Reducing the aerosol transmission risk

Jayson Cook explains how you can reduce the Covid-19 aerosol transmission risk and cut fallow time.

As new data that informs infection control measures around coronavirus emerges, industry leaders are looking for safe ways to decrease fallow time after high risk aerosol generating procedures (AGPs).

Although our knowledge of the infectivity of aerosols generated through dental treatment is still evolving, accumulating data shows the virus that causes Covid-19 is transmitted by both small and large particle aerosols.

The World Health Organisation publicly recognised airborne transmission in July, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines in early October to say that coronavirus can spread from airborne transmission over a distance greater than six feet via aerosols that can remain in the air for minutes – or even hours.

So, what can be done to prevent the airborne transmission of coronavirus in healthcare environments, and justifiably reduce fallow periods after high risk AGPs? One answer lies in an as yet largely unregulated industry: air purification.