outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

A 60 second breath test seems like a major breakthrough

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/singapore-provisionally-approves-60-second-covid-19-breathalyser-test-2021-05-24/

15 or so months into a pandemic this seems kind of incredible, even for this utter shit show of a government. Update the guidance for areas hardest hit by the Indian variant but don't actually bother telling anyone about it other than changing your website

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57232728

yeah i was a bit wtf when i woke up this morning reading this.

I think my mind is now is a position of just accepting and having to deal with all this unsettling for another couple of years, perhaps a lot longer who knows. I'm not even sure I can get my head around returning to pubs and spending £££ each week on beer.

https://lessonsfromthecrisis.substack.com/p/what-on-earth-happened-with-covid

Good substack looking at the pandemic and how plenty of scientific consensus in the West was anti-mask

Zeynep Tufekci wrote a piece in the New York Times questioning the existing consensus and pointing out the obvious: of course masks work

this was the article I read last year that made me consider buying one for the first time.

and then suddenly, patriots across the country all felt a similar thought - "i betcha they don't!"

still feel like we missed a golden opportunity there to gather up all the most respected high-profile doctors and left wing politicians on one big stage to state emphatically that rat poison is bad, rat poison will kill you, do not under any circumstances ingest rat poison, please for the sake of everyone who loves you never ever ever take rat poison.

i am kind of an asshole.

fwiw i literally take rat poison (warfarin) to keep me alive, so

that is an awesome flex, something to casually mention anytime you're conversing with a rodent

FWIW, I definitely think masks work, but I don't think cloth masks on kids does much of anything and I think it's time to end that.

E.g. here:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257467v1

No correlation between COVID spread and school mask mandates

And just as it makes sense to me that masks work (when of proper material and properly fitted), it completely makes sense to me why they don't make much difference with respect to kids who (1) have trouble wearing them properly, as I have observed, and (2) don't spread COVID as efficiently anyway.

Just because your own kids got covid doesn’t mean everyone else’s have to too

Maybe that didn't post. I'll post it again.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257467v1

No correlation between COVID spread and school mask mandates

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, May 25, 2021 8:10 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I mean honestly if you are terrified of your kids getting COVID, keep them home, but flimsy cloth masks with huge gaps around the nose aren't going to stop it.

while we're at it, maybe we can get rid of other superstitious practices too, like "deep cleaning" and quarantining library books

Yeah those are definitely both the same as wearing masks

im in favour of not eliminating deep cleaning

^^^^^^^

fuck deep cleaning

I mean honestly if you are terrified of your kids getting COVID, keep them home, but flimsy cloth masks with huge gaps around the nose aren't going to stop it.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 26 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

Lol ok you do you. Some kids will find masks harder but we are mostly talking about what the advice was for adults.

Having said that the main takeaway from that piece is how governments and scientists often treat people like children in the lack of trust placed in people to wear masks properly and wash them regularly. Also some racism in thinking countries from the East don't know what they are doing but that's more par for the course.

while we're at it, maybe we can get rid of other superstitious practices too, like "deep cleaning" and quarantining library books

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, May 26, 2021 2:39 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The virus spreads via the air, not surfaces. But continue with your strawman argument it's illuminating

i think man alive was being serious there!

i.e. you agree

but go ahead with your sarcastic disdain, it’s the lingua franca around here!

kids wearing masks made out of cold cuts do not work either.

it's so hard to tell tone on this place anymore--i def think masks work on kids

but i really don't want to get into it--if you don't see that masks are part of the solution, i can't really help you!

every mask made of poorly fitting slices helps™️

to be clear, I was pro face masks in high density public places (maybe not in water parks) before we were 1.5 years into a global pandemic.

I've been to my partner's school and kids are pretty responsible about masking. They have to be nudged, yes, because they're children. But by and large they're not assholes about it, except the ones that are, because - children. Maybe it's the school teachers being dismissive or laissez-faire that's the problem, not the kids.

this was my understanding:

Surfaces - virus mainly spreads by air but the virus can still survive for short periods (day or two?) on surfaces so always best to wipe and be safe
Masks - usage is to prevent the wearer from spreading the virus, and not the other way around.

