Outbreak investigation of airborne transmission of Omicron (B.1.1.529) - SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern in a restaurant: Implication for enhancement of indoor air dilution
In May of 2021, Hong Kong required air purifers be placed in their restaurants after papers like this showed that you could be infected in just 19 minutes, median exposure time 34 minutes, while eating at a restaurant.
I'm on day 15 COVID + and I NEVER had a fever. Nor did my partner. COVID guidelines aren't prevention guides, they're "how to stay in a pandemic" playbook.
“I'm on day 15 COVID + and I NEVER had a fever. Nor did my partner.
@CDC COVID guidelines aren't prevention guides, they're ‘how to stay in a pandemic’ playbook.”
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.
The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill
Oops! Looks like Covid IS airborne, folks.
“All pandemic long, scientists brawled over how the virus spreads. Droplets! No, aerosols! At the heart of the fight was a teensy error with huge consequences…”
All pandemic long, scientists brawled over how the virus spreads. Droplets! No, aerosols! At the heart of the fight was a teensy error with huge consequences.
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.
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants progressively adapt to human cells with altered host cell entry | mSphere
Study: How SARS-CoV-2 is adapting to better infect people. This study found that the newer Omicron subvariants can replicate better in human cells compared to earlier Omicron strains.
"SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants progressively adapt to human cells with altered host cell entry"
COVID virus evolves more rapidly in the central nervous system than in the lungs, study finds | UIC today
COVID virus evolves more rapidly in the CNS
New viral variants created in the brain & other parts of the nervous system could also travel back to the lungs, where they could become transmissible. That could spread new, dangerous variants of the virus.
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.