As the scientific understanding of how covid transmits has developed, the public health authorities have really never clearly communicated that understanding to the public in an actionable way […] The scientific consensus at this point is really that covid is an airborne virus. When we say airborne, what we mean is that it spreads through the air like smoke. It's not just a matter of being close enough to someone to literally be coughed on or sneezed on by them. But if you think about it like being in a room with someone who's smoking a cigarette, even if you're six feet or more away from them sitting on the other side of the room, if that room is not well ventilated or you're not running an air purifier or wearing a high quality mask, the room is going to fill with smoke and you're eventually going to breathe it in […] That mental picture of how to think about covid transmission is something that public health authorities have just never really clearly educated the public about.