(I might have misunderstood what yall debating right now, so sorry in advance)

the children will generally do as they're told about the masks, except for the ones with behavioral issues. by and large they're fine with following the rules. it's the adults that are the problem.

I think the wearing of masks is one of the things that more than a few ppl will carry on with if and when this is finally over.

Especially if it reduces the risk of flu and allergic reactions.

Or if you wanted to never show your face to people/troll. That is going to be my reason.

yeah I'm kinda happy i don't need to worry about my forever recurring chin zit at the moment.

Masks - usage is to prevent the wearer from spreading the virus, and not the other way around.

actually, we've gotten evidence about masks protecting the user after all: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/11/933903848/wear-masks-to-protect-yourself-from-the-coronavirus-not-only-others-cdc-stresses

I was supposed to see a friend this summer so we could introduce our kids to each other, but it slowly became clear that he was not and had no intention of getting vaccinated. He even brought up the whole HIPAA thing.

Surfaces - virus mainly spreads by air but the virus can still survive for short periods (day or two?) on surfaces so always best to wipe and be safe

in perfect lab conditions yes, but I think in reality the virus doesn't survive more than a couple minutes on a given surface? I remember reading that surface transmission was incredibly rare

lol people think HIPAA just means "i can't tell you about my medical history", not that it's an act that prevents providers from broadly sharing someone's medical history to people who aren't authorized to obtain it.

Elementary school-aged kids do generally listen about the masks, they just tend not to wear them well or be conscientious about them slipping off, so without non-stop reminders they become ineffective. Middle and high school kids are much less likely to listen at all. This is from my experience around elementary school aged kids plus my wife's experience teaching.

I also think it's silly to make kids wear them outside since there is zero evidence of children spreading COVID outside.

there's nothing wrong with being clean, my issue are many companies will brag about their next level cleaning process while doing none of the other CDC recommended measures like distancing people, limiting capacity, requiring masks, etc.

it was a move companies used to use to try and silence complaints:

"guys, we're safe - we bring in the SANITIZER5000 and it zaps all germs/viruses/bacteria! also btw everybody sits in this restaurant naked and we don't require masks cos we think it's unnecessary"

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/05/26/1025361/us-promoting-vaccine-tourism-new-york/

the children will generally do as they're told about the masks, except for the ones with behavioral issues. by and large they're fine with following the rules. it's the adults that are the problem.

data point: I have an intellectually disabled kid with severe behavioral issues, and he's a more consistent mask advocate than anyone I know. His world is chaos so he loves routine.

We're in the car together on the way to school.

DAD - MAS ON!

Mind you, we live together, so we've been breathing shared air for ten years, including the last year and a half. My wife and I are fully vaccinated and our 13-year-old is half vaccinated.

DAD - MAS ON!

Dude, I will put my mask on when we get there, but right now we're in the car.

DAD - MAS ON!

Okay, okay, here. See? I have mask on.

fuck it mask off

yeah i don't really buy the idea that kids/teens wont wear masks. . . i bet its the parents that are the problem

at this point I’m genuinely concerned about all the surface cleaning, both in terms of creating the evolutionary pressure for superbugs and of my own immune regulation. I’m not anti-hygiene, I wash my hands (with non-antibacterial soap!) regularly and do plenty of other things to be conscientious towards others, but sterilizing every damn public surface umpteen times a day just does not seem healthy on the population level, especially after it’s been proven many times over that it has no effect on the pandemic. Most immune systems get a net benefit from sub-infectious exposure to ambient bacteria!

yeah i don't really buy the idea that kids/teens wont wear masks. . . i bet its the parents that are the problem

― a (waterface), Wednesday, May 26, 2021 8:48 AM (thirteen minutes ago)

🤐

sterilizing every damn public surface umpteen times a day

I just... are we actually doing this? I don't think my kids' school is but they're distancing and they bought expensive new air filters