The World Health Organization (WHO) has changed how it classifies pathogens that spread through the air, such as SARS-CoV-2. The redefinition has been two years in the making and comes after criticism that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO was too slow to acknowledge that COVID was airborne. The change aims to provide clarity during pandemics, but some researchers are not convinced. Virologists now acknowledge that SARS-CoV-2 spreads mostly by airborne transmission of small particles that are inhaled and that can remain in the air for hours ' a method that was previously called 'aerosol' transmission. It also spreads by larger 'droplets' of virus-containing particles on surfaces, including hands, or ejected over short distances. However WHO didn't publicly acknowledge the importance of airborne transmission until October 2020, a decision that outgoing chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said in November 2022 said should have been made much earlier based on the available evidence....
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