Talking about airborne transmission would make it too obvious that masks are pointless security theatre. Can't have that
Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
81–90 of 292 posts
Re: Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
#82When I look at this heat map of recent cases per capita in the US https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppressio... the first thing I see is hot spots all across the southeast and desert southwest. These places have widely varying governments and cultures, but the one thing they do have in common right now is: they're hot. My suspicion is that many of the outbreaks we've seen recently are caused by peop…
And this might switch in winter, as people in the south get outside more and the north buttons up for the cold.
Re: Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, this is the fundamental failure of this administration. Months ago we could have designed a high quality and visually unique mask with less than N95 efficiency but with a reasonable safety and comfort level. We should already have been manufacturing and distributing them at cost. They should be mandatory in all enclosed spaces and we could have prevented a lot of the spike in spread we are seeing now and are li…
There is no reason to design a worse mask than N95. They could have just manufactured more N95 masks and rationed them to prevent hoarding and speculating. Every household could get an N95 mask ration card to buy masks and decon tools like UV-C lights and sparky ozone generators.
People were not going to fit N95 masks properly or wear them for any extended period.
ADDED: In fact, I'd argue that making N95 masks mandatory (as opposed to face coverings more broadly) would be extremely bad policy even if they were readily available.
Re: Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
#84The article makes an excellent argument for the plausibility of indoor airflows being a major transmission vector. But I didn't see anything about ongoing research to quantify the transmission risks posed by aerosols vs. other transmission mechanisms. (Maybe I missed it?)
It's hard to make policy recommendations regarding aerosols if (a) we're not really sure how big a risk factor they pose and (b) the mitigations would be very expensive.
Re: Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why wasn't there a large spike with the recent protests in the participating demographic? https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/07/01/research-d... The chants "no justice, no peace"? "I can't breath"? Those were clear chants. Everyone breathing on each other while chanting. Unencumbered by a mask.
They're in the extremely well ventilated outdoors, and at least at the protests I was at there were very few people not wearing masks. Also, people in these gatherings tend to mill about, which means any contact with a stream of virus-infused exhalations will be brief and less likely to introduce a viable quantity into you.
This is what the Forbes article reports the Washington Post saying that Minnesota health officials believe, and it seems to make sense.
Re: Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
#86I think we can't talk about it because there is no agreement on terms, modes of transmission, etc. and public policy cannot be based on ambiguous terms (though it can be based on imperfect data).
Re: Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why wasn't there a large spike with the recent protests in the participating demographic? https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/07/01/research-d... The chants "no justice, no peace"? "I can't breath"? Those were clear chants. Everyone breathing on each other while chanting. Unencumbered by a mask.
Note that the findings don't say "those who went to the protests did not catch the virus or transmit it to others". They just say there wasn't an overall spike after the protests. The fourth bullet point addresses this directly: "The study’s lead author, Dhaval Dave of Bentley University, said, “In many cities, the protests actually seemed to lead to a net increase in social distancing, as more people who did not pro…
Also, though it isn't part of the NBER working paper, the Forbes article mentions that:
'the Minneapolis Department of Health reported that more than 15,000 people were tested at centers set up in communities affected by the protests, and 1.7% of tests came back positive—below the statewide average of about 3.6%. According to the Washington Post, protest attendees in Minneapolis returned positivity rates of less than 1% and that “officials believe the low infection rates reflect that the protests were outside, that most people wore masks and that people spent most of their time in motion, circulating through the crowd.”'
Re: Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can only assume you're being downvoted because you've confused the chicken and the egg. Partisan issues don't exist because articles like this are useless and ineffective. Partisan stances on this sort of thing is what makes people believe articles like this are useless . You have it backwards. I would absolutely agree, though, that there is no such thing as a cultural 'shared reality' anymore. That is the base of…
But the whole point of the chicken and the egg problem is that it is not apparent which came first.
Yes, I think an analogy about a cart and horse was instead called for.
Re: Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
#89There is a weird disconnect. Everyone seems to acknowledge the most likely way to transmit COVID is via droplets when indoor. Yet, there is little discussion about ventilation. Maybe people felt like there was less they could do?
Gyms and restaurants have had their air conditioning off in Aus. Israel turned off their bus air conditioning. This isn't breaking news but I suspect it would be a new angle to the media rhetoric for a few countries and media outlets.
It's the middle of summer in the US so that's not going to go over well here. Just another thing for Karens to yell about and get on the news.
Re: Why aren’t we talking more about airborne transmission?
#90https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/ataglance/855/ From April, Japan has been on top of this for a little while. Impressive science imho.
And yet Japanese government declared victory and campaigned against protective measures leading to a massive re-ourbreak, "for the economy"
Japan has some really impressive universities and, as a rich country, is able to nurture all sorts of talent.
The Japanese ruling party is a bunch of old people from a few traditional families mixed with some new faces.
It’s very unfortunate how little these two worlds (talented people and politicians) collide.