After downplaying the airborne threat of COVID-19, a top Canadian WHO advisor has come under pressure.

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Kirti Pathak
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After downplaying the airborne threat of COVID-19, a top Canadian WHO advisor has come under pressure.

According to Dr. John Conly, N95 masks trigger 'harms,' and that the emphasis should be on physical separation.

International experts have slammed a powerful Canadian doctor and top advisor to the World Health Organization for controversial remarks downplaying the possibility of the coronavirus spreading through the air.

Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, Dr. John Conly, an infectious diseases physician and professor of medicine at the University of Calgary, not only denied that aerosol transmission is a primary route of transmission but also claimed that N95 masks would cause "harms" such as acne.

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"Anytime you look at benefits, you have to look at harms, and there are many harms with N95s — and I think ignoring them is a mistake," Conly said at a panel discussion on the role of airborne transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic on April 9 at the University of Calgary.

His claims about carbon dioxide and oxygen have been largely debunked, with a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control in 2014 finding no substantial differences in levels between pregnant and non-pregnant women wearing N95 masks.

According to the WHO, there's a chance that COVID-19 outbreaks may be caused by aerosol transmission in certain circumstances. Increased air ventilation and improved personal protective equipment for healthcare staff and critical workers around the world will be hugely impacted if the WHO changed its policy on aerosol transmission as the key driver.

Conly is one of Canada's most experienced infectious diseases experts who was once head of the department of medicine at the University of Calgary and the medical director for infection prevention at Alberta Health Services.

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