The Presidential Debate Was the Kind of COVID-19 Risk Experts Have Been Warning Us About
For months, experts have hammered home this message: The riskiest place to be during the COVID-19 pandemic is a poorly-ventilated indoor environment with lots of other people, particularly if those people are unmasked. If even one person in such circumstances is infected, an innocent gathering can quickly turn into a super-spreading event.
In a worst-case scenario, Tuesday’s presidential debate could turn into just such a catastrophe, following news of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis.
“This incident here with the President is illustrative of what can happen,” says David Edwards, a biomedical engineering expert at Harvard. “This is precisely the kind of thing that we need to be concerned about, and we need to be protecting ourselves better.”
The debate’s host facility, Case Western Reserve University, did a lot of things right, thanks to guidance from the Cleveland Clinic. The candidates—Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden—stayed six feet away from one another and did not shake hands. Spectators’ chairs were spaced apart, capacity was limited to about 100 people and onlookers were screened for the coronavirus before the debate. Attendees were also asked to wear masks, though some—including First Lady Melania Trump, who has also tested positive for COVID-19—removed theirs after entering.
But even with those precautions in place, there’s still the issue of airborne transmission.
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Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 UnitedWeRise20Disaster Source Type: news
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