by Brianna Crandall — April 9, 2021 — The ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force has just released an updated, unequivocal statement on the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in buildings.
Global building technology society ASHRAE released the following statement:
Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is significant and should be controlled. Changes to building operations, including the operation of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems, can reduce airborne exposures.
It replaces the April 2020 statement that said airborne transmission was “sufficiently likely” that airborne precautions should be taken. At that time both, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Diseases Control (CDC), contended that transmission of SARS-CoV2 was by droplet and fomite modes, not airborne. Subsequently, both have acknowledged the risk of airborne transmission indoors.
