The World Health Organization (WHO) on July 7, 2020, acknowledged the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people. On October 5, 2020, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that COVID-19 can spread through virus lingering in the air, sometimes for hours, acknowledging concerns widely voiced by public health experts about airborne
transmission of the virus. CDC said there was evidence that people with COVID-19 possibly infected others who were more than 6 feet (1.8m) away, within enclosed spaces with poor ventilation. "The reality is airborne transmission is the main way that transmission happens at close range with prolonged contact."