role of aerosols & airborne transmission. https://twitter.com/GirlDetectiveX/status/1380543170451279873

Tragic—maybe fomites did contribute to this pandemic, but by diverting our scarce resources and attention away from primary drivers of transmission. (Dr. Jimenez is among the top scientists working on aerosols and COVID, and great for practical advice). https://twitter.com/jljcolorado/status/1380344141519929345