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Coronavirus: the second-weirdest solution?

scottaaronson.com

21–30 of 52 posts

Re: Coronavirus: the second-weirdest solution?

#22

What boggles me is why modern buildings still have so many manual doors with handles. At least in the building I work in, you could easily eliminate a ton of doors and not reduce access control flexibility. The rest could be made automatic with some keycard authentication.

Not sure of your specific building, but they may be designed as fire doors, in the event of a fire, to isolate areas of the building.

Re: Coronavirus: the second-weirdest solution?

#23
post #4

Rather than covering everything with dirt, you just have to make everyone believe it. In HK, this has been quite successful. Pretty much everyone refuses to touch the buttons on an elevator, handrails on escalators or the MTR etc.

How do people get from floor to floor in the elevator?

Re: Coronavirus: the second-weirdest solution?

#24

Some people suggested using copper handles in hospitals, since it has antimicrobial properties. I think the practical problem was that you need to clear the oxidized parts or it doesn't work. There were some other suggested materials too. On a lighter note, people seem to adapt their behavior just fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgYL4rZC0v8

I feel like brass may be better, as it contains zinc and copper and does not oxidize as easily. How about an alloy of zinc, silver and copper?

I'm living in a 1930s house and every interior door handle is brass.

Edit: Photo: http://oirase.annexia.org/tmp/20200307_141218_HDR.jpg And yes, thanks anonymous previous householder for inexplicably moving the doorknob about a quarter of an inch to the left.

Re: Coronavirus: the second-weirdest solution?

#25

Some people suggested using copper handles in hospitals, since it has antimicrobial properties. I think the practical problem was that you need to clear the oxidized parts or it doesn't work. There were some other suggested materials too. On a lighter note, people seem to adapt their behavior just fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgYL4rZC0v8

I feel like brass may be better, as it contains zinc and copper and does not oxidize as easily. How about an alloy of zinc, silver and copper?

Probably a lot better and sounds good. Advantage to disinfectants is that we probably would have fewer problems with resistant germs. In my country everything is meticulously disinfected in hospitals, but many have problems with the norovirus which is quite resistant. Not a too dangerous disease on its own, but in hospitals it is a serious problem that can cost lives.

Re: Coronavirus: the second-weirdest solution?

#27

The info from China shows that it spreads primarily through inhaling droplets, not through touching surfaces. Which is why I expect the epidemic to be way way worse outside of Asia, since in the West people don't wear masks and are actively discouraged by the health authorities.

From what I have observed, it seems both South Korea’s and China’s outbreaks are largest among cities near rivers.

I have also read of the virus being detected in feces.

Is it possible the virus is being spread via the water supply?

The waste treatment plants dump into the river, as well as septic runoff, and humans just deciding to defecate in or near the rivers.

Additionally, if it is possible for dogs to carry the virus, I assume it could be excreted via canine feces, as well.

If the water treatment plants are also using the river as the source of water, what prevents the virus from spreading this way?

Re: Coronavirus: the second-weirdest solution?

#28
post #19

I got sick 12 times my first year living in a city again. I got pretty paranoid after that and now I mentally have a "my hands are infected" notion as soon as I touch something outside the house. The very first thing I do upon entering my apartment or a restaurant is to wash them. Unfortunately I still touch my face sometimes while my hands are potentially dirty, I need to be more careful about that. I've got sick a…

It could also be because your immune system got used to the change in environment.

I honestly don’t understand the particular level of fear around COVID-19 when compared to other flu outbreaks. Can anyone point me to a concise explanation? I mean, I get that it’s a new virus we’ve never seen before, but what distinctly sets it apart? Everything I’ve read says that it affects older people and those with a compromised immune system the worst, which is just like any flu. Is it mostly that we’re worried about what we don’t know that we don’t know? Not trying to be dismissive, I just feel like I’m missing something. I don’t remember the panic around swine flu or bird flu being like this.

Also does anyone know why people are panic-buying toilet paper in my country?

Re: Coronavirus: the second-weirdest solution?

#29

Some people suggested using copper handles in hospitals, since it has antimicrobial properties. I think the practical problem was that you need to clear the oxidized parts or it doesn't work. There were some other suggested materials too. On a lighter note, people seem to adapt their behavior just fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgYL4rZC0v8

I feel like brass may be better, as it contains zinc and copper and does not oxidize as easily. How about an alloy of zinc, silver and copper?

Apparently brass does work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_copper-alloy_tou...

Re: Coronavirus: the second-weirdest solution?

#30
post #19

I got sick 12 times my first year living in a city again. I got pretty paranoid after that and now I mentally have a "my hands are infected" notion as soon as I touch something outside the house. The very first thing I do upon entering my apartment or a restaurant is to wash them. Unfortunately I still touch my face sometimes while my hands are potentially dirty, I need to be more careful about that. I've got sick a…

It could also be because your immune system got used to the change in environment. I honestly don’t understand the particular level of fear around COVID-19 when compared to other flu outbreaks. Can anyone point me to a concise explanation? I mean, I get that it’s a new virus we’ve never seen before, but what distinctly sets it apart? Everything I’ve read says that it affects older people and those with a compromised…

The death rate, and the infectivity rate.

Normal flu is about 0.005%, estimates on this are about 1%, assuming that your country can rapidly expand its Intensive Care Units to handle the influx. R is estimated between 2-6, evidence in the last 2 weeks from Europe suggests the higher end of that scale. It is spreading very rapidly.

Although we can´t really trust the figures from China, we know that whatever was happening in Wuhan in early December/January was sufficiently bad for them to put half the country under strict quarantine. Even a bad flu season, would not have triggered that kind of reaction.

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