Healthcare

CDC Updates Coronavirus Guidance Again, Warns About Transmission From More Than Six Feet

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its coronavirus guidance Monday to warn about the potential for virus spread from beyond six feet.

The new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance also says that the virus can “linger in the air” for hours. The revision comes weeks after the agency retracted a similar update to its coronavirus guidance.

“Some infections can be spread by exposure to virus in small droplets and particles that can linger in the air for minutes to hours,” the updated guidance said.

It continued: “There is evidence that under certain conditions, people with COVID-19 seem to have infected others who were more than 6 feet away.”

The guidance added that all available data suggest that coronavirus spreads through close contact more often than through air borne transmission.

“Available data indicate that it is much more common for the virus that causes COVID-19 to spread through close contact with a person who has COVID-19 than through airborne transmission,” the guidance said.

The CDC made similar updates to its virus guidelines on Sept. 21 before reversing course the same day. The CDC said the revision was made in error.

“Internal CDC program’s concerns regarding COVID-19 transmission led to revision of the ‘How COVID-19 Spreads’ web page without appropriate in-house technical review,” the CDC told The Daily Caller in a statement. “We are reviewing our process and tightening criteria for review of all guidance and updates before they are posted to the CDC website.”

President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in March as coronavirus spread rapidly around the world.