CDC warns virus can spread more than six feet under certain conditions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned in a document published Friday of “repeatedly documented” instances of coronavirus spreading through the air to people more than six feet away under certain conditions.

The new document, explaining the latest understanding of how the virus spreads, is part of a shifting emphasis towards airborne transmission of the virus.

“Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from inhalation of virus in the air farther than six feet from an infectious source can occur,” the new document says in large letters, while also noting it is “less likely than at closer distances.”

The risk of this kind of spread is highest indoors in places with “inadequate ventilation,” when people are shouting or singing, or when people are exposed for long periods of time, the CDC said.

Some experts have been pushing the CDC for months to place a greater emphasis on airborne transmission and the need to improve ventilation, even with something as simple as opening the window in a room. Experts have also long said that outdoors is far safer than indoors.