Yes, we do need to bring back masks in medical settings
“Yes, we do need to bring back masks in medical settings”
Yes, we do need to bring back masks in medical settings
I always wear a mask
“I always wear a mask
I haven’t been on a plane since 2019
I haven’t gathered in large crowds since 2019
I haven’t traveled since 2019
Just starting to let you know that not all Drs are taking risks, & some of us take precautions seriously.”
What It's Like to Wear a Mask: A Survey on Discrimination
More than half of people who took a survey have said they've been harassed or threatened in public for wearing a medical mask. They're harassed at work, at home, and even in hospitals.
What It's Like to Wear a Mask: A Survey on Discrimination
Health and safety | Berkeley Repertory Theatre
“For the comfort and safety of patrons at higher risk of adverse health effects from airborne illnesses, masks will be required for audiences in our theatres on Sundays (matinees and evenings) and Tuesdays for the first three weeks of each show’s run during our 2024/25 season.”
The Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Bay Area, CA) has mandatory masked events on Sundays and Tuesdays.
“The Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Bay Area, CA) has mandatory masked events on Sundays and Tuesdays.
This is inclusiveness. This is community care.
Vulnerable people deserve to experience life, too.”
Every other person in SF’s Chinatown is wearing a medical mask right now. Relatively more masking is observed in working class communities of color in Oakland, too. The racial & class bias of mask bans are so clear. So is the cruelty of targeting communities hit hardest by Covid.
Airborne transmission: A hidden threat that must be addressed
“Professor Beggs' expert statement made clear what we have known for some time: Covid is an airborne virus, capable of lingering in the air for hours and posing a threat particularly to those who are Clinically Vulnerable.
Yet, the response from the former UK government was, at best, wholly inadequate.”
What would an adequate COVID response look like?
“Refusal to directly communicate 1) how COVID spreads 2) that it can be avoided 3) how it can be avoided while modeling mitigation, makes pandemic communications much more difficult for vulnerable people, activists and marginalized groups attempting to reduce disease burden in their communities. We should not be swimming against the current of public health officials’ poor pandemic hygiene.”
Refusal to directly communicate 1) how COVID spreads 2) that it can be avoided 3) how it can be avoided while modeling mitigation, makes pandemic communications much more difficult for vulnerable people, activists and marginalized groups attempting to reduce disease burden in their communities. We should not be swimming against the current of public health officials’ poor pandemic hygiene.
This photo of the paralympics fascinates me.
Show pdf
N95s & RAT screening significantly ⬇️ hospital costs & saves lives
All attendees at the conference are required to wear a mask.
✊😷 And thank you for the virtual option too!
So anti-maskers found my post about how at the conf masks are required and somehow interpreted "everyone is complying" that socialists are some kind of submissive sheep. Y'all have no idea who you're dealing with at this event. 😂
Kudos to the Socialism Conference coordinators and attendees. The conference also offered a virtual option to attend. SOLIDARITY. ✊😷
COVID patients breathe large amounts of virus early on
COVID patients breathe large amounts of virus early on
COVID patients exhale high numbers of virus during the first eight days after symptoms start, as high as 1,000 copies per minute, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
Protecting HCWs and patients: An impossible fix, or an essential one?
“We have dedicated our lives to saving lives. And yet we are trapped in a system where infecting each other and our patients has apparently become acceptable. With no end to COVID waves on the horizon (we’re in a substantial one right now), what is the endgame our health-care leaders are hoping for?”
Young reporter faces abuse for wearing masks after covid
“A teenager who says she's been ‘coughed on, called names and physically intimidated’ for wearing a mask in public wants people to understand why she chooses to cover up.”
“How long are you going to wear a mask?”
Excellent essay on wearing masks and why it is important:
“How long are you going to wear a mask?”
“We didn’t mask before Covid so we aren’t going to now!”
These are two of the most common refrains covid aware people hear. They suggest that the pandemic is over & that precautions no longer make sense.
They’re wrong 🧵 /1
1 in 3 say COVID-19 poses risk to their health: Survey
New poll: 13% mask “all the time”
A new poll found 32% of Americans believe COVID is a “large or moderate” risk to their health but only 13% said they mask all the time, while 21% had taken an at-home test in the past week.
Disabled people's exclusion from indoor spaces is a civil rights violation, not an annoyance
“The severity and frequency of Long COVID is purposely obscured from public discussion as part of a continued political effort to normalize constant COVID exposure.
People who take precautions to avoid COVID are making the wise decision to protect themselves and their families; they are also safeguarding their ability to work and earn money in a society that disposes of people who cannot produce. It is a rational decision; in the case of Long COVID patients, it is a necessary one.
It is also, admittedly, a very difficult lifestyle to adopt and maintain.”
