Conavirus......

[ApatheticNoMore]

How could I forget ash fall? I wasn't prepared for that when St. Helens blew. I'm ready now!

How about wildfires on the west coast, oh wait like another pandemic (a prior epidemic is part of why Asia was well prepared) that's in the never ever ever could happen, you made this up category. Wildfires and brush fires, increasing with climate change, I MUST be making things up.

I mean air filters might be slightly more practical, heaven knows that's why I have an air filter, though I use it for other things too.

[JaneV2.0]

How about wildfires on the west coast, oh wait like another pandemic (a prior epidemic is part of why Asia was well prepared) that's in the never ever ever could happen, you made this up category. Wildfires and brush fires, increasing with climate change, I MUST be making things up.

I mean air filters might be slightly more practical, heaven knows that's why I have an air filter, though I use it for other things too.

Our wildfires are generally on the other side of the Cascades, but that's another one for the list--if they get bad enough, the smoke will drift.

[Yppej]

Maybe we could do some genetic engineering. Take the kangaroo genes that allow them to grow a pouch and get humans to grow a flap of skin over their mouths and noses. Need to eat? Put the food down into the pouch. The world is such a dangerous place and this would keep us all safe, because human breath can be oh so toxic.

[bae]

That would make it messy to eat your ice cream sundaes.

[Rogar]

The news seems to indicate the states that are seeing record increases in cases and hospitalizations have a disproportionate number of spreaders under 35 who may be ignoring social distancing and masks. Maybe it's gen X's plan to reduce the social security burden of us seniors with underlying conditions.

[Yppej]

Tonight's news reported that while masks may stop some forward spread of particles, the particles simply move backward or upward where the mask is loose and still get out into the air, just in a different direction. This is why I believe only N95 masks specially fitted to your face do any good.

[bae]

This is why I believe only N95 masks specially fitted to your face do any good.

You could believe the Earth is flat too, but you'd be wrong on both counts.

You know this.

[Rogar]

Tonight's news reported that while masks may stop some forward spread of particles, the particles simply move backward or upward where the mask is loose and still get out into the air, just in a different direction. This is why I believe only N95 masks specially fitted to your face do any good.

"...points to a study published in Nature Medicine in April that looked at people infected with the flu and seasonal coronaviruses. It found that even loose-fitting surgical masks blocked almost all the contagious droplets the wearers breathed out and even also some infectious aerosols — tiny particles that can linger in the air.

And a modeling study, published this month in Proceedings of the Royal Society A, concluded that if the majority of a population wore face masks in public — even just homemade ones — that this could dramatically reduce transmission of the virus and help prevent future waves of the pandemic.

As for cloth masks, the protection depends on what they're made out of and how well they fit. But with the right combination of materials, you can create a cloth mask that offers protection to the wearer in the 30% to 50% range or more, says May Chu, an epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health who co-authored a paper published on June 2 in Nano Letters on the filtration efficiency of household mask materials. That's far from full protection, but combined with social distancing and hand-washing, she says, it's certainly better than nothing."

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...elps-heres-why

[jp1]

Shhhh. Stop with the science. You’re killing yppej’s ‘it’s only worthless old people who need to worry about this’ buzz. She doesn’t want to hear how we can reduce this to insignificance if we can just get the infection rate below one for a period of time because that would mean her having to take personal responsibility and concern for other human beings by living with a minor inconvenience.

[Gardnr]

This is why I believe only N95 masks specially fitted to your face do any good.

65% of our OR staff cannot be fitted for N95. Now what? Since you know all