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The One Covid-19 Science and Medicine Thread

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William Parcher said:
US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) says that we don't need to sanitize the food packaging after we shop...


Shopping for Food During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Information for Consumers



https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safet...uring-covid-19-pandemic-information-consumers
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Well, we know that it can live on some surfaces for up to three days. We also know that it can go from a surface to your hands to your face if you're not careful. It seems like a credible vector of infection.

More to the point, that says that there is no evidence that it can be transmitted from food packaging. That doesn't mean that it can't be transmitted from food packaging, it means that if it is then there is as yet no evidence to support it. Given how little is still known about this virus and how it is transmitted, I wouldn't take this as a blanket statement that it's 100% fine to lick your Amazon delivery. This is especially true since the one sure thing that can be said about cases is that a lot of them are as yet undetected/unreported.

IOW - I think it's probably wiser at this stage to take some basic precautions when handling new objects that have come in to your home, particularly as it's neither difficult nor onerous to do so.
 
Dr.Sid said:
As long as people can get or make masks easily, I don't see how it can hurt.
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It can hurt in a couple of ways. The most stupid is people who wear them thinking it makes them and others invincible and ignoring all social distancing rules.

But the thing that I don't see being hammered home enough in the media is that the masks can be a transmission vector themselves. You need to wash the mask after you've used it, and wash your hands before putting it on and taking it off. And don't touch it once it is on. It can encourage face-touching just by being uncomfortable.

As an addendum to the above - they're a temporary thing. Once any droplets that the mask catches have evaporated, the virus is left on the mask, and viruses are small enough to be drawn through the cloth by your breath. So if you have it on for too long, then it can be a way to funnel the virus directly in to your mouth and nose.

Masks can be effective, but without people understanding masks and using them correctly, they have the potential to be dangerous.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
It can hurt in a couple of ways. The most stupid is people who wear them thinking it makes them and others invincible and ignoring all social distancing rules.

But the thing that I don't see being hammered home enough in the media is that the masks can be a transmission vector themselves. You need to wash the mask after you've used it, and wash your hands before putting it on and taking it off. And don't touch it once it is on. It can encourage face-touching just by being uncomfortable.

As an addendum to the above - they're a temporary thing. Once any droplets that the mask catches have evaporated, the virus is left on the mask, and viruses are small enough to be drawn through the cloth by your breath. So if you have it on for too long, then it can be a way to funnel the virus directly in to your mouth and nose.

Masks can be effective, but without people understanding masks and using them correctly, they have the potential to be dangerous.
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Absolutely! And this is why with mask-wearing, education is important. How to wear, and look after, a mask is as important as how to wash your hands. Plenty of people think they know how to wash their hands, but have been learning recently that their way of washing their hands was completely inadequate.

What is still wrong, though, imho, is promoting the idea that masks are completely ineffective. It seems that the evidence goes against that!
 
novaphile said:
It doesn't matter how often this is repeated, it will be ignored.
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I'd have thought that there was a risk in the mouth in the same way that there is in the nose - there's a mucus membrane there. If the mouth can be a potential vector for the cold (which it can), then I see no reason why it can't be a vector for this coronavirus.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
This virus survives longer frozen.
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I've seen conflicting reports on this. One expert said that it could survive up to two years in a freezer, and another said that it's possible that the freezing/thawing process would kill it.

As per my post above, I think that caution is warranted in the case of an unknown such as this.

As for putting stuff in the fridge, I've definitely heard an expert say that the cold, damp conditions of a fridge are exactly the kind of environment that coronaviruses like. So I'd say it's probably wise to clean things before you stick them in the fridge.
 
I have been thinking.
These cases like the choir, where 45 of 60 were receptors, yet it is unlikely more than one came with the virus, did the lungs absorb and transmit on an industrial scale?
Similarly at dinner parties, weddings and crowded bars.

One infector, but major recycling in one 2 hour session in enclosed space.
 
Yeah but the mask prevents the stupid people from touching their mouth and nose. So it's some use there.

I wear disposable gloves grocery shopping now that it got warmer and my outdoor gloves stay in the car. I never touch my face with them, as I used to wear them at work weighing chemicals so I would never touch my face. I used to figure out a way to use my wrist for some things, if I really needed my hand near my head.
 
