Battle rages inside US hospitals over how Covid-19 strikes and kills

The CDC's confusing backpedalling on whether the coronavirus is airborne is roiling health workers and hospitals because an airborne virus requires completely new safety protocols

• Lost on the frontline

Frontline healthcare workers are locked in a heated dispute with many infection control specialists and hospital administrators over how the novel coronavirus is spread - and therefore, what level of protective gear is appropriate.

At issue is the degree to which the virus is airborne - capable of spreading through tiny particles lingering in the air - or primarily transmitted through large, faster-falling droplets from, say, a sneeze or cough. This wonky, seemingly semantic debate has a real-world impact on what sort of protective measures healthcare companies need to take to protect patients and their workers.