6355

You are misunderstanding what they are saying.

They obviously aren’t saying “masks don’t work”, because if that were the case, then medical professionals wouldn’t wear masks.

The thing is though, a bunch of those people actually ARE sick, and just don’t know it. So actually having them wear surgical masks could be useful.

6356

This is worth a mention.

I wonder how many doctors the US have sent to Italy to help?

6357

Thoughts and prayers.

6358

That’s what the social distancing is for. And it’s a lot more effective than someone wearing a mask and just doing their ordinary thing. And you know that is what happens. that is what people do. … they stick on a mask and shrug, I’m safe now, and then… we don’t get ahead of this thing. They’re not going to behave like they’re sick. They’re going to behave like they can’t get sick.

6359
6360

Although doctor house calls seem as prehistoric as rotary phones, home-based care for Covid-19 patients may be necessary in order to protect the community even if, to an individual patient, hospital care might be more effective.

6361

You can find a direct correlation between mask supply, and mask use recommendations. It’s really quite obvious actually.

6362

Hopefully none, as it isn’t clear that we have enough to deal with our own needs and there’s a chance they couldn’t get back into the country as things get really bad. Secure your own oxygen mask first and all.

6363

Thread

6364

image

Touching it!

6365

OMG She is! That is clearly proof of SOMETHING, lol. Take it to the other thread

6366

It’s not safe to do that. And it sure as hell isn’t funny.

6367

Today’s midday update hits late, but there’s probably going to be one final before the 3-22 lock-in on data.

Anyway, the numbers:

Yesterday midday (see above): 173,347 tests reported.
Today midday: 220,490 tests reported.

There may be a few thousand more reported before the end of day data lock-in.

Data from the Covid Tracking Project page.

6368

And as the Canadian health minister said a few weeks ago to us, that is better than touching your face.

6369

On the mask front, instead of endless appeals to authority, can we discuss an intermediate point that’s science and data driven?

  1. Masks stop sick people from spreading sickness. I think we all agree there.
  2. People who are infected by CoV2 had on average a 5 day incubation period where the virus is replicating in the body, where they are presymptomatic.
  3. People are able to spread the virus after infection, but before they have symptoms.
  4. Some portion of the population never experience symptoms, but have high viral loads and are infectious. This has been estimated between 10 and 60% of the population, depending on the data and model you look at.

Given this information, if there were an infinite number of masks, then wearing a mask would help prevent people that were pre-symptomatic but infected from infecting others during the few day gap they are unaware they are sick but have high viral load. Given that we don’t have an infinite supply of masks, then those at highest risk should get them first. Highest risk is healthcare workers first, then elderly / other high risk groups after.

If you only accept appeals to authority:

However, face masks are widely used by medical workers as part of droplet precautions when caring for patients with respiratory infections. It would be reasonable to suggest vulnerable individuals avoid crowded areas and use surgical face masks rationally when exposed to high-risk areas. As evidence suggests COVID-19 could be transmitted before symptom onset, community transmission might be reduced if everyone, including people who have been infected but are asymptomatic and contagious, wear face masks.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30134-X/fulltext

6370

This.

I think public health officials make recommendations tuned to save the largest number of people. In the context of shortages, their advice may be different from what you would hear from your own doctor, who is presumably focused on helping you.

6371

Not using—or disposing of—a respirator mask correctly can increase infection risk because it is literally trapping all the stuff in the air you’re trying to avoid, and many people end up touching their face absent-mindedly.

A little more cred than a politician.
infection prevention specialist Eli Perencevich, MD, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine.

6372

Yes, this.

6373

Hard to tell from the video quality, but it doesn’t look like any of those doctors are wearing masks. You’d think they would if they were so important, right? I mean, aren’t they doctors?

6374

It’s not some stupid black and white, all or nothing thing. It’s really hard to read these false dichotomy arguments in a complex world. Ya’ll are better than this (I know, because I read the rest of P&R and you guys show a TON of nuance in other areas!)