Cheetah
Master Poster
The mask does catch the virus whether you are breathing it in or out, but since the mask is damp with your breath the virus can survive on it for extended periods and it's in contact with your mouth and nose.
2019-nCoV / Corona virus Pt 2
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The mask does catch the virus whether you are breathing it in or out, but since the mask is damp with your breath the virus can survive on it for extended periods and it's in contact with your mouth and nose.
Skeptic Ginger
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The force of the air you are breathing out is aimed directly at the mask. Some virus might escape to the sides, but it's not going go into the face of the person in front of you.
But when someone else is breathing or coughing out the virus and you have the surgical mask on, the air you breath in is going to take the path of least resistance. Unless you have a tight fit, it will go around the filter rather than through it.
Surgical masks do not fit tight on your face.
Skeptic Ginger
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That's not what is going on, though it might contribute to some of one's exposure.
The Atheist
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Damned right - it's the only reason Japan can possibly have so few cases. Even if they're not testing widely, they'd be having deaths to show the level of cases and they're not.
Kids are vermin.
a_unique_person
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
A lot of masks have a one way valve to make breathing out easier. Good when there is smoke around.
Venom
Philosopher
I propose a change to the title of this thread 2019-nCoV & COVID-19, the "corona virus" part is redundant now.
rjh01
Gentleman of leisure
That says they are effective to stop the virus getting out. But what about the virus getting breathed in? I would have thought the air would go in the same way, but the opposite direction?
What you are saying is that if you want to protect yourself you need to put something (glue?) around the mask so that air must go through the mask. There should be a market for such a mask.
Edit2
These masks would be useless to protect others against an illness the wearer has.
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Abooga
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Nobody else finds it odd that so many ministers and politicians have the virus? Lots of Iranian government figures, the Italian opposition leader, two Spanish ministers and several opposition leaders, a French minister, the British health minister, now and Australian minister, off the top of my head.... what are the odds, if the official figures are correct, and only a few thousand people are infected in each country? Don´t you think this means that there must be hundreds of thousands infected already?
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The Atheist
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I raised that point earlier.
Now, Peter Dutton has it in Australia, Minister of Home Affairs and a disgusting piece of work. They're currently showing only 100-odd cases. The odds of him hitting one of those should be pretty low.
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angrysoba
Philosophile
This pandemic may end up being something of a blessing in disguise.
It is the kind of thing that can expose all the errors of planning and implementation of plans, leadership or the lack of it, and how the public can be educated to follow basic procedures for keeping themselves well.
We will have a lot of chances to see which countries did well in this situation and which did very badly. Hopefully, each country can set up strong, competent institutions for disease control that borrows ideas that worked, and leaders can defer to them in these kinds of situations and not defund them to save a few pennies.
One day, a really big one will happen. If this had been that one, then most countries would now be digging mass graves if there was anyone to dig the graves.
Also, on that note, Sam Harris had another interesting podcast which touches on that subject...
It is the kind of thing that can expose all the errors of planning and implementation of plans, leadership or the lack of it, and how the public can be educated to follow basic procedures for keeping themselves well.
We will have a lot of chances to see which countries did well in this situation and which did very badly. Hopefully, each country can set up strong, competent institutions for disease control that borrows ideas that worked, and leaders can defer to them in these kinds of situations and not defund them to save a few pennies.
One day, a really big one will happen. If this had been that one, then most countries would now be digging mass graves if there was anyone to dig the graves.
Also, on that note, Sam Harris had another interesting podcast which touches on that subject...
The Atheist
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You should try getting the original author of the first thread to ask for it to be done.
angrysoba
Philosophile
Yeah, and apparently the wife of Trudeau is one of only 158 who have it in Canada.
Yeah, bollocks!
Skeptic Ginger
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Not glue, just a tight fit.
In health care we do fit testing to make sure air is not leaking around the mask.
As for where the air goes, think it through. Blow through the mask that is close to your mouth. You exhale with a certain amount of force. You are pushing the air through the mask or it is forced out sideways, but not toward the person in front of you.
Now take the mask that is close to your face but the contagious person is breathing out at some distance from the mask. Nothing is forcing that air through the mask. By the time it reaches you there is little pressure behind it.
You are inhaling, that is the force moving the air. Now the air is following the path of least resistance which is around the filter if there isn't a tight fit.
rjh01
Gentleman of leisure
I think they would be more vulnerable than the rest of us to getting it. They go out and meet a lot of people. Far more than most of us. Plus overseas travels. But otherwise I agree with you.
