Below is a brief timeline of news related to the belated acknowledgement that COVID-19 is an airborne virus and that aerosols are the dominant driver of spread, not larger droplets or surface contamination.
This admission by health officials is significant because it explains why hand washing, social distancing and masks did not work.
September 21, 2020
NPR: CDC Publishes — Then Withdraws — Guidance On Aerosol Spread Of Coronavirus
October 2, 2020
MIT Technology Review: This scientist made a Google Doc to educate the public about airborne coronavirus transmission
October 5, 2020
NPR: CDC Acknowledges Coronavirus Can Spread Via Airborne Transmission
October 28, 2020
El Pais: A room, a bar and a classroom: how the coronavirus is spread through the air
May 7, 2021
CDC: Scientific Brief: SARS-CoV-2 Transmission
NYT: The virus is an airborne threat, the C.D.C. acknowledges
NYT: Why did it take so long to accept the facts about Covid?
May 13, 2021
Wired: The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill