Yesterday, the CDC took backsies on mask guidance. Last night I had a glass of wine, screamed into a pillow, and slept on my responses to your great questions, so they weren’t riddled with frustration. While this was, by far, the correct policy, the CDC is not making scientific communication easy.
A one pager would be great. I have a meeting next Thursday with the Houston School Health Advisory Committee and plan to raise the issue of masking and surveillance testing. I don't think decision makers will be present but it is supposed to be a forum for parents to give input on policy, sooo... I'll give it my best shot. Any advice on how to make the pitch would be greatly appreciated.
i've a fair bit of experience in PPE, given my profession. that being said, there are three places where this can get inside you: nose, mouth, and eyes, obviously.
the piece from YLE with the study stating that viral load was observed at 1,260 TIMES previous variant levels should be all you need to know. not percent, TIMES. three more zeros. that moves the time you need to be infected from an estimated fifteen minutes to a few seconds.
i go into some of the most infectious places imaginable. visualize a small commercial build out, 1,200 square feet, on hollywood blvd, with two dozen unmasked tradesmen crawling over each other, trying to finish the job by friday. all of them from all over southern california. was i exposed? oh, hell yes. but this is my normal work environment. i was in four places like that in the first two days of this week. lots of people, no masks, surly disregard for everything.
i've been doing this continually. no infections. here is how i do it:
go to amazon, and buy a 3M 8200 half face respirator. about $14.
buy a two pack of P100 filters for the mask. so you have a pair, and a spare. about $13.
get a bottle of purell hand sanitizer for the cupholder on the car.
P100 / NIOSH certified filtration is safe in level 4 hot labs, biologically. it's what protects people from asbestos, mold spores, bacteria, viruses, covid, anthrax, cooties, inherited toxic shame, and stupid people breathing.
$25. that's it. stops it cold. N95, the "gold standard" is a nuisance dust mask. it's what your employer gives you, so you can sand drywall, and not sue them if your lungs give out.
all those other masks? the ones that look like the cool kids wear them? if they are not a listed safety appliance, with a NIOSH number, that you can look up, they are a face doily.
a face doily. that is it.
the next four months will define what the next decade looks like for all of us.
i'm not gonna tell you what to do. but like the song goes... "if ya didn't know, now you know...."
but what about getting it in your eyes? wear glasses. better than nothing.
you want bulletproof? go to amazon, and order a 3M powerflow PAPR, and a box of filters.
i have two of them. about $650 each. they are what you wear in an asbestos abatement environment, with a hazmat suit. or you can wear them in the supermarket. i can assure you, if you wear one into trader joe's in huntington harbor, everyone will stay 20' away from you, treating you like a leper.
I had a phone call yesterday with my ISD superintendent about covid protocols. This was before Abbott doubled down on his no mask stance. I would very much like to contact anyone and everyone who has any amount of influence in this situation. That said, I'm not 100% sure who those people are. You listed several in this article which I very much appreciate! However I'm wondering if you do put together a one-pager, if you might be able to include official titles or entities to contact? As an example, you mentioned contacting local health departments, but is there a specific department or title we should be seeking out when looking up contact info? I know you can't realistically name every single contact person, but maybe just keywords to look for so we're not email-screaming into the void. haha
Thank you for all you do putting together these articles, emails and explainers. I cannot tell you how many times I've felt better after reading them simply because I felt more informed.
As always, thank you for all the helpful information! Have you seen anything about re-infection with Delta among people with natural immunity who are not vaccinated? I'm trying to navigate risk with a sibling whose family was infected last fall and will not get vaccinated. I've seen nothing about whether or not any of the unvaccinated people who are getting infected with the Delta variant are people with natural immunity. This information would be incredibly helpful.
We are in California and our school district is mandating indoor masking. We are sending our fully vaxxed 12 year old back to school with Happy Masks. We are probably homeschooling our 6 year old until he’s fully vaxxed. Don’t know what’s the right thing to do. It all depends on your risk tolerance 😔
Thank you for the articles. You've been a wealth of information.
I have one question: at what point is the infection rate sufficiently bad that no amount of masking at school, even with HEPA filters, could be expected to keep unvaccinated (under-12) children reasonably safe from infection? This assumes that, inevitably, someone catches it outside and comes in, but has at least a day to pass it around the classroom before showing symptoms. Everyone's masked, and abiding by best practices, but the viral load is just too high.
I am having trouble figuring out how to share an article from NYT for you . The article shows the LINK for the Data used ( from July 7) on WHY the CDC "changed their mind" on mask wearing.
One of the many things I find infuriating is that "local data" isn't local enough! I live in San Diego County which has over 100 zip codes. The data focuses on places like La Jolla and downtown San Diego. I can't find specific data for the areas I live in like Escondido, Encinitas, San Marcos, Valley Center, Vista, Carlsbad.
I work in healthcare in Nunavut (no cases for 2 months) and save the regular medical masks then after days or weeks I Pressure cook them to wear again , not in healrh care setting. Now considering wearing under cloth mask. Do you have any comments on efficacy of masks after pressure heat in instant pot? I hate the waste of wear and throw.
It's about time states started imposing flat $10,000 fines on anyone who doesn't get vaccinated or produce a valid medical excuse from a licensed physician.
Stores should start adding surcharges to anyone who doesn't wear a mask.
A one-pager of talking points for schools would be fantastic! Thanks.
