Viral dose is an important factor in severity of COVID. As India waits for vaccines, I urge people in India to wear masks and avoid crowds. This is the best way to reduce viral dose, and repeated exposures.

Lower viral dose will reduce severity of illness. And reduce deaths.

For over a year we have been saying that masks play a role in reducing viral dose, and at this point I'm more convinced than ever before. Have to unearth old tweets and graphics. https://twitter.com/vincentrk/status/1245691367294197763

Severity of COVID is influenced by many factors, but unfortunately most of these are not in our control. Not easily "changeable": age, obesity, comorbidities, type of mutant variant, genetics, etc.

The one factor that is in our control is reducing viral dose at exposure. https://twitter.com/vincentrk/status/1260918729690546176

As with any poison, dose matters. Do everything you can to reduce dose by staying away from crowds/social distancing, and wearing a mask. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opinion/coronavirus-viral-dose.html

One person who was onto this from the start was @DrSidMukherjee
From a year ago https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/06/how-does-the-coronavirus-behave-inside-a-patient

And @MonicaGandhi9 and Dr. Rutherford wrote about it as well in @NEJM https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmp2026913

Finally I wish I knew who posted this epic graphic we saw early on in the pandemic last year, and one I had retweeted many times but cannot find the source.

You get less wet if both of you are wearing pants.

Get vaccinated as soon as it's available. It's the best way to protect yourself. Avoid crowds & wear some type of well fitting mask that covers your nose & mouth well. It will reduce your chance of infection, reduce severity of COVID if u do get infected, & reduce spread.