COVID-19 Megathread 5: The Trumps catch COVID-19

[Calthrina950]

Some humor in these troubled times...

https://twitter.com/LocalReformer/status/1283608114084765697

Is this the 1980s? Or the 1990s? Those are my answers to the question.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Apparently, we will know a lot more about the safety and effectiveness of the Oxford vaccine on Monday (July 20), which is when the Lancet just announced they will publish the results of their Phase I trial.

(The Oxford vaccine is already in Phase III trials, but I believe up to now had only made results public from trials on animal subjects.)

[Koharu]

https://twitter.com/fowlcomics/status/1282771563868299271?s=20

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Some humor in these troubled times...

https://twitter.com/LocalReformer/status/1283608114084765697

Is this the 1980s? Or the 1990s? Those are my answers to the question.

Joe Biden is running for President, so it must be the 1980s.

[Calthrina950]

Some humor in these troubled times...

https://twitter.com/LocalReformer/status/1283608114084765697

Is this the 1980s? Or the 1990s? Those are my answers to the question.

Joe Biden is running for President, so it must be the 1980s.

I would assume so, though Barr didn't become Attorney General for the first time until 1991.

[free my dawg]

Apparently Fuhrer Kemp is all for small government unless it's something he disagrees with. Never seen a more narcissistic, dictatorial piece of ****.

https://twitter.com/ErinKPeterson/status/1283569716100030464

[Landslide Lyndon]

Everything is fine.

https://twitter.com/javimorgado/status/1283531072530153472

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Apparently Fuhrer Kemp is all for small government unless it's something he disagrees with. Never seen a more narcissistic, dictatorial piece of ****.

https://twitter.com/ErinKPeterson/status/1283569716100030464

Masks is an issue that needs education and guidance, not punishment. Instead of requiring or discouraging them everywhere, it should be more of a continuum. It might be a proper thing on a city bus that's standing room only and you're 6 inches away from another passenger's face. But not in a wide-open outdoor space, let alone a big ranch in Montana.

We need to at least establish that masks aren't necessary outdoors, because this virus is pretty much an indoor thing.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

Apparently Fuhrer Kemp is all for small government unless it's something he disagrees with. Never seen a more narcissistic, dictatorial piece of ****.

https://twitter.com/ErinKPeterson/status/1283569716100030464

Masks is an issue that needs education and guidance, not punishment. Instead of requiring or discouraging them everywhere, it should be more of a continuum. It might be a proper thing on a city bus that's standing room only and you're 6 inches away from another passenger's face. But not in a wide-open outdoor space, let alone a big ranch in Montana.

We need to at least establish that masks aren't necessary outdoors, because this virus is pretty much an indoor thing.

I know you probably just picked a wide-open state as an example, but it's worth noting that Montana only requires masks outdoors in gatherings of fifty or more (or, in other words, if half the state decides to get together).

Nobody is being mandated to wear a mask on a ranch out there.

https://www.ktvq.com/news/montana-news/watch-live-bullock-gives-update-on-masks-testing-rise-in-covid-19-cases-7-15-20

[Dr. Arch]

Everything is fine.

https://twitter.com/javimorgado/status/1283531072530153472

Oh no...    If DeSantis and the federal government don't take immediate and stern action, this is going to get disastrously ugly very quickly.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/nickgourevitch/status/1283760557997400064

[Del Tachi]

7.) What is the effective reduction in Rt solely from universal wearing of masks in public places?

Very limited, because a mask is going to have very little effect in a place like a grocery store (where social distancing is generally being observed, and personal contacts are rare).  People really just don't swap saliva or cough onto one another at grocery stores, even prior to the pandemic.

The virus is being spread through talking and breathing as well, not simply coughing, which is why it's spreading like it is. If everybody were to wear masks, they'd have >95% efficiency, and if everybody wore masks and social distanced, it would stop spreading.

But places like grocery stores allowing no masks and only having social distancing (which many people are ignoring anyway) is going to do absolutely nothing considering it's been confirmed that the virus is airborne and can spread through indoor ventilation systems.

Just out of curiosity, where'd you get the >95% efficiency number?  >95% efficiency at what?

The rest of your post doesn't make any sense.  Simply talking or breathing may expel virus, but virus particles are heavier-than-air (meaning they fall to the ground) which is why the whole "six feet apart" thing works and is even recommended in the first place.  Masks are only plausibly effective at distances less than this.  Wearing cloth masks is not going to prohibit the introduction of virus into an HVAC system, because these types of masks are not respirators (air moves through and around the mask all the time, especially the more it's used).  HVAC systems are themselves a very minor vector of disease transmission (probably because you have to have someone expelling virus directly into the intake), and I've seen no news of a significant outbreak that is thought to have been seeded from HVAC contamination.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

https://mobile.twitter.com/Crimealytics/status/1283773100602032128

[Panda Express]

Florida posting more cases and deaths by itself than the entire European Union. Nice job USA.

