Told myself i wouldn’t respond and be baited if you posted garbage again, but I think the podcast you posted is actually credible and raises a lot of valid questions. I’ll get to that.
Your post regarding the surgeon general as well as my quotes are taken from quite a while back. You’re not stupid, you’re just intentionally and incredibly good at finding ways to try and make a point regardless of validity.
This is a completely new disease, and since January we have been simultaneously having to learn about it, diagnose, treat, and educate the masses.
Obviously much has changed over the course of the last 6 months.
The surgeon generals message was in February- he had one agenda in mind: preservation of PPE. Healthcare workers could not get their hands on PPE at that time. In addition, the disease wasn’t widespread, certainly not as prevalent, and mask wearing was erratic. These were all reasons behind his message. He changed his tune once the disease spread.
My message re N95s stands. I still think they offer the best protection. I wear a p100 reusable face mask through the entirety of my shifts. Not all my colleagues do, but it’s a decision I’ve made for myself.
This ties the podcast in. The truth is that we don’t have high quality evidence showing the effectiveness OR the ineffectiveness of surgical masks and especially cloth masks in transmission.
We are learning a whole lot about this illness. We do know historically that surgical masks are effective in droplet control. We also know (and your podcast mentions) that chance of infection transmission is a product of viral load exposure x time. So what does that mean?
If you’re standing next to someone and are speaking for an hour, that’s a low viral load for a long time. You will be at risk.
If you’re standing next to someone and they let out a big sneeze, that’s a large viral load coming your way. You’re most likely going to get infected.
This is where the concept of these masks come in. The concept is that if both parties are wearing masks, then the mask will at least grab the droplets and not allow for leakage, while allowing some aerosolized particles through, and that the same goes for the healthy individual.
If you reduce the viral load exposure, you make it less likely for the transmission AND if you do get it, lower severity of illness.
Now I will tell you I still wear an N95 because I am wary of aerosolized particles at work. But walking in the grocery store, not being exposed to an individual for a prolonged period of time, with everyone wearing masks is a different story. The CDC, WHO, and just about every organization has come to believe that this illness is MOSTLY spread through large droplets. Yes it can aerosolize but that is a secondary mode of transmission.
I can tell you our standard in the hospitals statewide is still to wear surgical masks unless performing aerosolizing procedures. We have had voluntary employee testing and have found only 1% and change of our employees have been infected, which obviously shows we’re doing something right. The staff I know personally that got infected was in the early times of the pandemic where they weren’t wearing masks unless patients had respiratory complaints.
An interesting observational report is at Great Clips where 2 stylists tested positive and potentially exposed 140 people. This is by no means a controlled study but they did require all stylists and customers to wear masks. None of the 140 clients they exposed tested positive as of yet
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kansas ... 90216.html
The bottom line is to protect yourself. You are correct, this virus isn’t going away any time soon. You’re completely incorrect in concluding that we might as well just live with it.
Protect yourself. You can’t wear a mask and just have a big house party. I don’t think you can wear a mask and go to a concert with tons of people standing around for hours in a closed environment. Wear a mask so that ithe occasion you do go shopping, or walk by others at the mall, or Home Depot, your viral load exposure is significantly reduced, and your time exposure is already low, so you will likely be fine.
I would make a great attempt to purchase surgical masks over cloth masks- yes.
So yes I think the podcast you shared was the first intelligent piece of material you have presented and contributed to this group. Do not come in here with the CO2, bacteria spontaneously growing in the mask bullshit. Healthcare workers are wearing masks for 12+ hours per day and we’re fine. You can wear a mask for the 30 minutes you’re at a store.