COVID is AIRBORNE
Canadian Experts Share Their Recommendations
The SARS-CoV2 virus is in the air — at close range and further away.
This clear science can no longer be denied.
Occupational health specialists and others from Canada and around the world have delivered this message since the pandemic began.
AS PUBLISHED...
...in SCIentific American
NEW! ANALYSIS: We need to learn from COVID-19 – before it's too late
PUBLISHED: Mar 13, 2025
COVID and the 1918 flu pandemic gave us playbooks on how to prepare for the next pandemic. But we aren’t using it.
The world is divided by war. Influenza outbreaks smolder in livestock herds and bird flocks for years. The public is deeply skeptical of the value of medical interventions. Public health agencies offer misleading advice and are focused only on keeping the public calm. There is a shortage of qualified medical professionals, with no end in sight.
WRITTEN BY:
Lyne Filiatrault
Arijit Chakravarty
T. Ryan Gregory
EDITED BY: Madhusree Mukerejee
...in SURREY NOW-LEADER
NEW! ANALYSIS: We need to learn from COVID-19 – before it's too late
PUBLISHED: Mar 12, 2025 12:00 PM
Five years in to the ongoing pandemic, we need to know how to best face the next one.
Post-incident debriefs are common practice in emergency medicine, trauma, and disaster medicine. They ensure that the team celebrates what went well, reviews what could have been done better, and what processes need improvements so that the team performs better when the next patient in cardiac arrest or with a gunshot wound rolls in. After a particularly tragic situation that hits too close to home, like a child’s death, a team also debriefs to both process the trauma and provide emotional support.
WRITTEN BY:
Lyne Filiatrault
Arijit Chakravarty
T. Ryan Gregory
...by healthydebate.ca
NEW! How denial of airborne COVID transmission broke the world
PUBLISHED: Mar 10, 2025
As we mark five years since the emergence of SARS-COV-2, the most grievous error of the global pandemic response has become very clear.
It’s not “lockdowns,” as many right-leaning folks might suggest. Nor is it the inflation-stoking government support measures and central bank policies that many have argued were highly excessive. It’s not even the failure to address online health misinformation, as centrists and leftists might claim. It’s even more basic and essential than that.
WRITTEN BY:
Blake Murdoch
...in the New WESTminster record
Gambling with bird flu is asking for trouble — and another pandemic
The warnings are increasing. Infectious disease researchers, virologists, veterinarians, and occupational health specialists around the world are sounding alarms.
The stories of wild birds, mammals, poultry, cattle, and other farm animals with "bird flu" (H5N1) keep coming. The real infection numbers are greater than official reports, but no one knows by how much. Meanwhile, decision-makers and other authorities seem intent on repeating the same mistakes made with COVID-19 and SARS.
Now, it has spread to people.
WRITTEN BY:
Lyne Filiatrault, MDCM, FRCP EM (retired)
Canadian Aerosol Transmission Coalition member
Heather Hanwell, PhD MPH MSc
Chair and Treasurer, Ontario School Safety
Dorothy Wigmore, MSc
Occupational hygienist
Canadian Aerosol Transmission Coalition
Mark Ungrin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute
University of Calgary
Co-chair, Legal Committee, Canadian COVID Society
...in the Journal of Infection and Public Health
Science tells us that portable air filters reduce infection risk. It's time for public health authorities to make this clear
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian public health advisors and politicians have shared mixed messages about the utility of portable air filters (PAFs) for mitigating the transmission of airborne infectious diseases. Some public health advisors and decision-makers have also suggested that PAFs are cumbersome or require expert advice. We take this opportunity to review evidence and address myths about PAFs. In short, PAFs are an important tool to help reduce the risk of transmission of airborne infectious diseases. Moreover, PAFs are relatively simple to use, and there is a variety of high-quality guidance available for their deployment. We share this science here with the expectation that, going forward, public health authorities will position PAFs appropriately in infection prevention and control plans for both health care and community settings.
WRITTEN BY:
Tianyuan Li, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo,
Amy Katz,
MAP, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto | Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Jo-Ann Osei-Twum, MSc
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Paul Bozek, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Nav Persaud, MAP, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto
Patricia O'Campo, MAP, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto | Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Jeffrey A. Siegel, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto |
Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering
LLana James, MSc
Canada-US Coalition to End Race Correction and Health Systems Transformation, AI, Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences Fellow, Queen’s University
Victor Leung,
Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia | Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia | Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, St Paul's Hospital, Providence Health Care
...FROM THECONVERSATION.com NEWSLETTER
We can, and must, do more to protect students in higher education from the risks of post-COVID condition
Canada’s post secondary institutions have a responsibility to protect students and others on campus from the risks of post-COVID condition as a matter of campus safety.
Canada’s Chief Science Advisor, Mona Nemer, recently released the report, Dealing with the Fallout: Post-COVID Condition and its Continued Impacts on Individuals and Society.
Post-COVID condition (PCC), also known as “long COVID,” refers to the poorly understood and often serious health damage left by the SARS-CoV-2 virus after the acute illness appears to have passed.
