5 Ways to Fight a Fall COVID Comeback

You may have noticed more people around you with a runny nose, chills or coughing, all potential telltale symptoms of COVID-19. The highly infectious disease that upended our lives five years ago is surging this fall, now with a new strain in the mix. 

Fortunately, experts have learned a lot about how to prevent COVID-19 since the pandemic, thanks in part to the work of Distinguished University Professor Don Milton, one of the world’s foremost experts on how respiratory illnesses like COVID spread. Milton, of the University of Maryland’s Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health, helped establish that such diseases spread through the air, where they linger much longer than medical authorities previously thought. 

“There's no one silver bullet to stop COVID spreading, but there are a few simple things we can do,” said Milton. Here are his recommendations for the best ways to prevent COVID and other flu-like viruses this fall. 

“We need vaccinations, especially against COVID, influenza and whooping cough,” he said. 

For COVID vaccine access in Maryland:

• A prescription is not necessary.
• Vaccines are available statewide (including at pharmacies, authorized under Maryland law to give vaccines without a prescription to people 3 years and up).
• Some pharmacies or health clinics may, however, ask people to attest to having a high-risk condition. 

“Right now, Marylanders should have access to a COVID-19 vaccine if they want one – and we are taking additional actions to help ensure that doesn't change,” according to a recent order from the Maryland Department of Health. 

Infected people in closed spaces with poor air circulation spread viruses more readily than elsewhere, Milton said. “We need to be thinking about air quality and how we share air. Having ceiling and standing fans moving the air around a room has a big impact on transmission. It means that the air around us is diluted. So hang out in places with good ventilation—open windows and doors—and use fans.”

Sometimes, a little social distancing can go a long way to reduce the concentration of pathogens in the air around you, Milton said. “Avoid getting up in other people’s faces unless there's really good ventilation or UV air sanitation. It’s more risky when you're getting together around the dining table or you're going to an off-campus place for refreshments. You get up close with people and you share lots of exhaled breath.”

Milton helped turn health authorities’ guidance from anti- to pro-masking early in the pandemic, preventing untold infections and deaths, and masks still play an important role. “If you’re more vulnerable or you want to keep your risk very low, wear a tight-fitting mask or respirator when you're up close with other people. And, if you get infected, please wear a mask to protect other people. All masks are somewhat effective at protecting others, and we found the duckbill N95 to be the most effective in stopping COVID in our 2024 study of four different masks.”  

“Germ-killing ultraviolet lights (GUV) emit UV light that is absorbed by germs, like bacteria and viruses, and kills them on the fly,” Milton said. “This technology doesn’t hurt your eyes, won’t give you skin cancer and it sanitizes the air right around us.”

GUV lights are not yet readily available on the individual consumer market but are already being used in the health care industry: for example, integrated into hospitals for sterilization processes, and in the food and beverage industry.