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Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

news.northwestern.edu

141–150 of 185 posts

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#141

I know a guy who still wears a half-face respirator every time he's in public even for just a second. I think at this rate he'll be wearing it for the rest of his life, unable to accept a new level of risk and move on with his life. I'd like to help him but I see no possible way, he's convinced that I and 99% of the rest of the public are suicidally insane like people who play literal russian roulette.

Maybe they are immunocompromised or spend time with people that are? I had a friend that would never get together even after vaccines were plentiful and infection rates were low because he spends time around people that are.

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#142
post #140
post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My read wasn't that they made an assessment of vaccine on severity. Rather, I read that they found that it had no impact on transmission. They found that, on average, self reported severity correlated with transmission. However, they then state that transmission does not correlate with vaccination status. I could hope that they mean there is no extra relation between vaccination status and transmission above reduced…

I agree it is poorly stated, but that is what they mean, no extra impact beyond reduced symptoms and the benefit thereof.

How do you know that?

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#143
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It absolutely reduces your ability to take it oxygen easily." This is absolutely false. There is very strong evidence that masks do not effect gas exchange. One example of many: https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/face-masks-may-inc... Masks do make your lung muscles work slightly harder, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Your first sentence and last sentence basically contradict each other....

It means your diaphragm has to do more work to open and close your lungs. However you’re still able to get plenty of oxygen.

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#144
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds reasonable, but even then it doesn't mean someone shouldn't wear a mask. Their performance would be decreased, but it doesn't mean that it would be medically dangerous (they would not have low blood oxygenation, for example).

I'm currently dating a 6th grade school teacher. She said when they returned to school with masks the kids were for sure more lethargic and even woozy more often than she had ever seen in her 10 years teaching. As masks were removed over time, it went away more and more.

There are lots of other explanations for that. For example, it could be confirmation bias. It could also be that a lot of the kids had long COVID and the effects are wearing off over time.

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#145
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first sentence and last sentence basically contradict each other....

It means your diaphragm has to do more work to open and close your lungs. However you’re still able to get plenty of oxygen.

I guess my personal experiences mowing lawns and dirtbiking in a mask are meaningless and false. I got it. I just have to do more work, but it's no harder, and I can still get 'plenty' of air, as long as I don't need more than totally sedentary.

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#146
The concept of measuring "viral copies" in breath is pretty cool, seems like a brand new technique? I can see it being invaluable in studying respitory viruses going forward.

The only shortcoming of this study is the lack of data points _prior_ to symptoms. One of the hotly contested points of hygiene policy during the pandemic was about how the virus spreads before symptoms show up.

I'm unsure if there's a study that already settles this, but this new method seems like a sure fire way.

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Unlike like measles or polio The polio vaccine children receive today in the United States is non-steralizing. If this anti-vaxxer assumption was meaningful, we wouldn't have fewer cases of polio. >We did this for chicken pox until a couple decades ago. Fun, because that's having great side effects, notably, that shingles sucks ass, and now that there isn't a giant amount of chickenpox virus in every closed space be…

I'm not familiar with _unvaxed_ people getting coronavirus multiple times (prior infection confirmed by antibody blood test). I got it once and blood tests show continued strong antibodies. Since then I haven't even had the flu in a couple years. I have heard of many vaxed people getting coronavirus multiple times, including prominent world leaders.

>I'm not familiar with _unvaxed_ people getting coronavirus multiple times (prior infection confirmed by antibody blood test).

Then you simply aren't paying attention. Most of my anti-vax relatives have gotten covid multiple times.

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like the CDC reducing the suggested isolation time from 10 days to 5 was a mistake.

Not when the intent behind the decision was to keep people at work, consequences be damned.

Yes, it was only a mistake if you consider that control of the spread of the virus was of utmost importance. The real mistake was letting controlling spread take precedence over literally everything.

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#149
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there's literally no downside for him to wearing a mask, why do you even care?

People care because it impinges on the mass denial all of all the death and harm inflicted during the pandemic, as well as the ongoing dangers and unknowns of our new, post-COVID reality. This isn’t uncommon in history, but it unfortunately tends to take a few cycles of mass death before humans adapt their culture and social behavior to the world as it exists (vs. how it was before or they wish it could be). We’re st…

Very few people are dying of COVID-19 anymore. There's no valid reason to change human culture and social behavior just because we now have five endemic coronaviruses instead of four.

Re: Covid patients breathe out large amounts of virus early on

#150
post #142
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree it is poorly stated, but that is what they mean, no extra impact beyond reduced symptoms and the benefit thereof.

How do you know that?

Because their paper states it. That’s what is meant by “when accounting for etc” in:

“We found that vaccinated and unvaccinated participants exhaled similar numbers of SARS-CoV-2 RNA copies (Fig 2C), when accounting for age, sex, presence of co-morbidities, days since symptom onset and symptom severity”

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