CDC COVID-19 guidelines
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday that COVID-19 can spread beyond six feet through the air.

This especially in poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces, according to CDC officials.

However, the agency said that such spread is uncommon and social distancing guidelines should still be applied.

However, many experts criticized the CDC's updated COVID-19 guidance.

Experts said that the virus can spread more easily than the CDC seems to be indicating.

Health experts also suggested the public should wear masks even in prolonged outdoor gatherings, when they are more than six feet apart.

Dr. Donald Milton of the University of Maryland School of Public Health said that the virus is traveling through the air, adding that there is no bright line.

"You're not safe beyond 6 feet. You can't take your mask off at 6 feet," Milton was quoted in a report.

The CDC has said for months that the virus spreads mainly through small airborne droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

Most of the CDC's guidelines were crafted around that idea of six feet is a safe boundary between people who are not wearing a mask.

CDC officials have acknowledged in interviews the growing evidence that the virus can sometimes spread on even smaller particles in a wider area.

On its website, the CDC also acknowledged the recent study showing that people with COVID-19 infected others who were more than six feet away.

CDC also said that there were other being infected by staying in an area the infected person left.

However, CDC officials said those are "limited, uncommon circumstances."

There were also situations were spread happened in poorly ventilated enclosed spaces.

CDC officials said this is possible in spaces where people were doing activities that caused heavier breathing.

The CDC were under fire last month when it quietly posted an updated that seemed to suggest the agency's position had changed.

However, the agency took it down after days.

The post that was taken down said that the virus can remain suspended in the air and go past the six feet boundary.

The agency officials also highlighted the importance of indoor ventilation.

They added that signing and breathing can cause the virus to go airborne.

A group of researchers, including Milton, published a letter on Monday in the journal Science that called for clearer public health guidance on how COVID-10 spreads on air.

The researchers said health officials should use clearer language when discussing about the size of airborne particles and droplets that can spread the disease.

They added that officials should also be straightforward about the role that viruses in small aerosols can play in infecting people.

Masks and good ventilation are important indoors.

Linsey Marr of Virginia Tech said that these two are important outdoors too.

The CDC then revised it COVID-19 guidelines on Monday.

The CDC cited published reports that showed people were infected with COVID-19 despite being six feet away.

"In these instances, transmission occurred in poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces that often-involved activities that caused heavier breathing, like singing or exercise," the CDC was quoted.

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