Andrew Bolt: Virus ‘deep-cleaning’ theatrics are a farce

Pandemic paranoia pushed us into taking ineffective cautions — but a new study has confirmed what should’ve been obvious a long time ago.

Pandemic paranoia is not rooted in science. Picture: David Caird

Yet another virus myth is exposed: That this coronavirus is often spread by droplets that stay on things such as lift buttons and tables.

This belief fed pandemic paranoia, pushing us to take ineffective precautions and stage crazy “virus theatre”.

That included council workers washing down roadside posts and street-crossing signs, and companies “deep cleaning” offices.

It also encouraged governments to play down a great danger in many quarantine hotels, while meanwhile forcing Australians to wear face masks outdoors, where the risk of infection is about zero.

In fact, a study in The Lancet medical journal last month said there was “consistent, strong evidence that SARS-CoV-2 spreads by airborne transmission”, particularly indoors, and this was “likely to be dominant” in the ways you could get infected.

Cleaners sanitising the State Library of Victoria. Picture: Ian Currie

It said up to 59 per cent of virus transmission was by people who didn’t feel sick and weren’t coughing or sneezing, but just breathing out.

That doesn’t rule out other kinds of transmission. But it does mean you’re most likely to get the virus by breathing in, and doing that indoors, where ventilation is bad.

That’s exactly how this latest Victorian outbreak started. Someone sick in an Adelaide quarantine hotel opened their room door, and seconds later someone else down the corridor opened their own door and breathed in – before flying to Melbourne.

This hotel, like others, did not have a proper ventilation system, essential in a real quarantine facility.

The study’s conclusion should have been obvious a long time ago. Data researcher Koen Swinkels runs the Superspreading Events Database that’s analysed more than 2000 cases where multiple people were infected, and found every case occurred indoors, or somewhere with both indoor and outdoor facilities.

Yet Victorians this week cannot go outside without an excuse, and then must wear a mask in the open air, where they are safest.

But this Lancet study, from Oxford University, also makes some other official precautions also seem like false security.

Telling people to wash their hands and keep a metre and a half distance won’t help much if the virus is circulating in the air.

And most face masks, that we were told were needed just to stop the infected from coughing or sneezing out droplets, don’t give much protection from breathing in a virus spread in aerosols.

It’s time we defended ourselves with less theatre and more science.