I think it's time to invite @ColdDog back to the discussion. Most countries have their strategies in place now, politicians appear to have stopped trying to pin the blame for their lack of action on X,Y or Z and are just executing the plans of action they can now. Might be time to start discussing the evidence and chain of events / chains of ignorance.
Man I was still hoping things would go sideways and it would mutate into some sort of zombie virus.
Everything you can do to keep from breathing air directly, especially in a crowd is better than nothing. But I still stand by the problem. If you have aerosol particles suspended in the air, they can be inhaled by the negative air pressure of breathing even behind a surgical mask and cause infection. But they are better than nothing. Even homemade masks are better than nothing.There may still be value in making and wearing masks. Yes, the actual SARS-CoV-2 virus particle thingee is nanometers in diameter, BUT, it is most likely transmitted through droplets of snot, spit, whatever, and those are going to be larger and potentially filtered out by cloth or whatever.
If it truly is aerosolized, then we are pretty much all fucked...
See this article:
Should I Start Wearing a Mask?
The C.D.C. now recommends we cover our faces in public. Here is our guidance on how to best protect yourself, whether you have a mask or not.www.nytimes.com
www.livescience.com
Yes, hold your breath until its all over.
But yes @Vavrik is right most masks have leakage around the face mask boundary that allows unfiltered air to be breathed in., especially in a crowd is better than nothing. But I still stand by the problem. If you have aerosol particles suspended in the air, they can be inhaled by the negative air pressure of breathing even behind a surgical mask and cause infection. But they are better than nothing. Even homemade masks are better than nothing.
Can homemade masks protect you from COVID-19?
Medical masks are still the best option, especially for medical professionals.
By the way, posting articles from behind the New York Times pay wall is useless to many of us. We cannot access the articles without a subscription, and have very little incentive to get a subscription. I for example, live well over 1600 miles and half a continent away.
Paywall Solution --> go to your browser prefeerences, and search for all cookies from NYTimes (I just do a search for "nyt", change for each website), empty them, and voila! Article is now free to read!
I recommend only breathing time-sterilized air. Fill a few compressed tanks with delicious air, and then let them sit for at least 24 hours so the surface life of the pathogen can tick by and viola! Perfectly safe to breath atmosphere you can carry around with you. Just make sure your eyes and earholes are covered too, or you would contract via those.
In line with that, in addition to staying home to avoid the virus, don't do anything stupid or risky...if you have to go to a hospital, you are probably going to come back home with something worse. And if you flatline at a hospital, or arrive at a hospital DOA, they likely aren't going to do anything to resuscitate you. There is a huge shortage of protective gear, and giving CPR/intubating you is a really messy procedure...they need to be wearing full protective gear, and if they odds are bad, they just aren't going to waste anything.
www.latimes.com
I've checked the thread and there's been no mention of it, however excellent to have you back in the mix
The interesting bit about watching the Australian cases is that it appears that the virus just won't "disappear" in the summer months. It appears that you instituted social distancing measures nationally on March 21st, so maybe this is what is having an impact?As at 3:00pm on 4 April 2020, there have been 5,548 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. an increase of 198 new cases since 3:00pm on 3 April. Of the 5,548 confirmed cases in Australia, 30 have died from COVID-19. More than 287,000 tests have been conducted across Australia.
Physical distancing is having an effect (many of the workforce are working from home) is but I think this is also heightened awareness of personal hygiene playing a role.
www.theguardian.com
