It isnt really a “right” or “wrong” thing, but IMHO its likely that the effectiveness looks something like
No masks----cloth masks------surgical masks------------------------------------------------N95 masks
Then other layers, but obviously I dont think full respirators are going to be mandated basically ever.
These decisions are all political to some extent, and maybe reality is just cloth masks are the best we can get here even in the bluest of states, but the data sort of indicates that cloth maskers are probably much closer to the unmasked than they are to the people wearing N95 in terms of spreading COVID. Some places (Germany i believe for one) are mandating N95 in certain high risk places (public transport, etc), and I dont really see why that is impossible here, at least in certain localities.
Would you guys knock this shit off please? No one cares about who said what when, except the principals who are gunking up the thread. You have a dedicated bickering thread - please use it.
Yeah, better ventilation is going to be key, and will have the nice side benefit of us all getting fewer respiratory illnesses going forward. We’ve made strides here, but it is still sort of haphazard and Im not sure how far along we are. Not like CO2 monitors with standards or anything are happening but, for example, the well off schools around here all completely redid their ventilation. Probably part of the reason why opening hasnt been the complete disaster I feared (although, anecdotally, still a lot more COVID and classes remote than at this time last year for schools that opened).
I dont know if bad masks are worse than no masks. I see what you are saying, but there are a lot of people who are living as if we are post pandemic masked or unmasked and at least slapping something on people’s faces has some positive value if it is done universally. I do think its all inferior than just requiring N95 for many indoor activities, especially where vax isnt mandated. I dont think vax+N95 would eliminate COVID, but think that addition would be the least disruptive way to knock down case counts more effectively from current unsustainable levels/where we get to in the next wave rather than the current approach of essentially just waiting for the wave to crest. Even if mandates are unpalatable, I think the benefit of changing the messaging away from any mask is a good one to wear N95 for indoor activities would be an improvement from where we are now (not riskless, will get the propaganda of "see masks dont work, etc, but think on balance we would be better off)
I think there’s room for conversation in this thread without it devolving into bickering and that conversation is worth having. To start though we need to focus on topics of discussion and not on who said what or when they said it.
This thread used to be discussion about COVID that was a week+ ahead of the mainstream media on things like masking and now it’s become a repository of generic COVID information, I think we can get it back to the way it was if we can refocus on discussing things more and nitpicking less.
No one posting here is anti-vax, anti-mask, or a COVID denier so let’s stop leveling these accusations at one another.
I know I was transparent about likely-limited modding from the get-go - and hopefully I’ve been better than nothing - but I regret not having more time to invest in better-navigating all of this. @otatop and @Rugby have been doing the lion’s share in obvious good-faith, and deserve way more credit than most of you are giving them.
That-said, I’m not sure it’s an easily-solvable problem. It seems like we have two sides with opposing ideas about what the identity of our COVID thread should be - either a place for scientifically-qualified experts to exchange ideas or a place for people of varied qualifications to discuss and process what is often-confusing pandemic information. It’s theoretically possible to do both, but I understand the frustrations in both directions based on what’s been happening thus-far.
I’m on my way to work, but will try to work through this when I have some more time. Please stop being assholes. It’s impossible for anyone to be right all the time, when we’re in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic.
In the meantime, bring on the new mods asap. There’s no way that three of us can stop all the fires like this before they become an issue.
Covid has been running wild through my group of friends, all of us fully vaccinated. I think I got mine while attending a concert at the House of Blues here in Vegas, or at the Inn Zone while watching a MI game. Another friend of mine picked it up from another fully vaxxed person they were smoking weed with, but wasn’t sick yet. My GF probably got it from me. I was like a day ahead on symptoms, and she was not at the concert I was at. All of us have been fully vaxxed for 6 months plus, a mix of Pfizer and Modernas in our group. A booster needs to be in my plans. I think I am fat enough to qualify.
Just scheduled my booster for this Sunday. I’m probably mildly cheating the system as I’m in education, but my only class this semester is with 5 students one day a week. But that doesn’t seem like a major sin.
More looking forward to getting my youngest a shot in the arm next week. FDA meets tomorrow, hopefully CDC approves 11/2.
Yes. I dont think the top row effectiveness is linear, that jump from surgical mask to KN95/N95 is massive although I admittedly dont know how much difference there is from KN95 to N95. Oversimplified because this isnt exactly how it works, but goes from something in the minutes of added protection from wearing cloth masks to hours in N95 masks. Also reduces exposure and some evidence that severity of disease and amount of virus exposure are linked.
Fit is an issue and, while Id have to dig to find the details, a few studies have shown an imperfect N95 fit is still a jump from cloth/surgical
Masks have also seemed like the cheapest NPI on a societal level and the easiest to expand upon in terms of bang for your buck. It isnt that much of a step up from wear a mask to wear an N95 mask and, even if it isnt perfectly adhered to or isnt used for all activities it seems like a good step to take when transmission is high.
Im certainly not perfect at this, but have definitely moved towards wearing N95 for most indoor activity where Im going to be in contact with other people for unknown/extended periods of time (outside of medical appointments where most places I go require you to wear a surgical mask they provide, which is another discussion).
I also think we should be uber careful of removing indoor mask mandates. IMO it was borderline criminal to remove them before everyone of all ages was eligible for vaccination and (using Fauci’s metric as a crayon not pencil rubric), I still wouldnt remove them until cases were down below the equivalent of 10K for the entire country for an extended period of time.
In reality, even here in MA where there are local mandates, there is a rush to get rid of them ASAP and high schools are starting to push to unmask as soon as next week if they have hit certain vaccination levels.
Im overweight and live with high risk people, so I am almost certainly getting one after six months however I need to do it. Still unclear to me whether mix and match is best, but I have a little time.
Its pretty unethical for us all to get boosters while the US has done so little to promote worldwide boosters, but best to fight that fight in other channels than let boosters sit in the warehouse at this point.
Here’s a thoughtful response. You getting mad about somebody making a “super cute” snarky dunk looks pretty hypocritical.
I hesitate to speak for goofy or anybody else but I’m confident nobody’s “vision for this place” is you being unwilling or even hesitant to post what you think is interesting and/or worthy of discussion. But obviously you should be prepared for scrutiny. Trying to force everything into this “dynamic” you’re perceiving (i.e., unfair scrutiny of certain posters) is not helping.
Also, this weaponizing of likes has got to stop. People like posts for different reasons, and if I’d seen it I might have liked goofy’s post simply because it was funny. It doesn’t have to mean a serious endorsement of an obvious joke.
think the n95 would still be a lot tighter. There’s probably not much of a risk reduction in normal clinical contexts though, especially if vaccinated.
