Corona Virus

[Sour Masher]

I dont believe your statement about needing to be N95 is accurate. My understanding is just about any mask offers some level of protection

You say you disagree, but your statement does not contradict mine. I said that lower quality masks likely don't do much. You said any mask offers some level of protection. Those statements don't contradict each other--they do something, but we don't know how effective they are. The fact is that if we all had a supply of N95 masks that properly fit everyone and everyone knew how to use them, we would all be far better off, but we don't. Lower quality masks may help some, but we do not know how much, especially because of the poor fit, face touching factors others have pointed out. And in any event, we are in short supply of all of them.

ETA: I do wish we had more masks and other supplies. We were so unprepared for this.

[Sour Masher]

You say you disagree, but your statement does not contradict mine. I said that lower quality masks likely don't do much. You said any mask offers some level of protection. Those statements don't contradict each other--they do something, but we don't know how effective they are. The fact is that if we all had a supply of N95 masks that properly fit everyone and everyone knew how to use them, we would all be far better off, but we don't. Lower quality masks may help some, but we do not know how much, especially because of the poor fit, face touching factors others have pointed out. And in any event, we are in short supply of all of them.

ETA: I do wish we had more masks and other supplies. We were so unprepared for this.

I'm basing this info largely on a doctor friend who says regular surgical masks are far less effective at preventing respiratory viral transmission than properly fitted N95 masks.

[DMT]

Gregg, my condolences again.

[The Feral Slasher]

You say you disagree, but your statement does not contradict mine. I said that lower quality masks likely don't do much. You said any mask offers some level of protection. Those statements don't contradict each other--they do something, but we don't know how effective they are. The fact is that if we all had a supply of N95 masks that properly fit everyone and everyone knew how to use them, we would all be far better off, but we don't. Lower quality masks may help some, but we do not know how much, especially because of the poor fit, face touching factors others have pointed out. And in any event, we are in short supply of all of them.

ETA: I do wish we had more masks and other supplies. We were so unprepared for this.

This isn't really worth arguing about, but what else do I have to do. : )

Anyway, I responded to "A lot of the masks people can find are not rated to stop this. They need to be the N95 masks, which most have banned the sale of" . I still don't believe that is accurate.

As far as fit and face touching part in bold, those factors actually would decrease the effectiveness of an N95 much more than they would affect masks with less better filtration.

[Sour Masher]

This isn't really worth arguing about, but what else do I have to do. : )

Anyway, I responded to "A lot of the masks people can find are not rated to stop this. They need to be the N95 masks, which most have banned the sale of" . I still don't believe that is accurate.

As far as fit and face touching part in bold, those factors actually would decrease the effectiveness of an N95 much more than they would affect masks with less better filtration.

Again, I'm going by a doctor friend here. Maybe she is just saying that, because she thinks the supply of masks should go to health care workers first. IDK. I don't believe she is wearing masks outside of her job, though, fwiw.

It does stand to reason that those who have the virus would spread it less if they were breathing, sneezing, and coughing into a mask rather than uncovered.

[Gregg]

Thank you all for the kind words.

I truly appreciate them.

[The Feral Slasher]

Again, I'm going by a doctor friend here. Maybe she is just saying that, because she thinks the supply of masks should go to health care workers first. IDK. I don't believe she is wearing masks outside of her job, though, fwiw.

It does stand to reason that those who have the virus would spread it less if they were breathing, sneezing, and coughing into a mask rather than uncovered.

I haven't been wearing a mask yet either. I am thinking about it. Probably minimal benefit for a healthy person to wear one, but trying to figure it out

[DMT]

For the past week, any time I've gone out in public, I've been wearing an N95 mask that my wife had from during her residency. I've only seen a few others doing the same.

[The Feral Slasher]

This info is for primary care staff, but I thought it was informative

https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/what-is-the-efficacy-of-standard-face-masks-compared-to-respirator-masks-in-preventing-covid-type-respiratory-illnesses-in-primary-care-staff/

The standard surgical mask (left), also known as a fluid-resistant surgical mask (FRSM), is designed to provide a barrier to splashes and droplets impacting on the wearer’s nose, mouth and respiratory tract. It fits fairly loosely to the user’s face. These single-use masks are used for a variety of procedures in community as well as hospital settings. They should be changed when they become moistened or damaged, and should not be undone and dangled round the neck between procedures. It should be worn with eye protection.



The respirator mask (left), available in the USA as N95 mask and in the UK as an equivalent FFP (‘filtering face piece’) mask, is used to prevent the user from inhaling small airborne particles in aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs). It must fit tightly to the user’s face. There are three categories: FFP1, FFP2 and FFP3. FFP3 provides the highest level of protection. Again, this mask must be worn with eye protection.

[Kevin Seitzer]

Only a few states left without a confirmed coronavirus fatality:
West Virginia, 1.8M population
Rhode Island, 1.1M population
Wyoming, 600k population

Most states are now above the 100 confirmed cases per million residents level. (In other words, if you live in a city of 10,000 population or more, there's likely a case in your city.) Some of the states that aren't officially above that level almost certainly would be if they had better testing (e.g., Oklahoma with 15 deaths among 377 confirmed cases, Oregon with 12 deaths among 414 confirmed cases).

[GwynnInTheHall]

California has closed gun shops as they consider them non essential.


Nra promptly sues.

Convince me that guns are an essential purchase during this lock down.

[Kevin Seitzer]

Overall CFR (case-fatality ratio) has inched up a bit in the US from 1.5% to 1.7%. That's not being driven by the NYC outbreak, where CFR is 1.4% right now. It's states like Louisiana, Washington, Georgia, and Michigan that are driving it up.

That said, there are some states, particularly in the south, that are still unreasonably low: WVa zero, Tennessee 0.4%, North Carolina 0.5%, Maryland 0.5%, Alabama 0.6%, Arkansas 0.8%. Either the epidemic reached those states later and cases haven't had the chance to progress to death yet, or they aren't testing very well yet and are missing deaths that should be attributed to coronavirus. Possibly some of both.

[madducks]

California has closed gun shops as they consider them non essential.


Nra promptly sues.

Convince me that guns are an essential purchase during this lock down.

Have to be ready for the boogeyman.

[Gregg]

California has closed gun shops as they consider them non essential.


Nra promptly sues.

Convince me that guns are an essential purchase during this lock down.

It is wise to close. If you haven't been trained and practiced it should not be a panic move now. That is how people can get hurt.

[Gregg]

I just got a call from my youngest sister (59). She woke up with a cough this morning. She called her doctor who put her in touch with CDC. She is on her way to the ER for testing.

She works for Mercury Marine in Fond du lac Wisconsin about 3 hours from me. Someone on a production line 2 lines over passed away from it two weeks ago. She has been laid off for a week.

She is not experiencing any other symptoms at this time.

I am scared and praying hard for her. First that she tests negative. And if positive that she recovers quickly and without issue.