A one pager would be great. I have a meeting next Thursday with the Houston School Health Advisory Committee and plan to raise the issue of masking and surveillance testing. I don't think decision makers will be present but it is supposed to be a forum for parents to give input on policy, sooo... I'll give it my best shot. Any advice on how to make the pitch would be greatly appreciated.
i've a fair bit of experience in PPE, given my profession. that being said, there are three places where this can get inside you: nose, mouth, and eyes, obviously.
the piece from YLE with the study stating that viral load was observed at 1,260 TIMES previous variant levels should be all you need to know. not percent, TIMES. three more zeros. that moves the time you need to be infected from an estimated fifteen minutes to a few seconds.
i go into some of the most infectious places imaginable. visualize a small commercial build out, 1,200 square feet, on hollywood blvd, with two dozen unmasked tradesmen crawling over each other, trying to finish the job by friday. all of them from all over southern california. was i exposed? oh, hell yes. but this is my normal work environment. i was in four places like that in the first two days of this week. lots of people, no masks, surly disregard for everything.
i've been doing this continually. no infections. here is how i do it:
go to amazon, and buy a 3M 8200 half face respirator. about $14.
buy a two pack of P100 filters for the mask. so you have a pair, and a spare. about $13.
get a bottle of purell hand sanitizer for the cupholder on the car.
P100 / NIOSH certified filtration is safe in level 4 hot labs, biologically. it's what protects people from asbestos, mold spores, bacteria, viruses, covid, anthrax, cooties, inherited toxic shame, and stupid people breathing.
$25. that's it. stops it cold. N95, the "gold standard" is a nuisance dust mask. it's what your employer gives you, so you can sand drywall, and not sue them if your lungs give out.
all those other masks? the ones that look like the cool kids wear them? if they are not a listed safety appliance, with a NIOSH number, that you can look up, they are a face doily.
a face doily. that is it.
the next four months will define what the next decade looks like for all of us.
i'm not gonna tell you what to do. but like the song goes... "if ya didn't know, now you know...."
but what about getting it in your eyes? wear glasses. better than nothing.
you want bulletproof? go to amazon, and order a 3M powerflow PAPR, and a box of filters.
i have two of them. about $650 each. they are what you wear in an asbestos abatement environment, with a hazmat suit. or you can wear them in the supermarket. i can assure you, if you wear one into trader joe's in huntington harbor, everyone will stay 20' away from you, treating you like a leper.
which works out nicely.
I had a phone call yesterday with my ISD superintendent about covid protocols. This was before Abbott doubled down on his no mask stance. I would very much like to contact anyone and everyone who has any amount of influence in this situation. That said, I'm not 100% sure who those people are. You listed several in this article which I very much appreciate! However I'm wondering if you do put together a one-pager, if you might be able to include official titles or entities to contact? As an example, you mentioned contacting local health departments, but is there a specific department or title we should be seeking out when looking up contact info? I know you can't realistically name every single contact person, but maybe just keywords to look for so we're not email-screaming into the void. haha
Thank you for all you do putting together these articles, emails and explainers. I cannot tell you how many times I've felt better after reading them simply because I felt more informed.
YLE wrote “With a 1000% increased viral load, Delta changed the game.” I have seen elsewhere that it is 1000x … *much* more than 1000%. Which is it?
As always, thank you for all the helpful information! Have you seen anything about re-infection with Delta among people with natural immunity who are not vaccinated? I'm trying to navigate risk with a sibling whose family was infected last fall and will not get vaccinated. I've seen nothing about whether or not any of the unvaccinated people who are getting infected with the Delta variant are people with natural immunity. This information would be incredibly helpful.
Do you have an opinion If schools are mandating masks, but not doing weekly testing?
We are in California and our school district is mandating indoor masking. We are sending our fully vaxxed 12 year old back to school with Happy Masks. We are probably homeschooling our 6 year old until he’s fully vaxxed. Don’t know what’s the right thing to do. It all depends on your risk tolerance 😔
I thought it was a 1000-fold increase, wouldn't that make it a 500,000% increase?
Thank you for the articles. You've been a wealth of information.
I have one question: at what point is the infection rate sufficiently bad that no amount of masking at school, even with HEPA filters, could be expected to keep unvaccinated (under-12) children reasonably safe from infection? This assumes that, inevitably, someone catches it outside and comes in, but has at least a day to pass it around the classroom before showing symptoms. Everyone's masked, and abiding by best practices, but the viral load is just too high.
I am having trouble figuring out how to share an article from NYT for you . The article shows the LINK for the Data used ( from July 7) on WHY the CDC "changed their mind" on mask wearing.
Yes, please, on the one-pager of talking points!
One of the many things I find infuriating is that "local data" isn't local enough! I live in San Diego County which has over 100 zip codes. The data focuses on places like La Jolla and downtown San Diego. I can't find specific data for the areas I live in like Escondido, Encinitas, San Marcos, Valley Center, Vista, Carlsbad.
I work in healthcare in Nunavut (no cases for 2 months) and save the regular medical masks then after days or weeks I Pressure cook them to wear again , not in healrh care setting. Now considering wearing under cloth mask. Do you have any comments on efficacy of masks after pressure heat in instant pot? I hate the waste of wear and throw.
It's about time states started imposing flat $10,000 fines on anyone who doesn't get vaccinated or produce a valid medical excuse from a licensed physician.
Stores should start adding surcharges to anyone who doesn't wear a mask.
Please see my comment below....NYTimes article from July 27th- updated July 28th...below...