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Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

nature.com

251–260 of 404 posts

Re: Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which governments specifically? Also, you say that they failed to avoid panic but where have you seen some? From what I’ve seen some governments said a few incorrect or misleading things at a time where we had a lot of uncertainty and contradictory information. And then corrected once information became better. Overall western governments (I’m mostly familiar with Western Europe and the US) have been quite good at co…

Speaking for France, we had a lot of flat out lies throughout the pandemic. The most obvious one was on masks and their lack of protection, hammered week after week by the gov spokesperson, until there was enough masks to be distributed. Then masks started to be pushed by the gov, people were encouraged to make their own, and we all know the story from there. There was no lack of information or evidence, and they pai…

Masks in general provide very little protection. I recommend you listen to the explanations by infectious disease experts Dr. Monica Gandhi and Dr. Michael Osterholm. Only properly fitted N95 (or equivalent) masks provide significant protection. Throughout the pandemic most people weren't wearing those, and those who did mostly wore them incorrectly.

https://peterattiamd.com/covid-part2/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5VSukFrMYGae1ILd0e4HuR?si=F...

Re: Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

#252
post #104

It is rather interesting to consider that many countries in Asia (China / Japan / Taiwan / Vietnam / Malaysia that I am aware of) happily ignored the WHO on masks and, with regards to Japan, actively promoted the airborne nature of COVID-19 early on. I remember seeing specials on NHK visualising the spread from a sneezing person in a room in March 2020. There were also a lot of helpful PSAs like the 3C model [0] and…

I think one of us is misreading things. > with regards to Japan, actively promoted the airborne nature of COVID-19 early on. I remember seeing specials on NHK visualising the spread from a sneezing person in a room in March 2020. Sneezing would be the droplets distribution theory, which is now "debunked". If the virus is airborne, there's no need to sneeze to spread it.

> Sneezing would be the droplets distribution theory, which is now "debunked".

Droplets only? Do you not find sneezing to be a highly effective method of spreading airborne pathogens?

> If the virus is airborne, there's no need to sneeze to spread it.

You’re essentially saying, “if the virus was airborne it could be spread through coughs too” to which the NHK study says, “yes, and sneezes.”

But they studied coughs too https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H2azcn7MqOU

Re: Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

#253

"Taking full precautions against airborne transmission would require major changes at hospitals" Major changes such as, er, occasionally opening a window to let some fresh air in? That's a basic, obvious precaution that's been known since the dawn of time that wasn't done at all in the UK hospital ward where my mother caught and then died from Covid late last year. I know because I was there. The cluelessness re. vir…

i’m not sure operating theatres, ICUs, NICUs, private examination rooms, MRI facilities, etc. have much in way of windows. i also don’t think i’d appreciate a gentle breeze rolling over my internal organs whilst my appendix is being removed :) i’m sorry for your loss. there’s no doubt that governmental denial and reckless mismanagement - especially prevalent in the early days of the pandemic - is directly responsible…

There's quite a difference between a ward like they talked about and an operating theatre. There may well be valid reasons for keeping windows shut in the former too, but jumping to talk about the latter was a bit irrelevant since (except for the teams who work in their all day, who are a tiny % of the hospital population) time spent in wards is far greater, and surrounded by far more unmasked people, than time spent in theatres.

Re: Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. CDC (I believe) was claiming that N95 masks won't help as much as other masks. Later it turned out they just didn't want to create scarcity for N95 masks because hospitals need them. This is the most probable explanation for governments around the world saying that masks are “Absolutely useless” (literal quote) until June 2020. It is lying-as-a-form-of-governance. It’s extremely detrimental to credibility: From…

> I’m surprised that individual governments didn’t even think about “Let’s not participate to a blatant lie, let’s tell people we don’t have masks and they should not buy one to let them available to hospitals, but tell them they should wear anything they have at home.” No government used the pedagogy method. They all opted for lie-as—a-policy, and-pretend-it’s-science. They probably thought about the decent method,…

I disagree. The appeal to solidarity w.r.t. masks would never have worked because a tiny minority of scalpers can ruin it all. But the white lie didn't work either, so it seems like the worse option regardless.

