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midtskogen
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

20 Jul 2020 03:41

the US is notoriously unhealthy, you noted this before.  Even the rural areas you mentioned dont have access to healthy unprocessed food.  This the pandemic occurred on top of a diabetes and obesity epidemic that was already present.
What you describe could possibly affect the mortality rate, but it shouldn't affect the R number so much, except in the case of "unhealthy" management of food.  Eating out is likely more common in the US than here, and that will affect the R number.
At least here in Washington State, we require them to be worn in all businesses, and most seem happy to comply.
Masks become pretty redundant if social distancing is observed, of course.  And when/if distancing is not observed, masks must also be handled and worn correctly, or they might make things worse.  I don't think the unwillingness to wear masks here is political.  It's just felt awkward, and perhaps somewhat rude.  Similarly, there is a debate over whether it's ok to cover up the face in public for religious reasons.  It's considered somewhat rude not to make your face visible when communicating with others.  Interestingly, during this work from home period I've seen the same thing in video meetings.  Norwegians tend to feel it a bit rude to insist on video mute, whereas other nationals find it somewhat inconsiderate to expect video from others, as many people don't have the best home office situation and being on video becomes pretty intrusive.
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evildrganymede
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

21 Jul 2020 14:49

Seems to be evidence now that the virus can be carried in aerosol form and linger in the air (i,.e. is airborne), not just in droplets - so masks are not redundant at all. 

If people want to risk dying or suffering really bad after-effects from a serious infection and potentially killing others by spreading it to them, and in doing so prolonging this for longer than it needs to be an issue - then don't wear a mask. 

If people want to minimise that risk and stay alive and make this go away quicker because it's not spreading so much - then wear a mask. 

It's a pretty obvious choice to me - politics, cultural reasons, economics, "rudeness" or any other nonsense be damned. 
 
A-L-E-X
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

21 Jul 2020 18:12

Seems to be evidence now that the virus can be carried in aerosol form and linger in the air (i,.e. is airborne), not just in droplets - so masks are not redundant at all. 

If people want to risk dying or suffering really bad after-effects from a serious infection and potentially killing others by spreading it to them, and in doing so prolonging this for longer than it needs to be an issue - then don't wear a mask. 

If people want to minimise that risk and stay alive and make this go away quicker because it's not spreading so much - then wear a mask. 

It's a pretty obvious choice to me - politics, cultural reasons, economics, "rudeness" or any other nonsense be damned. 
There are still too many who consider this a "hoax"- yea sure, until it happens to them or someone they care about.
Look at the nations where it is worse than others- US and Brazil and you see the kind of extremist right wing agenda that leads this kind of ignorant thinking of something being a "hoax" until it affects them.  It's telling that the federal administration here wants to cut back on testing and wont spare additional funds for the treatment of this virus but they have plenty of funds to give to the military to squash down on peaceful protesters and kidnap them in unmarked vehicles (a la Portland, Oregon.)
 
A-L-E-X
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

21 Jul 2020 18:17

the US is notoriously unhealthy, you noted this before.  Even the rural areas you mentioned dont have access to healthy unprocessed food.  This the pandemic occurred on top of a diabetes and obesity epidemic that was already present.
What you describe could possibly affect the mortality rate, but it shouldn't affect the R number so much, except in the case of "unhealthy" management of food.  Eating out is likely more common in the US than here, and that will affect the R number.
At least here in Washington State, we require them to be worn in all businesses, and most seem happy to comply.
Masks become pretty redundant if social distancing is observed, of course.  And when/if distancing is not observed, masks must also be handled and worn correctly, or they might make things worse.  I don't think the unwillingness to wear masks here is political.  It's just felt awkward, and perhaps somewhat rude.  Similarly, there is a debate over whether it's ok to cover up the face in public for religious reasons.  It's considered somewhat rude not to make your face visible when communicating with others.  Interestingly, during this work from home period I've seen the same thing in video meetings.  Norwegians tend to feel it a bit rude to insist on video mute, whereas other nationals find it somewhat inconsiderate to expect video from others, as many people don't have the best home office situation and being on video becomes pretty intrusive.
There was an interesting live display I saw on TV, where it was shown that when sneezing or coughing an unmasked person's droplets travel about 8 feet vs only about 6 inches when they were masked.  Now, this does assume that there is going to be rude behavior on the part of people not covering their nose or mouth when sneezing or coughing.
 
