Chuckanut
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Here's a blog entry by Cliff Mass who teachers Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington. See the June 30, 2020 entry.
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-safety-of-outdoor-air-for.html#comment-form
Keep in mind that while Dr. Mass is rational scientist he is not a specialist in epidemiology. On many controversial subjects (like climate change) he has been known to get both sides upset with him when he calls out bad science and irrational thought processes.
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-safety-of-outdoor-air-for.html#comment-form
Keep in mind that while Dr. Mass is rational scientist he is not a specialist in epidemiology. On many controversial subjects (like climate change) he has been known to get both sides upset with him when he calls out bad science and irrational thought processes.
There is now powerful observational evidence that outdoor air is extraordinary safe regarding COVID-19, and the recent protests have helped provide it. The protests/riots began in Seattle and other cities on May 26th. Thousands gathered without social distancing and a good 10% had no masks. They participated in chanting, singing, screaming and other activities that ensured plenty of droplets were injected in the air, and that unhealthful environment was "enhanced" by coughing from tear gas and other agents.
Did this huge exposure result in increased spread of COVID-19? The answer is clearly no.
[FONT="][/FONT]The lack of outdoor transmission is consistent with the scientific literature. There is in fact no documentation of effective outdoor transmission of coronavirus (see my earlier blog for documentation). Some examples of scientific papers discussing the issue, include:
Qian et al., 2020: Examined 1245 confirmed cases in 120 cities in China and identified only a single outbreak in an outdoor environment, which involved two cases.
Nishiura et al., 2020: Transmission of COVID-19 in a closed environment was 18.7 times greater compared to an open-air environment (95% confidence interval).