Appeals to solidarity w.r.t. staying at home, wearing masks, getting vaccinated to flatten the curve all worked quite well in my bubble. Projects like Zero Covid would have required insanely high levels of compliance. If you say "anything involving solidarity with others does not work anymore", how high is your bar? What used to work but now doesn't?

(I'd guess that solidarity is lower than it used to be, but if anything I am surprised how much goodwill still exists considering growing inequality, atomization, erosion of public trust and all that.)

Re: Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

#255

It is rather interesting to consider that many countries in Asia (China / Japan / Taiwan / Vietnam / Malaysia that I am aware of) happily ignored the WHO on masks and, with regards to Japan, actively promoted the airborne nature of COVID-19 early on. I remember seeing specials on NHK visualising the spread from a sneezing person in a room in March 2020. There were also a lot of helpful PSAs like the 3C model [0] and…

> Japan, actively promoted the airborne nature of COVID-19 early on Yes, but Japan is a leader in airborne disease prevention. I mean, if you visit Japan during a "normal" winter season you will observe two things: 1) Widespread mask-wearing in public spaces 2) Japanese not turning up to work to cough and splutter all over their colleagues Both the above never happened in the West. It was hard enough to get your aver…

The reality is we still don't know why Japan had a relatively low death rate. The factors you mentioned aren't sufficient to account for the difference relative to similar countries. Lower obesity was surely a factor but there's something else going on.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/22/japan-covid-...

Re: Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to your hunch “wow this spreads fast”, there was also highly suggestive evidence that came out bit by bit. The one that sticks in my head was the news report of the virus spreading at a choir rehearsal in March of 2020: Sixty singers showed up. A greeter offered hand sanitizer at the door, and members refrained from the usual hugs and handshakes.... After 2½ hours, the singers parted ways at 9 p.m. Nearly…

Previously, in February 2020, when the cruise ship Diamond Princess was quarantined in Japan with passengers locked down in their cabins and COVID continued to spread between the cabins, that was my "this is an airborne virus" moment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_on_Diamond_P...

[deleted]

Re: Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem confused. Popular narrative is not driven by scientist, it's driven by saber rattling morons who will crucify anyone that speaks against them. For example, what the scientific community understood about efficacy of masks, and how utterly useless cloth masks are, disappeared overnight with covid. Perhaps your memory is failing you but I can recall people being chastised for even suggesting they might be usele…

Cloth masks are not as good as properly fitted KN95/99 masks, but they are not utterly useless. There's a ton of evidence supporting this, and it doesn't help your argument to deny it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7510705/

Cloth masks do very little. I recommend you listen to the explanations by infectious disease experts Dr. Monica Gandhi and Dr. Michael Osterholm.

https://peterattiamd.com/covid-part2/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5VSukFrMYGae1ILd0e4HuR?si=F...

Re: Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem confused. Popular narrative is not driven by scientist, it's driven by saber rattling morons who will crucify anyone that speaks against them. For example, what the scientific community understood about efficacy of masks, and how utterly useless cloth masks are, disappeared overnight with covid. Perhaps your memory is failing you but I can recall people being chastised for even suggesting they might be usele…

Cloth masks are not as good as properly fitted KN95/99 masks, but they are not utterly useless. There's a ton of evidence supporting this, and it doesn't help your argument to deny it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7510705/

Holding you hand in front of your mouth panther utterly useless either.

Re: Why the WHO took two years to say Covid is airborne

#259
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"But clothes" isn't an argument.

Very compelling. Go on then, tell us why you feel a mask is an infringement on your bodily autonomy but pants shirt shoes aren’t.

Strawman. Not an argument.
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