Read on Twitter
COVID-19 is airborne and the primary way to slow the spread without full lockdown will be to minimize time spent indoors without a mask. A thread:
"[At] typical indoor air velocities, a 5 μm droplet will travel
tens of meters, much greater than the scale of a typical room, while settling from a height of 1.5 m
to the floor" https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa939/5867798
tens of meters, much greater than the scale of a typical room, while settling from a height of 1.5 m
to the floor" https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa939/5867798
"Sharing indoor space has been confirmed as a major risk factor in transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2. A study of over 7000 cases found that all outbreaks involving three or more people occurred indoors." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7323102/
"Crowded events, poorly ventilated areas and places where people are talking loudly also maximize the risk. Being outside is generally safer, experts say, because viral particles dilute more quickly." https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-do-you-catch-covid-19-its-becoming-more-clear-11594070230
"Strikingly, in one database of more than 1,200 super-spreader events, just one incident is classified as outdoor transmission, where a single person was infected outdoors by their jogging partner, and only 39 are classified as outdoor/indoor events" https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/why-arent-we-talking-more-about-airborne-transmission/614737/
"The researchers concluded that the smaller droplets predominated, and accounted for about 60 percent of new infections over all, both at close range, within a few yards of an infectious person, and at greater distances." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/health/diamond-princess-coronavirus-aerosol.html
On the importance of masking up while indoors:
."..one patient from Chongqing, China, has transmitted the COVID‐19 to 5 people in one vehicle when he did not wear a face mask while no one was infected later in the second vehicle he took when he wore a face mask..." https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/irv.12740
"In Japan, nearly everyone wears a mask on the famously crowded train; as a result, “transmission on the train is not common." https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/07/30/there-are-more-effective/
"Among 139 clients exposed to two symptomatic hair stylists with confirmed COVID-19 while both the stylists and the clients wore face masks, no symptomatic secondary cases were reported" https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6928e2.htm
This is all important for two reasons:
1. It allows us to properly prioritize the best way to reduce cases - not hand washing, not sanitizing, not "hygiene theater" - but things that ACTUALLY WORK
1. It allows us to properly prioritize the best way to reduce cases - not hand washing, not sanitizing, not "hygiene theater" - but things that ACTUALLY WORK
2. It allows everyone to STOP spending their time and mental energy focusing on other human beings just trying to live: Joggers, picnic-ers, beach goers, people GOD FORBID having lunch on a patio for the first time in 4 months.
It's not helping anyone to attack one another for engaging in relatively low risk activities and by doing so you are arguably empowering people who feel their freedom is restricted upon so much they will not even entertain wearing a mask to Target.
A few opinion pieces that are also worth reading:
"Finally, and most important, hygiene theater builds a false sense of security, which can ironically lead to more infections. Many bars, indoor restaurants, and gyms, where patrons are huffing and puffing one another’s stale air, shouldn’t be open at all." https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/scourge-hygiene-theater/614599/
"f you’re eating outside, you’re in a well-ventilated space. And as long as surfaces are reasonably clean and you’re not too close to anyone outside your household, you should be fairly safe. (cont.)
But if you’re indoors unmasked, eating and chatting, no amount of disinfecting wipes is going to make things safe unless the restaurant happens to have high-grade ventilation." https://www.vox.com/2020/8/4/21352599/covid-19-restaurants-bars-bailout
I may add to this thread as I find new relevant pieces. The fact is we are doing a terrible job at receiving guidance which allows us to both minimize risk while maximizing quality of life.
It feels like we are split into 2 populations of people:
1. People who think the only way to save lives is for everyone's quality of life to suck
2. People who think people should die so their quality of life isn't changed at all
These aren't our only two options!
1. People who think the only way to save lives is for everyone's quality of life to suck
2. People who think people should die so their quality of life isn't changed at all
These aren't our only two options!
We have to find the optimal point on the curve. In my opinion, it's clear. Minimize any indoor activities where wearing a mask isn't possible (dining, gyms) and mask up when doing lower risk indoor activities (haircuts, public transportation). It's not that hard.