WRITTEN BY:
George Munro Chair in Literature and Rhetoric, Dalhousie University
Professor Emeritus, Medicine, Queen's University, Ontario
Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Biology & Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary
PhD Candidate, Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
NEW & NOTEABLE
MASKS & RESPIRATORS
MEETING AN URGENT NEED
A new respirator performance standard for Canada
Canadians now have their own respirator certification processes, writes the Coalition’s favourite respirator guy,
Simon Smith.
(Thanks to the American Industrial Hygiene Association for permission to share this, from The Synergist, November, 2023.)
A response to the Review of the Federal Approach to Pandemic Science Advice and Research Coordination
The Coalition’s submission – with sign-ons by a range of specialists – to Health Canada’s review of the federal approach to pandemic science and research. We highlighted aerosol and airborne transmission and asked for an extended consultation and to be included in conversations.
WHY ARE MULTI-DISCIPLINARY VOICES ESSENTIAL FOR EFFECTIVE PROTECTION IN A COMPLEX PANDEMIC?
The Coalition will be making a presentation at the
2024 Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) Conference
...and others we know
(Dr. Raymond Tellier, public health officials Dr. Tom Piggott and
Dr. Mustafa Hirji, and University of Waterloo ventilation engineer, Dr. Amy Li) are on an important panel:
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
Towards a new understanding of aerosols and respiratory disease transmission
NEED FOR REVISIONS TO THE IPC GUIDANCE TO PROTECT HEALTHCARE WORKERS FROM
COVID-19
The British Medical Association wrote this letter to the country’s National Health Service in December, 2023. The virus is airborne, they say; healthcare workers need respirators and ventilation, not guidance that ignores health and safety law.
LONG COVID:
GOING UPSTREAM
Coalition and PoPBC member Dr. Lyne Filiatrault and colleague Dr. Anne Bhéreur discuss how to prevent COVID-19 infection/reinfection to avoid long-term effects.
November 2023
Long-term outcomes following hospital admission for COVID-19 versus seasonal influenza: a cohort study
COVID-19 is worse than the flu, leading to more disability, “higher long-term risks of death and adverse health outcomes in nearly every organ system” (except respiratory - where flu takes a toll). For more about the December 14, 2023 study, see this interview.ter to the editor at the Toronto Star points out it takes more than vaccines to avoid infection.
CANADIAN EXPERIENCES WITH LONG-TERM SYMPTOMS FOLLOWING COVID-19
In December 2023, Statistics Canada said re-infections increase the odds of Long COVID. 3.5 million Canadian adults reported these long-term symptoms. Almost half have no improvements. Black Canadians are more likely to have multiple infections.
PAST EVENT RESOURCES
RAISING OUR VOICES ABOUT COVID IN CANADA
Marking the Fourth Anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO) Declaring the COVID-19 a Pandemic
Presenters:
Dr. Tara Moriarity
Dr. Gosia Gasperowicz
Alec Farquhar
Dr. Simon Smith
Dr. Joe Vipond
THE T-CELLS ARE NOT ALRIGHT
STUDIES / Reports
Supported by the Coalition
*See also a PDF version of the long Twitter thread by Jose-Luis Jimenez, the lead author on the above article,
DOCUMENTS
The following documents were developed by Coalition members in tandem with the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE)
Note: You must register on the OSPE site in order to view the document
CALLS TO ACTION
Practical Solutions Based on Public Health Fundamentals for Homes and Workplaces
Infographics prepared by Aerosol Transmission Coalition and supported by: Canadian Registration Board for Occupational Hygienists. (CRBOH), COVID-STOP, Masks4Canada, Occupational Hygiene Association of Ontario (OHAO), Protect our Province (Alberta, B.C., Québec), Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB), World Health Network (WHN), Zero COVID Canada.
LETTERS
Making Recommendations to Government Leaders and Public Health Officials
NEW!
Preventing COVID
in HCWs: Study Claims Medical Masks Equivalent to N95 FFRs?
January 15, 2023
Roy T. McKay, PhD.
University of Cinncinati
Occupational Pulmonary Services
Read
NEW!
Concerns About the Study by Loeb et al
Submitted to Annals of Internal Medicine*
December 2022
We All Have the Right to Clean, Respirable Air – Both Inside and Out
March 3, 2022
PRESS RELEASES
Translating Science Into Action Through Expert Recommendations
Made by Volunteer Members of the Coalition
PRESENTATIONS
In THE MEDIA
Articles and Videos Supported by the Coalition
affiliated organizations
Canadian Registration Board of Occupational Hygienists
Masks4Canada
World Health Network
Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB)
Zero COVID Canada
Occupational Hygiene Association of Ontario (OHAO)
COVID-STOP
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We also recommend following our key supporters:
HVAC Engineer. P.Eng.
MD
DIRECTORY of CANADIAN COVID-19 PREVENTION GROUPS
Compiled in March 2024, this directory is from the “Snapshots from the grassroots” portion of the Coalition’s March 11th webinar, The 4th Anniversary: Raising our voices about COVID in Canada.
Use the contact form below to let us know if we've missed anyone or anything.
Groups come and go, since many involved are volunteers. Their use of social media may change.
Even if they aren’t very active today, their materials still may be useful, so they’ve been included.
For others organizations around the world visit: