Aerosol Exposure Consensus Statement

On September 29, 2020, the Kentucky Department of Public Health released a COVID-19 Aerosol Exposure Consensus Statement:  “Until scientific understanding recommends otherwise, it is the consensus opinion and statewide guidance agreed upon by the Kentucky Commissioner for Public Health and the state’s 61 local health department directors that, outside of environments meeting separate high-risk criteria:

Exposure will not be deemed to have occurred solely on the grounds of extended proximity to a person found infected with COVID-19 when all of the following conditions are met:

• All individual persons are consistently spaced ≥ 6 feet apart;

• High-aerosol risk activities (e.g., singing, shouting, cheering) are not performed; and

• All persons are compliant at all times with universal masking.

Additionally, if information gathered by public health professionals finds the above conditions are unlikely to have been met and/or other high-risk activities are likely to have occurred, a determination of elevated exposure may be made based on other public health guidance and professional judgment.