Everyone is going to be wearing masks in a couple weeks

From the Center for Disease Control website:

"Should I wear a respirator in public?

CDC does not recommend the routine use of respirators outside of workplace settings (in the community). Most often, spread of respiratory viruses from person-to-person happens among close contacts (within 6 feet). CDC recommends everyday preventive actions to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, such as avoiding people who are sick, avoiding touching your eyes or nose, and covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue. People who are sick should stay home and not go into crowded public places or visit people in hospitals. Workers who are sick should follow CDC guidelines and stay home when they are sick."

link:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/respirator-use-faq.html

From the World Health Orginazion website:

"When to Use a Mask:

If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected 2019-nCoV infection.

Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing.

Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.

If you wear a mask, then you must know how to use it and dispose of it properly."

link:

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks

seattle prattle wrote:

Please reference a major source that is suggesting we wear masks now because if there was one i must have missed it.

We at LetsRun are often ahead of the mainstream press. There's been some good links posted already in this thread, including an opinion piece in Washington Post. I expect the WHO and CDC to update their recommendations any day now.

re: sources

this is one of a few guys the major outlets have been turning to for guidance (along with marc lipsitch, trevor bedford, etc):

https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1243006652955181056

i believe lipsitch has also suggested that if we had more, we'd be recommending everybody should be wearing them.

Help me to understand wrote:

Shannegen wrote:

So yes... I am pretty pissed that I go to the grocery store and healthy people are wearing masks so they don’t get infected with COVID from contagious broccoli.

Couldn't the broccoli be contaminated if someone coughed or sneezed on it? Or, if they touched a surface that was contaminated and then they touched a few packages of broccoli before grabbing the one they wanted and then I came along a picked up one of those packages that had been touched by an unclean virus carrying shopper?

You have to assume that everything in public has been handled by dozens of people before it gets into your cart.

The point I’ve been trying to make (and obviously failing at) is that the mask isn’t going to help you much with that. Because you’re touching everything in the store.

Here’s what you have to do:

- Wash your hands

- Put on mask

- Go to the store and get groceries

- Wash your hands when you get home, before you touch your face to remove the mask

- Remove the mask

- Wash your hands again, because they touched the mask

- Put away your groceries at home

- Wash your hands again, because they touched the stuff from the store.

How many people are doing that? That’s the sequence we follow when going into a patient’s room, and it takes a ton of practice. We have a “buddy system”, where someone watches you at each step with a checklist to make sure you don’t breach the protocol and get contaminated from your supposedly “protective” equipment. And that’s why the WHO says “wash your hands” as the priority.

Some people have asked, “what if someone sneezes right on my face?” That would be a disaster if they’re shedding. But if you look at a video of someone sneezing (someone posted one here earlier) they spray a massive amount of droplet all over you, and would need a face shield, not a mask alone. (We wear face shields in the patient’s room obviously).

Hardloper wrote:

seattle prattle wrote:

Likewise, i won't wear one either until that time.

Why not? Hospitals burn through masks so quickly (can't be re-used or disinfected, disposed of every time they see a patient) that when someone donates a box it doesn't really make any difference, and anyway, I'm not sure they would even risk using masks that somebody donated. I would argue they are better put to use if you keep them.

You might be surprised if you asked. There is technology available to disinfect (some) masks, and your community hospital would most certainly accept whatever equipment or help you offer.

These are not good times for us. Hospitals are not burning thru masks; they disinfect what they can, including masks and face shields

In my defense, I knew the peanut analogy was stupid when I made it. ?

I asked an infectious disease dr for a better one. Her example was the difference between a bird and a long jumper.

The bird can fly wherever it wants, as long as it wants, and can chase you down all day of it wants to attack you. That’s “airborne”.

A long jumper can jump several feet, but can only stay in the air for a few seconds, and will inevitably “drop”. That’s a “droplet”. Even the most talented long jumper isn’t “flying” or “airborne”.

So in order to inhale a droplet, it literally needs to be projected into your nose or mouth, as in someone has to sneeze or cough it straight at you, from a distance of less than a few feet (hence the 6 ft rule). It’s statistically not possible for one viral particle in a droplet to spontaneously find its way into your mouth otherwise. For an airborne illness, 600 ft won’t protect you, let alone 6. Just like the bird flying, the virus or bacteria can fly all around the store for whatever distance it feels like. That you would inhale easily (it’s also small enough to get past your upper airway defenses).

