Throughout the pandemic, public health officials have offered guidance on how to slow the spread of COVID-19. Since March 2020, we’ve learned how to properly wash our hands. We’ve practiced physical distancing. And wearing face masks has become a regular part of our daily routine. All these interventions are designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 based on everything we know about how respiratory diseases typically move from one person to the next. 

But with everything new we’ve learned about COVID-19, do you ever wonder what we actually know about how it spreads?

Jose-Luis Jimenez (@jljcolorado), a professor and aerosol scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, talked with us about the science of COVID-19 transmission. You may have heard of him or some of his colleagues when more than 200 scientists published an open letter to the WHO supporting the claim that COVID-19 is an airborne disease. Or you may have seen his Twitter thread on ten scientific reasons in support of airborne transmission of COVID. Our conversation was a fascinating glimpse into the history and process of science, with important implications for ending the pandemic.

Have a question you've been wondering about? Send an email or voice recording to everwonder@californiasciencecenter.org to tell us what you'd like to hear in future episodes.

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