Pathogen Resistance
by Randall Munroe at xkcd

There’s a discussion about this at Metafilter.

Thanks to Miss Cellania and Bill.

There are a ton of tutorial videos on YouTube. Here’s one but it will take you to more.

These might be better if you add a few layers of cut-to-fit cotton tee-shirts on the inside. Even if DIY masks don’t prevent much virus from passing through, they aid in keeping our hands away from our face. They’re also good at catching large droplets when we cough or sneeze or talk.

When there is widespread infection, as there is with coronavirus in, say, New York City…

If I walk into a room with a group of people and they are all wearing masks, I am less likely to become infected than if they weren’t wearing masks.

Because more people in infection hot spots like NYC are likely to be shedding virus without knowing it. The masks help contain it.

We wear masks for other people, not ourselves (although in the end it does reduce our own risk of infection).

When everyone wears a mask, it slows transmission of virus.

The only reason I can think of for why a public health entity, like the CDC or Surgeon General, would discourage broad use of masks is to manage a mask shortage. The science says they are useful. They would be a cheap way of reducing transmission and thus flattening the curve.

Do you think if there was a surplus that the government would be screaming at us to “Stop Buying Masks!”

https://twitter.com/Surgeon_General/status/1233725785283932160

If the CDC, Surgeon General, et al are basing their recommendation on science when they say:

– That masks are ineffective at slowing rate of infection.
– That masks can increase rate of infection (because the public does not know how to wear one and presumably cannot be taught).

Then the government would never recommend wearing them. Right?

From Dr. John Campbell’s YouTube channel:

When you have a fever, the body is more able to combat viral and bacterial infections.
…
If we let the temperature just ride in an adult (to say 39 degrees C or 102.2 degrees F) … that’s not going to do me any great harm but I know that’s combating the infection much quicker.

If I artificially lower my body temperature by giving ibuprofen or acetaminophen or paracetamol then what I can do is make that disease process worse, make the infection last for longer, and increase the probability of complications from that infection.

So we see that fever is a natural defense mechanism and very often should be just left as it is in adults to allow us to fight the infection and have less complications and shorter duration of illness.

Thanks to forumholitorium for introducing me to him.

I’m really angry about this:

CDC To Recommend All Americans Wear Protective Masks In Everyday Life: Report

On Saturday, Weill Cornell’s Dr. Matt McCarthy reported that the Centers for Disease Control will revise their recommendations on protective masks.

In the next ten days, the CDC guidelines will reportedly change to advising Americans to wear masks “in everyday life.” This contrasts with the current guidelines, which only recommend masks for high-risk groups like health care workers.

The country is currently suffering from a shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment as health care workers struggle to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Many have been forced to reuse spent masks, or fashion their own out of materials lying around. The revised guidelines would threaten to worsen the mask shortage unless increased production begins right away.

NEW: CDC guidance on masks expected to change in next 10 days. Americans will be advised to wear masks in everyday life. Current recommendation is for high-risk groups only.
— Matt McCarthy (@DrMattMcCarthy) March 28, 2020

I’m angry because:

• I don’t know if it’s true and I can’t trust what the CDC and the White House say about this anymore.
• The Surgeon General already told us that masks are ineffective. Now they are effective? Which is the lie? (He also said that healthcare workers needed the dwindling supply, which is a contradiction. If they are ineffective why should anyone wear them?)
• Why 10 days? Wouldn’t now be more effective? Last week? Two months ago!?
• There aren’t enough masks to go around. How do you recommend the impossible?

Since people are shedding virus long before they know they are infected, the recommendation for everyone to wear a mask made sense months ago.

These have been cropping up in grocery stores: plexiglass sneeze guards. They’re a great idea. I think we should keep them year-around.

Source: Sneeze guards: Kroger, Walmart, Publix and other stores adding plexiglass barriers for cashiers as virus spreads

A big thank-you to all the grocery store workers and all the food delivery people, both to stock stores and to stock people’s homes. You’re helping to keep us all fed during this crisis.

Source: The Guardian

Caretaker Ephraim Ngiribwa tends to baby orphaned chimpanzees at Lwiro Primate Centre in Lwiro, South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chimpanzees in DR Congo are threatened by deforestation and poaching.
– Photograph: Hugh Kinsella Cunningham/EPA

From:
Why does soap work so well on SARS-CoV-2?, Virology Down Under, Ian M Mackay, PhD (EIC), 9 March 2020

Below is a diagram of a coronavirus, specifically a mouse hepatitis coronavirus.
Source: SARS-CoV-2 and the lessons we have to learn from it, Edward Nirenberg.

Why does soap work so well on the coronavirus and on most viruses? Because soap is made with fat. And like dissolves like:

The soap dissolves the fat membrane [lipid bilayer, in grey in above diagram] and the virus falls apart like a house of cards and “dies”, or rather, we should say it becomes inactive as viruses aren’t really alive.

Disinfectants or liquids, wipes, gels and creams containing alcohol (and soap) have similar effects but are not really quite as good as normal soap. Apart from the alcohol and soap, the “antibacterial agents” in these products don’t affect the virus structure much at all. Consequently, many antibacterial products are basically just an expensive version of soap in terms of how they act on viruses. Soap is the best but alcohol wipes are good when soap is not practical or handy (e.g. office receptions).

About alcohol, he says:

Alcohol does also dissolve the lipid membrane [but] you need a fairly high concentration (maybe +60%) of the alcohol to get a rapid dissolution of the virus. Vodka or whiskey (usually 40% ethanol), will not dissolve the virus as quickly. Overall alcohol is not quite as good as soap.

What do you do with this soap? You wash your hands:

So when you touch say a steel surface with a virus particle on it, it will stick to your skin and hence get transferred onto your hands. But you are not (yet) infected. If you touch your face though, the virus can get transferred from your hands and on to your face.

And now the virus is dangerously close to the airways and the mucus type membranes in and around your mouth and eyes. So the virus can get in…and voila! You are infected (that is unless your immune system kills the virus).

Again:

[Antibacterial agents like triclosan] do basically nothing to the virus!

In sum:

Water is not very effective alone in washing the virus off our hands. Alcohol-based product works better. But nothing beats soap – the virus detaches from the skin and falls apart very readily in soapy water.

The study below found no harms of using bar soap. They inoculated bar soap with 70 times the amount of bacteria you’d find on normal used soap bars and there was no detectable bacteria on respondents’ hands after washing. Bar soap is also better for the environment. Less plastic packaging.

Study: Washing With Contaminated Bar Soap Is Unlikely To Transfer Bacteria, Epidemiology and Infection, 1988