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evildrganymede
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

21 Jul 2020 21:07

At this stage, there's no excuse for not being safe. On one hand, the stupid ones will literally die out because of this, since they'll be more likely to get the disease and die from it - on the other hand, they're going to spread it around before they die and more people will catch it. And unfortunately some people will catch it because of those idiots despite any precautions they may take. 
All we can do is hope that the smart ones who take precautions and isolate and keep their distance are biased in the opposite direction so they are much less likely to catch it at all despite the actions of the idiots.

In America the irony is that Trump is literally killing the people most likely to vote for him by telling them they don't have to wear masks - I think maybe today that's finally got through his thick skull and he's been forced to change his tone and encourage people to wear masks. Whether anyone will listen remains to be seen.
 
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midtskogen
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

22 Jul 2020 02:51

 Now, this does assume that there is going to be rude behavior on the part of people not covering their nose or mouth when sneezing or coughing.
Mask or not, it has certainly been frowned upon over the past months if people cough or sneeze in public.  They're expected to stay at home.  Hard times for people with chronic cough or allergy...
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DoctorOfSpace
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

22 Jul 2020 16:47

Hard times for people with chronic cough or allergy...
My seasonal allergies are going insane this year and people give me all kinds of weird looks.  I dont really care, I have a gas mask with an N95 valve filter, I am not spreading anything.
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evildrganymede
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

22 Jul 2020 18:36

sneezing must be rough in that though :P 
 
A-L-E-X
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

24 Jul 2020 18:27

Hard times for people with chronic cough or allergy...
My seasonal allergies are going insane this year and people give me all kinds of weird looks.  I dont really care, I have a gas mask with an N95 valve filter, I am not spreading anything.
Image
Mine too.  It's been getting worse every year (as is the bug problem) with all the extra rain and high humidity and lack of real winters here.
 
A-L-E-X
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

24 Jul 2020 18:29

 Now, this does assume that there is going to be rude behavior on the part of people not covering their nose or mouth when sneezing or coughing.
Mask or not, it has certainly been frowned upon over the past months if people cough or sneeze in public.  They're expected to stay at home.  Hard times for people with chronic cough or allergy...
thats me lol, I just take my benadryl and go to sleep.  I dont really venture outside at all except when going from my summer home in the mountains to my long island residence.  I've been getting allergies at least once a week from March to now (although recently they've gotten better with a streak of hot and dry weather)......hot and dry is my favorite kind of summer weather, when we have that, I dont get any allergies and the bug population goes down too.
 
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Watsisname
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

25 Aug 2020 06:37

207,000 Missing Deaths: Tracking the True Toll of the Coronavirus Outbreak

With around 812,000 official deaths worldwide due to COVID-19, plus an additional 207,000 deaths above normal according to this analysis by the New York Times, it appears likely that the true number of deaths has now passed one million.

For comparison, if people had not changed their behavior, then the pandemic would have already peaked back in the spring, infecting about half of the world's population, and killing around 40 million.
 
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Konny Bedelia
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

25 Aug 2020 19:29

Today I happened to be on a public transport and was shocked to see that almost no one was wearing masks... Still shocked after that actually :(
 
Mr. Abner
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

26 Aug 2020 01:45

It gets worse.

Apparently there has been at least three confirmed cases of people who have had COVID-19 and recovered, have now come down with it again. Perhaps a mutated strain already, but certainly not a good sign.
 
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Watsisname
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

26 Aug 2020 02:45

Apparently there has been at least three confirmed cases of people who have had COVID-19 and recovered, have now come down with it again. Perhaps a mutated strain already, but certainly not a good sign.
Yes, there had been quite a few unconfirmed reports of reinfection, and now it seems well demonstrated that it does happen, at least sometimes. Apparently it happens not so much because of the virus mutating (although it is, and detecting those mutations was important for proving that it was a new infection, rather than the individual not actually recovering from the first one), but that their immune response wasn't very strong, and the protection it offers weakens over time.

Another thing that sometimes happens with this virus is the inability to fight off the original infection. Usually a person with a mild case recovers within about 2 weeks. Those with severe illness may have it for 2 weeks to a month. But some people (there are thousands, many of whom are otherwise quite healthy) end up "long-haulers", suffering either mild or severe symptoms for several months!
 
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Mickey O'Brien
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Thread

31 Aug 2020 17:14

Not long ago I happened to be on a public transport. I was shocked to find that no one (!) was wearing a mask. They say that a second wave of Corona virus is coming.

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