#16.686
Although reduced testing and reporting may be obscuring a surge, we appear to be in a bit of a COVID lull here in the United States. But over the weekend one of the big stories involves the high rate of COVID transmission at an A-List Washington D.C. function last week (see NBC News 72 people at high-profile D.C. dinner test positive for Covid).
While all attendees at this function were required to show proof of vaccination, few apparently bothered to wear face masks as they mingled with hundreds of guests for several hours in this indoor venue.
Why anyone is surprised at this outcome, is beyond me.
Everything we know about Omicron, and are learning about BA.2 (and its siblings), tells us that the vaccine - while highly effective in preventing severe disease and death - doesn't provide a lot of protection against infection. Breakthrough infections are common (see SSI Preprint: mRNA Booster Effectiveness against Omicron Variant).
We also know that Omicron is far more transmissible than Delta, which was more transmissible than Alpha and earlier variants. In Preprint: SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC Transmission in Danish Households, the authors reported:Our results show that the Omicron VOC is generally 2.7-3.7 times more infectious than the Delta VOC among vaccinated individuals (Table 3).
Yet the CDC Guidance for what constitutes a `close contact' hasn't changed since October of 2020 (see CDC Revises Definition Of `Close Contact' With A COVID Case). This last revision came before the first Alpha variant wave, and at a time when many still regarded COVID as a `non-airborne' virus; spread primarily by large droplets.
The CDC's current definition of a `Close Contact' reads:
Close Contact through proximity and duration of exposure: Someone who was less than 6 feet away from an infected person (laboratory-confirmed or a clinical diagnosis) for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (for example, three individual 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes). An infected person can spread SARS-CoV-2 starting 2 days before they have any symptoms (or, for asymptomatic people, 2 days before the positive specimen collection date).
The evidence for aerosol or `airborne' spread of COVID has grown steadily over the past 18 months, to the point where Omicron has been shown capable of transmitting across hotel corridors in quarantine facilities, without face-to-face contact (see EID Journal: Probable Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Quarantine Hotel, Hong Kong).
The notion that maintaining > 6 feet of distance - or an exposure of less than 15 minutes (in a 24 hour period) - is enough to prevent infection is incredibly naive in this age of highly transmissible Omicron.
While the public is understandably tired of pandemic restrictions, and politicians are eager to show that `things are returning to normal' by eschewing face masks and partying like its 2019, the virus hasn't gone away.
Pretending like it has only provides SARS-CoV-2 with more opportunities to spread, and evolve.
Which is why I'm still wearing a face mask in public indoor spaces, and don't expect that to change anytime soon.
