The Coronavirus Thread

[Brian Peacock]

Starting to be hinted that the UK will enter a full 'circuit breaker' lockdown on Wednesday.

[JimC]

Jim the first law of mask wearing; they dont protect you but protect other people from you. Just a thought.

You are incorrect, Scot, simple as that. Of course, they cannot give 100% protection; their effect is a significant statistical reduction in the chance of infection, useful in both a personal and community sense...

[rainbow]

Another load of bollocks about facemasks. Nothing about use. Look at the price! The best buy is 15 pounds a throw. Nice for a family living on minimum wage. There is not even a proper definition or a standard. Just shows how important they are (not). Some are even advised not to buy but yet they are still on sale. One big farce. Nothing scientific Just a Which (consumers mag) investigation.

The face mask test: which are the best at limiting the spread of Covid?

Reusable masks vary hugely in ability to filter particles, say Which? researchers

Although reusable fabric masks are not intended to block ultra-fine particles such as viruses, they are designed to trap larger respiratory droplets and aerosols which the wearer breathes, coughs or spits out, so can minimise the transmission of any virus particles that they contain.

Duh. Nobody is saying a single virus would not make it through the mask, or any number. But most of them travel inside droplets.

In fact it is supposed that the larger the droplet, the longer the virus will survive. The rationale is that the outer layer of the viron needs to be kept hydrated, or it will cease to be viable. Part of the way a mask works is that the material is porous and will remove water from the droplet, thereby killing the virus. In wet countries like Holland, it will then survive longer, and so it is a good idea to wash one's mask every day.

It also depends on how long the mask is worn, and how much virus is in the vicinity of the wearer.
https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/ ... 019-4109-x

[rainbow]

General publicFor the general public, handwashing and social distancing measures are recommended to protect oneself. Keeping a distance of at least 1m means that droplets from a normally breathing person will not reach you (22) and has been shown in a meta-analysis to be associated with a lower risk of viral transmission (23).Cloth masksThe possibility of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic transmission (see lower) has fueled the debate on whether face masks should be universally recommended, not to protect the wearer but mainly to prevent spread from asymptomatic individuals. Droplets are emitted not only when coughing or sneezing, but also when breathing or speaking, though these droplets differ in size (24). A recent article investigated the protective effect of wearing a medical mask in 243 participants with a respiratory infection (‘common cold’, including non-SARS-coronaviruses) and reported that viral RNA was also detected in a small number of participants who did not cough at all during the 30-minute exhaled breath collection, suggesting transmission is possible from individuals with no obvious signs or symptoms. However, they also note that ‘the majority of participants did not shed detectable virus in aerosols or droplets. For those who did shed, viral load in both tended to be low, implying that prolonged close contact would be required for transmission’. Modeling data for Influenza suggest that population-wide use of masks could importantly reduce spread of the virus (25–27). The filtration capacity of home-made mask is lower than that of medical/surgical masks, but they do offer outward protection, despite imperfect fit or adherence(28–32). WHO, after reviewing all the evidence, still recommended against the use of community masks on April 6th, pointing out the importance of other measures like social distancing, cough and hand hygiene (33). ECDC lists a number of potential risks and benefits without either recommending or discouraging the use (34). On the other hand, important health authorities like CDC and Robert Koch Institute are now advising wearing of home-made masks for the population, in addition to social distancing measures and strict hand hygiene (35,36) whilst acknowledging the absence of compelling evidence. Likewise, both in scientific and in popular literature, several experts have insisted on the universal use of masks to be included in guidelines (37–40). A review of the evidence compiled on April 10th by a consortium of scientists not only concluded that there is evidence on the efficiency of cloth masks but also that, based on experience with other preventive measures, the claim that their use would lead to increased risk behavior and less observance of other measures is unfounded (39).

https://covid-19.sciensano.be/sites/def ... et_ENG.pdf

Can we put this one to bed?

[pErvinalia]

Fairy data!

[Brian Peacock]

Someone from the UK government's scientific advisory body on the pandemic is on the radio at the moment saying we could see 4000 deaths a day in December if we don't do something drastic because the measures we have in place at the moment clearly aren't working. This is quite unusual. The scientific advisors generally only speak at government junkets.

EDIT: He's just suggested that we're probably going to have to cancel Christmas.

[JimC]

Is his name Scrooge?

[rainbow]

Fairy data!

[pErvinalia]

[Scot Dutchy]

Jim the first law of mask wearing; they dont protect you but protect other people from you. Just a thought.

You are incorrect, Scot, simple as that. Of course, they cannot give 100% protection; their effect is a significant statistical reduction in the chance of infection, useful in both a personal and community sense...

Well Jim that is not what our RIVM says. That is not proven which is the whole point especially how they are used. You are not meant to touch the outer or inner surface as they could be contaminated. Disposables are not reusable and should be disposed of safely. Do you see anyone fulfilling those conditions? Sanitising their hands after removal and putting reusable masks into a plastic sealable bag? You are joking.
Another small point; if masks are so important and save lives why are they not given away free on public transport and in shops etc. You have to buy them which for many is an extra burden on the family budget.
It is pure psychological and is a way of keeping Joe Blogs involved in the situation. Well they cant be made compulsory thanks to our constitution although shop owners could impose wearing mandatory. Up till now that has not happened so I will carry on as I always will do.

[NineBerry]

How many knuffelcontacts do you have?

[pErvinalia]

My knuffelcontacts are the best knuffelcontacts!

[rainbow]

Jim the first law of mask wearing; they dont protect you but protect other people from you. Just a thought.

You are incorrect, Scot, simple as that. Of course, they cannot give 100% protection; their effect is a significant statistical reduction in the chance of infection, useful in both a personal and community sense...

Well Jim that is not what our RIVM says.

...so they are wrong.

[rainbow]

So the other Sheepland is closing as well:
https://phw.nhs.wales/topics/latest-inf ... an-for-me/

[Brian Peacock]

My knuffelcontacts are the best knuffelcontacts!

I've heard they also bring all the boys to the yard.