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from ppppsssstttt
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Coronaviruses are one of the common cold viruses and many of the symptoms of Covid-19 are the same. Which means, if you have the sniffles or just an itchy throat/mild cough in the beginning, you have no idea if it's another common cold, allergies, or Sars-CoV-2 (the virus that causes covid-19, the disease). By the time you develop a fever, if you even progress to these symptoms, you'll already have spread the virus by speaking. Any coughing and sneezing would have propelled it even further. Some people are questioning the effectiveness of a cloth mask. Look up the urine test: https://reddit.app.link/okNA3OCBw6. I'm all for peer-reviewed science. You're waiting for a peer-reviewed article to tell you whether face masks are effective or not? Just ignore the articles about the stability of the virus, the asymptomatic carriers who are shedding the virus, and the long incubation times before symptoms, like a fever, start to show up. It's a respiratory virus spread by droplets. When you cough and talk, you spread droplets. A physical barrier will reduce droplets. I'll take any reduction any day.
In general, I would try to make a mask that allows a filter, and for the filter I would mix different types of materials. Cotton on the outside face mask for the water absorption, polyester or polypropylene for the oily absorption (panty liners, non woven interfacing, oil absorption pads, etc). It's not just about pore size, but also properties of the material that factors into stopping the droplets. And if you can't make one, try to buy one with multiple layers and made with different materials. DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania has suspended the head of its national health laboratory in charge of testing for the coronavirus and ordered an investigation, a day after President John Magufuli questioned the tests' accuracy. Magufuli said on Sunday the imported test kits were faulty as they had returned positive results on a goat and a pawpaw — among several non-human samples submitted for testing, with technicians left deliberately unaware of their origins. 
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1) FYI - if you are interested in the data science, look at references posted in this twitter account:
https://twitter.com/jeremyphoward?l
2) If you want good info on SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 see the following youtube channels, in my experience they have been far better than any main stream media channels I have seen since the start of this.
a) Dr John Campbell - https://www.youtube.com/user/Campbellteachin
b) MedCram - https://www.youtube.com/user/MEDCRAMvideos ( MD )
c) Peak Prosperity. - https://www.youtube.com/user/Chri...nsondotc
Top Comments
-Masks serve two purposes: 1) filtering your exhaust (ie, preventing transmission to others), which is their main role. and 2) filtering your intake (ie, preventing you from getting it).
-Masks work and should be our main weapon against the virus. The example I give is driving down a highway in LA during rush hour with your windows down-- you get exposed to a lot of car pollution. You can try to reduce pollution by making cars be 6 ft apart (social distancing), but that only works a bit, and it makes traffic worse. You can tell people to stay home and not drive, which helps pollution, but then the economy suffers since people aren't working. So what do you do? You have people close their windows and drive with AC/filtration of input (mask while inhaling), and you make sure the cars have catalytic converters (mask while exhaling). Then people can be protected, without letting the economy take a nosedive.
-If you wait for data/results of studies, then you have missed the boat. The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. We have to make decisions based on logic and our understanding of similar pathogens.
-The infection is predominantly spread through droplet transmission. Droplet is different from airborne-- the latter means much smaller particles. Examples of airborne spread includes: VZV (chickenpox), smallpox, rubeola, TB (TB is not a virus). Droplet spread are most other respiratory viruses, including influenza and coronaviruses.
-In the hospital setting, patients with droplet infections get "droplet precautions" -- ie, everyone must wear a surgical mask while entering the room. Those on airborne precautions are typically in negative pressure rooms and require use of an N95 on entry. When patients on airborne precautions (eg TB) are transported around the hospital, the patient wears a surgical mask (not N95) to help prevent the spread to others.
-N95 and surgical masks likely afford similar levels of protection in preventing the wearer from getting droplet-borne viruses. Source: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/...le/2749214
-Droplets are not only spread through coughing/sneezing, but are also spread by talking ("say it, don't spray it") and likely to a lesser extent by breathing
-The major reason that everyone should wear masks in public is because they help prevent an infected person from spreading it.
-This paper https://www.ncbi.nlm.ni
shows that cloth masks are inferior to surgical for protecting the WEARER from another droplet born virus (influenza). Note that the control group wasn't mask-less in the study, they did standard care (ie, masking for pts on droplet precautions).
-Despite that, cloth masks likely help prevent spread from infected patients. Even though the weave may not be tight enough to prevent tiny droplets or aersolized particles from coming out, those are also much less infective (lower viral load) than big droplets. Recalling that droplets from speech and saliva are likely a large part of the spread, you can imagine that even without the tightest weave that your ability to expel big globs of saliva are much lower when wearing a cloth mask, esp if it has multiple layers.
-There is likely a substantial number of people who have been infected with minimal or no symptoms. There are multiple lines of evidence supporting this. Here is what I consider to be a landmark paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.ni
-Serology data has also shown the number infected is much higher than what we thought, but still relatively low (a few % in PNW).
-I suspect herd immunity is not possible in this virus, due to its very high infectivity rate. This is why much like smallpox and polio, there needs to be universal mandated vaccinations.
-The young/healthy are likely large vectors of infection. Just because you have a low mortality rate, doesn't mean you can enjoy yourself without precautions, as your grandmother likely has a much higher mortality rate.
-The magic number of "two weeks" for quarantine is not based on how long you are infected; in fact viral carriage (esp through GI shedding) is much longer than 2 weeks. Instead, the two weeks refers to the max length of time between exposure and development of symptoms (usual is 3-5 days). But again, if 1/8 of people never manifest symptoms (and maybe much more than that when you consider serology data and younger populations), to me this 2 week rule doesn't make a lot of sense.
-You can see pictures of Shanghai disney, schools that re-opened in China, etc. Everyone is wearing masks. It's not due to culture. Masks work and this shouldn't be a debate.
-This virus and the news media coverage of it has created too much polarity. Masking is not a political issue. It is a cultural issue. Americans need to accept that wearing a mask is a sign of respect for those around you, much like covering your mouth when you sneeze/cough. And when you approach others without a mask on, you are putting them at risk.
-My vision for the next few months: country rolls out mandatory mask law while in public, with fines for those who don't comply (or worse, send them to jail where they will 100% get COVID). This can allow people to return to work and school. The six foot social distancing rule (which I think is total BS btw) will get relaxed to 3 feet, as long as everyone is masked. Work places will be required to have better ventilation/air exchange with outside. Restaurants will stay closed, except ones that have open air seating, and even then there will be limitations on number of patrons.
-As posted earlier, this graph nicely shows the rates of new infection in countries without mask laws vs those with mask laws (or populations that voluntarily mask):
shorturl.at/gxIW6
TL;DR: Please wear a facial covering (cloth mask, surgical mask, scarf, whatever) while in public to diminish the spread. It is your civic duty.
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Cloth masks are to reduce transmission rate from asymptomatic carriers. They are not absolute, and they are not intended to protect ones self absolutely.
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