On another matter, I was discussing with someone that the less valuable people who may die without proper medical care should find someone who has the virus and make sure they get it. If they get seriously ill from it then the hospitals would still have facilities to care for such people. But if they leave it too late then the hospitals would be overworked and these people may be left to die. One problem with this is that if too many people did it then hospitals would soon be overworked. Another one is that they would have to isolate themselves for at least two weeks. This assumes that you cannot catch it twice.
One thing I am not sure about and maybe someone here has better info is school closures. We know that if this was pandemic flu this would be an important response, children are very important in flu transmission and schools are important sites for flu transmission. SARS CoV 2 is not influenza. Whilst flu infects children who shed a lot of virus, covid 19 seems only to cause mild illness in children and this may mean that they do not shed much virus, therefore school closures are not important in the chain of transmission. In the last flu pandemic some of the early cases centred around schools, but this does not seem to be the case for covid 19. I have seen no stories of school centred outbreaks.
Because very important people get priority testing.
I am sincerely expecting my mother to die from this. She is 79, has only 1 and a bit lung, has COPD, is asthmatic, had her voice box removed and breaths through a stoma in her next (a hole with direct access to the lungs) . When she gets it she will die. And I can't see her as I don't know my own status and I could be the one that kills her.
This is going to get very personal for many of us.
This is going to get very personal for many of us.
novaphile
Quester of Doglets
Oh my, that is a terrible situation to be in.
Perhaps communicate by phone etc. (whatever she's comfortable with) as much as possible? She's potentially terrified.
(As a fellow asthmatic with a long history of other respiratory illnesses, I know that I am.)
novaphile
Quester of Doglets
Speaking of personal...
My immediate neighbour at work, has recently returned from South Africa, we're all watching him like a hawk!
The guy who was sent home from work, has been told by a GP "You have the flu, stay home for a week." (No samples taken, no tests performed.)
Needless to say, the rest of the team are not re-assured by that pronouncement.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, things are still ramping up at work. I was warned (by a Manager) on the way out the door tonight, as he was heading into an emergency meeting with the rest of the managers...
"Everything will be different on Monday, be ready."
I'm really hoping to not have to post the: "I've got it, I'm posting from ICU..." message.
My immediate neighbour at work, has recently returned from South Africa, we're all watching him like a hawk!
The guy who was sent home from work, has been told by a GP "You have the flu, stay home for a week." (No samples taken, no tests performed.)
Needless to say, the rest of the team are not re-assured by that pronouncement.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, things are still ramping up at work. I was warned (by a Manager) on the way out the door tonight, as he was heading into an emergency meeting with the rest of the managers...
"Everything will be different on Monday, be ready."
I'm really hoping to not have to post the: "I've got it, I'm posting from ICU..." message.Ivor the Engineer
Penultimate Amazing
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Just been listening to the Chief scientific adviser on Radio 4 and I think the UK's game plan on this is pretty good.
One point I'm not sure has been addressed is that China and other countries who have supposedly "stamped" on the virus may not be the success stories many think they are: they still have huge populations that are vulnerable to infection.
Given that it looks like people are infectious before they have symptoms I think we have to except most people in most countries are going to be infected and the best we can do is delay it a bit and spread out the infection. In the countries with seasonal flu you want to position a hopefully flattened peak away from the peak from flu.
It's all a big experiment and we will know what worked and want didn't at the end of it.
As for Trump's behaviour, I think his response has been criminal. Just when you think he can't sink any lower he surpasses himself again.
Darat, I think many of us are in a similar boat. My mother is of a similar age, relatively healthy but has a minor heart condition. Other family members are younger but have asthma. One poor child we know has CF. And let's not forget the coronavirus kills a small minority of otherwise perfectly healthy people too. I doubt anyone is going to be untouched by this.
One point I'm not sure has been addressed is that China and other countries who have supposedly "stamped" on the virus may not be the success stories many think they are: they still have huge populations that are vulnerable to infection.
Given that it looks like people are infectious before they have symptoms I think we have to except most people in most countries are going to be infected and the best we can do is delay it a bit and spread out the infection. In the countries with seasonal flu you want to position a hopefully flattened peak away from the peak from flu.
It's all a big experiment and we will know what worked and want didn't at the end of it.
As for Trump's behaviour, I think his response has been criminal. Just when you think he can't sink any lower he surpasses himself again.
Darat, I think many of us are in a similar boat. My mother is of a similar age, relatively healthy but has a minor heart condition. Other family members are younger but have asthma. One poor child we know has CF. And let's not forget the coronavirus kills a small minority of otherwise perfectly healthy people too. I doubt anyone is going to be untouched by this.
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