The severity and frequency of Long COVID is purposely obscured from public discussion as part of a continued political effort to normalize constant COVID exposure.
People who take precautions to avoid COVID are making the wise decision to protect themselves and their families; they are also safeguarding their ability to work and earn money in a society that disposes of people who cannot produce. It is a rational decision; in the case of Long COVID patients, it is a necessary one.
It is also, admittedly, a very difficult lifestyle to adopt and maintain.
To My Unmasked Friend in the Fifth Year of COVID
“…you made a choice that actively excludes people like me from participating not only in an event like a convention, but society at large. And yes, it is a choice. Every time you step out into the world without a mask on your face, you have made a decision that your very good reason, whatever it is, supersedes the right of disabled and at-risk people to exist safely in your orbit.”
PBS News Hour live episode, Aug. 20, 2024
At 47:39 interview on the huge summer Covid surge w/ Eric Topol, who notes 1M US cases a day. He says Covid is same family of viruses as colds WRONG. That family is rhinoviruses. He reports high transmissible variant; waning immunity, & "abandoned mitigation” to blame. Masks encouraged. Nasal vax discussed. Decent questions from reporter. overall FAIL from huge public health figure.
Mask bans disenfranchise millions of Americans with disabilities
“…enforcing the ban is subjective and will disproportionally impact Black people and people of color, who are more likely to be stopped by police and are also more likely to wear masks to prevent Covid. This is in part because Black and Latinx Americans are more cautious in their approach to the pandemic, reflecting the higher hospitalization and death rates in these communities.”
COVID is spreading more now than in any previous back-to-school season. 3 things parents can do
COVID is spreading more now than in any previous back-to-school season. 3 things parents can do
Health and air travel: Why I still wear a mask on planes
“I’m sick of getting sick on planes. I got another case of COVID-19 last month, on a domestic flight, sitting near a woman who was sneezing. I wore an N95 mask, but she was only wearing the loose surgical type. I suspect she knew she was infectious.”
I’m sick of getting sick on planes.
I got another case of COVID-19 last month, on a domestic flight, sitting near a woman who was sneezing. I wore an N95 mask, but she was only wearing the loose surgical type. I suspect she knew she was infectious.
It's official: Mask ban in Nassau County, New York passes along party lines, 12-0 (7 abstentions). It makes wearing a mask a misdemeanor (with unclear health and religious exceptions) and gives police the power to fine people wearing a mask $1,000 and sentence them to jail time.
It makes wearing a mask a misdemeanor (with unclear health and religious exceptions) and gives police the power to fine people wearing a mask $1,000 and sentence them to jail time.
"Y'all Masking?" hashtag goes viral on X, showing maskers they are not alone
Stability of Aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 on Masks and Transfer to Skin
“We aerosolized SARS-CoV-2. After 1 hr, we were able to recover infectious virus from fabric masks but not an N95 or surgical mask. When we pressed artificial skin against the masks, we found viral RNA but no infectious virus on the skin.” #MasksWork
Starting thread on masks reducing Covid viral load:
Masks reduce viral load
A short thread on why N95 (and better) masks work. First, a simple explanation:
Masks work. Here’s why.
N95 Masks Nearly Perfect at Blocking COVID, UMD Study Shows
N95 Masks Nearly Perfect at Blocking COVID, UMD Study Shows
Researchers Found Even Lower-Performing Masks Were Protective
“The researchers also found that—in what might come as a surprise to many—cloth masks outperformed the specific brand of KN95 mask that was tested. Surgical masks brought up the rear in performance out of the four types, but even they blocked 70% of the virus, the tests showed. (To reflect the general public's use of masks, study volunteers were not fit-tested for their masks or trained how to properly wear them.)
‘The research shows that any mask is much better than no mask, and an N95 is significantly better than the other options. That’s the No. 1 message,’ says the study’s senior author, Donald Milton, a professor of environmental health and a global expert on how viruses spread through the air.”
N95 Masks Nearly Perfect at Blocking COVID, UMD Study Shows
The researchers also found that—in what might come as a surprise to many—cloth masks outperformed the specific brand of KN95 mask that was tested. Surgical masks brought up the rear in performance out of the four types, but even they blocked 70% of the virus, the tests showed. (To reflect the general public's use of masks, study volunteers were not fit-tested for their masks or trained how to properly wear them.)
“The research shows that any mask is much better than no mask, and an N95 is significantly better than the other options. That’s the No. 1 message,” says the study’s senior author, Donald Milton, a professor of environmental health and a global expert on how viruses spread through the air.
Epa researchers test effectiveness face masks disinfection methods against covid 19
EPA Researchers Test Effectiveness of Face Masks, Disinfection Methods Against COVID-19