Posted on 07/08/2020 6:53:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
If you're working in an office or eating in a restaurant and someone 30 feet away exhales tiny particles of coronavirus, those particles can drift across the room and infect you. Picture cigarette smoke wafting across a room. Same thing. The precautions agencies like the World Health Organization and the federal CDC are telling you to take against this virus aren't good enough. Social distancing -- placing desks and restaurant tables six feet apart -- and washing your hands won't protect you from this airborne virus.
That's not fear-mongering. It's science. New research from the National Academy of Sciences contends that airborne transmission of the virus is "highly virulent" and the "dominant" way it spreads.
On Monday, 239 scientists jointly announced research showing "beyond any reasonable doubt" that "viruses are released during exhalation, talking and coughing in microdroplets small enough to remain aloft in the air," and can spread across a room.
The scientists urged countries opening up after lockdowns to make buildings healthier by improving ventilation and installing air-cleaning technologies. We all need to become indoor environmentalists, focused on the air we breathe.
The scientists cited research showing how three families at three different tables in an air-conditioned restaurant in China all became infected with the virus. One person at table A came in with it, and when he talked he emitted viral droplets that were carried across the room in a stream of air-conditioned air, infecting diners at two other tables.
When you're in a restaurant, you're not wearing a mask, making you more vulnerable. The mounting evidence on airborne transmission underscores the importance of wearing not only masks, but also goggles, eyeglasses or shields. Microparticles of the virus suspended in the air can invade eye membranes. A new report in the journal Lancet found that "eye protection is typically underconsidered."
As for improving indoor safety, kudos to Governor Andrew Cuomo for becoming an indoor environmentalist. At his June 29 briefing, he said he was concerned about the airborne virus particles circulating in malls. Unfortunately, he went too far, mandating that they install specific equipment -- HEPA filters -- in their air conditioning before they're allowed to reopen.
That's not necessarily the best technology to protect mall shoppers. Newer technologies can deactivate the virus soon after someone emits it, long before it reaches an air conditioning filter. That means protecting people who are there at the same time as the infected shopper, not just later arrivals.
Mall owners pushed back against Cuomo's mandate, explaining their systems can't handle those filters.
Cuomo's well-intentioned edict shows the problem with government mandates. They're often behind the science and shift the cost onto somebody else.
HEPA filters are used by airlines. Most planes recycle about 30 percent of cabin air through HEPA filters and exhaust the other 70 percent out of the plane. The cabin air is replaced about every three minutes. A plane is an unlikely place to become infected by airborne COVID-19. The risks on a plane are from people seated so close to you that larger viral droplets from their mouth or nose land on your face, or from you picking up traces of the virus from contaminated surfaces and touching your own face.
Few indoor spaces can be fitted like airplanes. But there are technologies to improve indoor air quality. "Healthy buildings should be the first line of defense" against the coronavirus, says Joseph Gardner Allen from Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. None of the opening plans proposed by the states or the federal CDC propose using technology to improve indoor air quality in workplaces, schools or other buildings. Yet, it's the single most important kind of infrastructure spending the U.S. could make -- a bargain compared with prolonged unemployment benefits. Call it a "Green Indoor Deal."
You may be wondering why you haven't heard this information from the WHO or the CDC. As usual, they're behind on the science. To bring people back into offices, schools, restaurants and stores, we need to face the fact that the coronavirus can spread from one side of a large room to the other, infecting people along the way. It's airborne.
Nice! Love that one too!
I keep on hearing that.
The problem is what they declare as "not fear-mongering. It's science" changes drastically from "scientist" to "scientist" depending on their agenda and quite often the same "scientist" will change their "science" from day to day also depending on their agenda.
Quite frankly your actions are speaking so loudly I can not hear a word you are saying.
So shove OFF!
Yup, she was
I could not have said it any better.
And then what do we start removing folks from our Freeper memorial wall
Everyone knows it was always airborne. That’s how almost everything spreads. If you’re surprised then I am truly shocked. Also, another myth, the 6ft away thing, if you believe that you’re a fool.
Look, here’s the story. COVID is NEVER going away. There are scientists saying and rightly so we will never reach herd immunity. You can and will get this thing over and over again, as the antibodies wear off quickly.
COVID, unlike the FLU does not disappear during summer months, COVID is a 24 x7 relentless disease that will be with us the rest of our lives.
This is the new normal, only it’s going to get worse. The world is adjusting and going to have to adjust to it. Human interaction is going to be very sparse.
No surprise to those following this virus. Otherwise, it would have been snubbed out months ago. Nice to see the ‘experts’ starting to catch up to reality.
“They mentioned that folks who have diabetes or high blood pressure will have tougher time of recovery from this virus.”
Has anyone bothered to explain how the virus manages to figure out if you have high blood pressure, as I seriously doubt it can read medical charts.
“Doesn’t wearing a mask actually increase the viral load of the individual wearing it?? Seems the individual with his face covered is going to re-breathe any virus caught in the snot that was actually filtered out of his sneeze or even just his breath. (Might this cause a liability problem for the governors and mayors mandating their wear?)”
We may not like it, but masks do work, at least in Asia. In Taiwan, they require masks and have virtually no cases. They even tested the masks last May when several dozen infected people were let loose into their society (some idiot let one of their military ships decrew) - and still, not a single new infection.
It sucks, but the virus simply won’t let us have it both ways...no mask with little spread - not happening.
***“The scientists cited research showing how three families at three different tables in an air-conditioned restaurant in China all became infected with the virus. One person at table A came in with it, and when he talked he emitted viral droplets that were carried across the room in a stream of air-conditioned air, infecting diners at two other tables.”
Actually, it is obviously IMPOSSIBLE to know this is how someone caught the virus. Anyone who says research shows it did happen this way - versus those people touching something somewhere else - is making up nonsense.***
Bears repeating. This is not legitimate research. Real legitimate research doesn’t happen like they are suggesting in their piece.
Well, duh. It it weren’t airborne, then why the sacred masks?
Perfect! Thank you!
So sick of this supposed “science” the media keeps going on and on about. This is junk science. This is NOT legitimate research.
Thanks
I was a big proponent for flattening the curve. It gave us plenty of time to figure out what we were dealing with and to come up with remedies. Mission accomplished. The death rate is plummeting daily.
I think we must go to war over this, and soon, or we LOSE. If we let these Karens continue run this country into the ground, destroying businesses over their imaginary pandemic, it will be the worst mistake in history.
Rona can do anything. According to the Karens, NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING can kill it.
War first.
This research shows the mask effective at controlling transmission outgoing:
https://www.livescience.com/face-mask-visualization-droplets-covid-19.html
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