Man has been always boastful about his position at the top of the evolutionary ladder. But, time and again he had to face reality in his fight against the invi(n)sible enemies of the microbial kingdom. This time, it is a fight with a tiny yet "fast and furious" virus, SARS-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19.
As evidence piles up that SARS-CoV-2 is airborne, there arises a million-dollar question, "Are we on the right track in avoiding contact with the virus?" A Lancet article published on April 15 elaborates the scientific reasons to believe in airborne transmission of SARS-CoV 2.
If so, the risk of transmission is much higher. There are several reasons for this.
Firstly, if a pathogen is airborne, then anyone could be infected if he or she inhales the aerosols produced when an infected person exhales, speaks, shouts, sings, sneezes or coughs in the vicinity. As such, it is always advisable to keep the face mask on while talking. For that matter, the best option is to continue to do all meetings online.
Secondly, the chances of air-borne transmission are higher indoors than outdoors. Wearing a face mask can protect a person. Some people are known to use ordinary cloth masks, which are invariably a hazard. They are as bad as not wearing any face mask. We need to ensure proper use of three- or four-ply or N95 face masks.
The risk of transmission while eating in a restaurant even with physical distancing cannot be neglected. The solutions can be (a) avoid dining-in, especially indoor dining (open-air restaurants at least have ventilation which might help to reduce viral load if any), and (b) to take away food. As the pandemic is not over yet. It is a strict no-no for indoor movie houses and beauty/hair salons.
Outdoor shopping needs to be done only for essentials. Even better, if it can be done online too. Simple precautionary steps can prevent infections. For example, if a person has to use a cab, he can ask the driver to keep the windows down for sometime to get the car ventilated.
Thirdly, given the emergence of new potent variants of the virus, the question that lies before us is: Have we reached the strategic mindset to treat each person we meet daily as a "suspected potential carrier" of the virus and adopt the strict standard operating procedures (SOP) of wearing face masks and practising physical distancing always?
On the contrary, it is quite natural for most of us to have a lax attitude while interacting with our friends and colleagues. We also tend to relax our SOP in our family circles.
It has to be reminded that organisational and community outbreaks happen because of such a tendency to be lax. Until we bring the majority of our population under the protective cover of vaccines, it is not advisable to let our guard down.
Fourthly, people have understood the importance of vaccination. This is evident from the overwhelming response when the government opened the "opt-in" exercise for the AstraZeneca vaccine. All the 268,000 vaccination slots were taken within a few hours.
But, there is lot of apprehension among a few people because of negative propaganda from anti-vaxxers. One argument is that there are people who get infected even after vaccination. It has to be appreciated that the number of people who get infected after vaccination is minimal.
Vaccination is just a precautionary step like wearing a helmet or seat belt to prevent an adversity while driving. It does not prevent accidents but invariably protects life. Notwithstanding, there are global reports to support that infection post-vaccination would be mild or negligible.
Given that SARS-CoV-2 transmission can be airborne, we need to review our SOP to ensure more diligent ways of prevention. It is worth reiterating the World Health Organisation slogan that "We are all safe only if everyone is safe".
The writer is a Senior Associate Professor in Microbiology at AIMST University