Alright. Thanks for another attempt, but again, that's not lining up with what's being reported, namely that the virus can stay suspended for hours in the air, not seconds.

The news yesterday just had a story about a church choir in which 45 out of 60 members got infected and two died. They said no one touched each other; no handshakes, hugs, etc. I mean, who knows, maybe they did, but if it's true, and a bunch of people in close proximity singing and shouting and talking all infected each other...

Maybe it's all a moot tangent anyway. But it's kind of crazy to think someone can cough in a store, and a few minutes/hours later someone can walk through that same area and a virus can be floating around waiting to get sucked into your nostrils.

That story is awful. And terrifying.

I hadn’t heard it, so I don’t know when that happened (as in before or after the lockdown). But that’s the worst possible scenario... people shoulder to shoulder doing one of the most dangerous things. Singing. Whoever was shedding was literally projecting the virus all over the choir.

(On a side note, that’s another thing that worries me about mask use.. it might give people impetus to put their guard down and ease up on distancing.. a choir singing close to each other is as dangerous as going into a patients room).

I wore one of my N95's out this morning to the store. I quite like it. Fewer ppl talk to me bc it makes me look unapproachable. I'm thinking of kicking it up a notch and wearing a full-out gas mask next time. Just for kicks.

Hardloper wrote:

seattle prattle wrote:

Please reference a major source that is suggesting we wear masks now because if there was one i must have missed it.

We at LetsRun are often ahead of the mainstream press. There's been some good links posted already in this thread, including an opinion piece in Washington Post. I expect the WHO and CDC to update their recommendations any day now.

But muh experts told me I shouldn't wear a mask last month. I wonder what else they are lying about? Maybe muh exponential growth?

My wife tried to buy masks in February telling me we need to start wearing them (her shipment was eventually cancelled in March). Looks like she was right.

From CNN:

"Experts tell White House coronavirus can spread through talking or even just breathing

From CNN Health’s Elizabeth Cohen

A prestigious scientific panel told the White House last night that research shows coronavirus can be spread not just by sneezes or coughs, but also just by talking, or possibly even just breathing.

"While the current [coronavirus] specific research is limited, the results of available studies are consistent with aerosolization of virus from normal breathing," according to the letter, written by Dr. Harvey Fineberg, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats."

We should have been wearing masks from the get-go:

"Two masks, no lockdown: Japan PM's latest coronavirus step riles social media"

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN21K0CQ

71 deaths as of 4/2

-126 million population

-26% over 65 (U.S. 16%)

- Close proximity to China

Soon everybody should wear a mask.

That might be true.

But if you can't get masks, you can't wear them.

You can't wear masks you don't have!

Stay at home wrote:

Soon everybody should wear a mask.

That might be true.

But if you can't get masks, you can't wear them.

You can't wear masks you don't have!

Stay at home wrote:

Soon everybody should wear a mask.

That might be true.

But if you can't get masks, you can't wear them.

You can't wear masks you don't have!

And dead men don't wear masks they don't have, for that matter.

not happenign wrote:

My wife tried to buy masks in February telling me we need to start wearing them (her shipment was eventually cancelled in March). Looks like she was right.

From CNN:

"Experts tell White House coronavirus can spread through talking or even just breathing

From CNN Health’s Elizabeth Cohen

A prestigious scientific panel told the White House last night that research shows coronavirus can be spread not just by sneezes or coughs, but also just by talking, or possibly even just breathing.

"While the current [coronavirus] specific research is limited, the results of available studies are consistent with aerosolization of virus from normal breathing," according to the letter, written by Dr. Harvey Fineberg, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats."

So safety glasses/facial shields would also be a good idea to keep the virus from blowing in to our eyes, correct?

Why wouldn't it make more sense to keep the groceries bagged up in your vehicle/basement/garage for a couple of days so any germs/viruses on them would die before placing them in you cabinets/pantries/refrigerator and potentially contaminating all of those places/surfaces? The same with your mail, newspapers, etc.??

That’s a tough one... I don’t actually know the answer. In other words, I don’t think anyone can tell you how long the virus is active on a solid / inanimate surface.