, Columnist
The Airborne Covid Threat Is Confirmed. What to Do About It?
It’s not too late for a simple, effective public health message.
Maybe this was dumb.
Photographer: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
You know something is wrong with the public health messaging in the U.S. when a tow truck driver is giving out better information on Covid-19 transmission than the WHO or CDC. His words of wisdom to me, when he came to tow my car back to the dealer earlier this spring, was that if you’re indoors with people and one of them is infected, you can still get infected even if everyone is wearing a mask. And if you’re outdoors and someone is infected, you’re probably not going to get it.
He was speaking from direct experience, having done essential work through the worst of the pandemic. He said he’d seen co-workers get sick and that his boss had died.