Tero said:
Yeah but the mask prevents the stupid people from touching their mouth and nose. So it's some use there.
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It also stops droplets.

Tero said:
I wear disposable gloves grocery shopping now that it got warmer and my outdoor gloves stay in the car. I never touch my face with them, as I used to wear them at work weighing chemicals so I would never touch my face. I used to figure out a way to use my wrist for some things, if I really needed my hand near my head.
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Yeah, but gloves make people think they are invincible and gives them a false sense of security etc...etc...

/sameargument
 
I have seen advice against gloves. The argument is that your skin's natural secretions can help the virus' lipids to break down, whereas rubber gloves just transmit it from place to place.

How true that is I don't know.
 
William Parcher said:
Within a half hour of re-opening the Jacksonville, Florida beaches there were thousands of people there.
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That beach appears to be 33 miles long and 330 feet wide (from Google Maps).
Theoretically you could have well over one million people on that beach and still maintain social distancing.
 
Samson said:
I have been thinking.
These cases like the choir, where 45 of 60 were receptors, yet it is unlikely more than one came with the virus, did the lungs absorb and transmit on an industrial scale?
Similarly at dinner parties, weddings and crowded bars.

One infector, but major recycling in one 2 hour session in enclosed space.
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I don't recall where this information came from or how it was determined that only one choir singer was infected. Was the prevalence of asymptomatic spreaders as well known back then as it is now?
 
Speedskater said:
That beach appears to be 33 miles long and 330 feet wide (from Google Maps).
Theoretically you could have well over one million people on that beach and still maintain social distancing.
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I don't know if the entirety of the Jacksonville beaches were re-opened. The photos I saw of the crowds seemed to show improper social distancing. Yes, the photos show a crowded beach.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
I have seen advice against gloves. The argument is that your skin's natural secretions can help the virus' lipids to break down, whereas rubber gloves just transmit it from place to place.

How true that is I don't know.
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I believe it was a quote from Chris Smith (doctor)
Consultant virologist, broadcaster
Chris Smith - "the Naked Scientist" - is a British consultant virologist and a lecturer based at Cambridge University where he is a fellow of Queens' College. He is also a science radio broadcaster and writer, and presents the Naked Scientists, a programme which he founded in 2001, for BBC Radio and other networks internationally, as well as 5 live Science on BBC Radio 5 Live.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Around here that has been solved by people making and using their own non-medically approved masks. Considering the goal is to stop infected but asymptomatic people from spreading the virus, it is very useful to use cloth masks. Many of the masks are even washable. People may believe they are protecting themselves, and to a small degree they are. But if everyone wears masks in public, combined with hand washing, we can really stop a lot of spread.
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There seems to be a significant possibility that wearing face masks might turn out to be the most significant thing that we can do to slow the spread, which is "interesting" since, at least in the US, governments for 2 months claimed that wearing face masks was at best useless and at worse would increase the chance of getting infected. Most of the recent writings have been that only a small percentage of transmission has occurred from people touching contaminated surfaces, but in a month "they" could go back to saying that it is a significant means of transmission.
 
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SOooo many of these discussions will become moot as soon as we get the results of serology tests done on random sampling of exposed subjects. Due out tomorrow.

I suggest you all take today off, save your resources for discussing the first real facts regarding transmissibtlity and IFR for the mass herd of sheeple.

Then maybe we can discuss the risk factors. Like the comorbidity list of nine diseases that seems to leave off "lives in confined quarters with others with the same co-moralities". Or age. Because so many of the listed risk factors occur together they are probably measuring the same thing. Or maybe it's forced air ventilation, like Legionnaire's disease?
 
casebro said:
SOooo many of these discussions will become moot as soon as we get the results of serology tests done on random sampling of exposed subjects. Due out tomorrow.
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Which tests will these be?

Where will the results be published?

I suggest you all take today off, save your resources for discussing the first real facts regarding transmissibtlity and IFR for the mass herd of sheeple.

Then maybe we can discuss the risk factors. Like the comorbidity list of nine diseases that seems to leave off "lives in confined quarters with others with the same co-moralities". Or age. Because so many of the listed risk factors occur together they are probably measuring the same thing. Or maybe it's forced air ventilation, like Legionnaire's disease?
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Serological test results will certainly add to the knowledge we have about SARS-COV-2 and covid-19. :thumbsup:
 
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