[Brittain33]

Florida posting more cases and deaths by itself than the entire European Union. Nice job USA.

Well, Epcot has the whole European Union AND Mexico, Morocco, Norway, China, and Japan.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Today begins the 5th month of "15 days to slow the spread"

[Calthrina950]

Today begins the 5th month of "15 days to slow the spread"

Remember that the original estimate of the pandemic's duration was 12 to 18 months. We are nowhere near finished with this, especially with the recent surge in cases.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Florida posting more cases and deaths by itself than the entire European Union. Nice job USA.

Relax. Once DeSantis sees Trump get away with suppressing national COVID-19 numbers, I'm confident he'll start concealing Florida's numbers himself.

[Calthrina950]

Good news in Colorado. Nearly four months after urging all Coloradoans to wear masks in public, and three months after making them mandatory for essential employees, Governor Polis has finally issued a mandatory mask order for all of Colorado: https://www.kktv.com/2020/07/16/new-mask-requirement-announced-by-colorado-governor-jared-polis/. The requirement comes into effect at midnight tomorrow, and all who are ten years of age and older must wear masks when utilizing public/non-personal transportation and when in indoor public spaces.

[John Dule]

[Hammy]

7.) What is the effective reduction in Rt solely from universal wearing of masks in public places?

Very limited, because a mask is going to have very little effect in a place like a grocery store (where social distancing is generally being observed, and personal contacts are rare).  People really just don't swap saliva or cough onto one another at grocery stores, even prior to the pandemic.

The virus is being spread through talking and breathing as well, not simply coughing, which is why it's spreading like it is. If everybody were to wear masks, they'd have >95% efficiency, and if everybody wore masks and social distanced, it would stop spreading.

But places like grocery stores allowing no masks and only having social distancing (which many people are ignoring anyway) is going to do absolutely nothing considering it's been confirmed that the virus is airborne and can spread through indoor ventilation systems.

Just out of curiosity, where'd you get the >95% efficiency number?  >95% efficiency at what?

The rest of your post doesn't make any sense.  Simply talking or breathing may expel virus, but virus particles are heavier-than-air (meaning they fall to the ground) which is why the whole "six feet apart" thing works and is even recommended in the first place.  Masks are only plausibly effective at distances less than this.  Wearing cloth masks is not going to prohibit the introduction of virus into an HVAC system, because these types of masks are not respirators (air moves through and around the mask all the time, especially the more it's used).  HVAC systems are themselves a very minor vector of disease transmission (probably because you have to have someone expelling virus directly into the intake), and I've seen no news of a significant outbreak that is thought to have been seeded from HVAC contamination.

Easy to miss if you only get your news from places that ignore facts contrary to what you want to believe.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/06/air-conditioning-may-be-factor-in-covid-19-spread-in-the-south/
"Drawing on insights from another deadly airborne disease, tuberculosis, a Harvard infectious disease expert suggested Friday that air conditioning use across the southern U.S. may be a factor in spiking COVID-19 cases"


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7205645/
"COVID 19 can spread through breathing, talking, study estimates"

https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/Coronavirus-FAQ-How-long-does-it-stay-on-15152021.php
"But live particles that cause COVID-19 can survive on some surfaces for days or weeks, and remain in the air for hours."

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/coronavirus-covid-sneeze-fluid-dynamics-in-photos/
"See how a sneeze can launch germs much farther than 6 feet"

As for mask effectiveness the article was a Japanese article from a few months ago a friend translated, but I can still direct you here--proper masks (N95/surgical) will protect against the spread, and evidenced by a hair salon where two workers were infected, everybody wore masks, it didn't spread to anybody else.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0714-americans-to-wear-masks.html

And you seem to have no grasp on the concept of air density if you think the microscopic virus will fall to the ground considering moisture particles (which are heavy) can remain suspended in the air--what do you think clouds are.

[Pericles]

Everything is fine.

https://twitter.com/javimorgado/status/1283531072530153472

Oh no...    If DeSantis and the federal government don't take immediate and stern action, this is going to get disastrously ugly very quickly.

It might already be too late, given the lag between infections and it getting to the stage that they need ICU care.

[Torrain]

Everything is fine.

https://twitter.com/javimorgado/status/1283531072530153472

Oh no...    If DeSantis and the federal government don't take immediate and stern action, this is going to get disastrously ugly very quickly.

It might already be too late, given the lag between infections and it getting to the stage that they need ICU care.

^This. The appropriate time for action was two weeks ago. If DeSantis doesn’t act now, Florida could reach a level of suffering not seen since Wuhan in February, or Lombardy in March.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/jbendery/status/1283859610491850752

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/jbendery/status/1283859610491850752

Why do former game show hosts always tend to be so right wing? I guess it has to do with thinking like this where something only is only important when or if it finally affects them.