· A recent evidence synthesis was completed by Public Health Ontario to answer a similar question. That synthesis has been deemed of sufficiently high quality and contains a recent enough evidence review to provide the necessary information to answer the question. Please refer to the attached document for the Key Points
· We have reviewed the literature identified by our search that has been published since the time of the literature review in the Public Health Ontario evidence synthesis (i.e., between Oct 14, 2020 and Dec 15, 2020). No significant changes to the Key Points are noted.
· Our team agrees with the conclusion of Public Health Ontario that the dominant mechanism of transmission is primarily through direct contact with respiratory droplets but that COVID-19 is an opportunistic airborne
Rapid Review Report: INF121501 RR (Version 1: December 17, 2020 17:30) 2
pathogen, where aerosol transmission occurs under the right combination of conditions (for instance a poorly ventilated space where a high volume of virus can be produced and concentrated).
Vanstone, J; Miller, L; Fox, L. How is COVID-19 transmitted from person-to-person and what is the most common source of transmission? 2020 Dec 15; Document no.: INF121501 RR. In: COVID-19 Rapid Evidence Reviews [Internet]. SK: SK COVID Evidence Support Team, c2020. 11 p. (CEST rapid review report)