As I recall, it was more complicated. What I heard was that the WHO was convinced that COVID could not spread through aerosols, so we should concentrate on surfaces and hand-washing. When the CDC switched to masks, because of new studies, there was still a PPE shortage— we were all making our own masks for a couple months back then. But …
As I recall, it was more complicated. What I heard was that the WHO was convinced that COVID could not spread through aerosols, so we should concentrate on surfaces and hand-washing. When the CDC switched to masks, because of new studies, there was still a PPE shortage— we were all making our own masks for a couple months back then. But the changes in thinking, and the reasons for them, were not communicated clearly.
"we were all making our own masks for a couple months back then"
And then came the draconian MANDATES, coupled with a bunch of hypocritical behavior on the part of "leftist" leaders and icons giving the message that the masks are for thee, not me, peasant. They became a sign of submission and a symbol of who will obey or resist.
Gotta wonder WHO created the message of "submission"; the concept of "obey and resist." during a pandemic and why. Where was the, " we're all in this together." message?
Mandates were necessary because many people treasured their right to infect others. Then a very few public figures who'd promoted masks idiotically went to big gatherings without wearing a mask. That fact was immediately extrapolated to mean that *all* people progressive enough to value public health were supporting a rule they didn't believe in.
The "Freedom means I have a right to infect others!" contingent started using terms like "submission" to amplify their message. America's public health has suffered from that.
The original thought process was looking to tuberculosis and influenza as models, although the two are not necessarily similar in spread, nor generally in infectivity. The prevailing wisdom was that tuberculosis spread by large-droplet emission (for the purposes of discussion, aerosols are defined as microdroplets with single replicable virus particles, or a very small number), and that influenza must be similarly spread. Evidence was already available that influenza could be spread by aerosols, and today the thought on large-droplet restricted spread for TB has been rethought, and the probability that aerosol spread plays a role has emerged.
Simply put, we were all playing with a novel virus and playing without a rule-book. What we thought we knew about respiratory-spread viruses was, in this country, based on a significant body of work done in the George W. Bush administration when he assembled a pandemic advisory team after reading about the 1918 influenza epidemic. A lot of the assumptions made in the US public health came from that report and computer models that had been done in that era, including the thought to close schools, lock down movement, and require PPE. As you note, PPE was in short supply, and one of the early recommendations to not seek out PPE was because it was desperately needed in hospitals treating patients, and what little supply might exist was in the control of "entrepreneurs" who had bought out supplies and were charging exorbitant rates for the items. With Just In Time supply shutting down, replenishing the supplies proved near impossible. Errors by the administration to properly employ administrative power to require manufacturers to convert process and make more PPE was not properly engaged, but Ford Motor Company did make thousands of ventilators of a novel design that were not needed once we determined we were intubating and mechanically ventilating too many people based on flawed assumptions (that acute respiratory distress and the pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 was in any way similar to prior ARDS cases from other agents; it wasn't) and began treating more people who exhibited low oxygen saturations on room air with high-flow non-invasive oxygen, and then if needed, modalities such as CPAP and BiPAP.
Information was coming in so quickly that, at least in my case, I barely had time to tell anyone the highlights of what I'd learned in the last 24 hours much less write a coherent story for publication anywhere. Katelyn, on the other hand, had the capability to digest the material and keep reasonable and accurate summaries of credible data flowing, something I only wish I could have done. I might have contributed in other ways, but while I'm usually a pretty good communicator with patients and families, I was not a good public communicator in the first 2 years or so of the Pandemic.
As I recall, it was more complicated. What I heard was that the WHO was convinced that COVID could not spread through aerosols, so we should concentrate on surfaces and hand-washing. When the CDC switched to masks, because of new studies, there was still a PPE shortage— we were all making our own masks for a couple months back then. But the changes in thinking, and the reasons for them, were not communicated clearly.
"we were all making our own masks for a couple months back then"
And then came the draconian MANDATES, coupled with a bunch of hypocritical behavior on the part of "leftist" leaders and icons giving the message that the masks are for thee, not me, peasant. They became a sign of submission and a symbol of who will obey or resist.
Gotta wonder WHO created the message of "submission"; the concept of "obey and resist." during a pandemic and why. Where was the, " we're all in this together." message?
Mandates were necessary because many people treasured their right to infect others. Then a very few public figures who'd promoted masks idiotically went to big gatherings without wearing a mask. That fact was immediately extrapolated to mean that *all* people progressive enough to value public health were supporting a rule they didn't believe in.
The "Freedom means I have a right to infect others!" contingent started using terms like "submission" to amplify their message. America's public health has suffered from that.
The original thought process was looking to tuberculosis and influenza as models, although the two are not necessarily similar in spread, nor generally in infectivity. The prevailing wisdom was that tuberculosis spread by large-droplet emission (for the purposes of discussion, aerosols are defined as microdroplets with single replicable virus particles, or a very small number), and that influenza must be similarly spread. Evidence was already available that influenza could be spread by aerosols, and today the thought on large-droplet restricted spread for TB has been rethought, and the probability that aerosol spread plays a role has emerged.
Simply put, we were all playing with a novel virus and playing without a rule-book. What we thought we knew about respiratory-spread viruses was, in this country, based on a significant body of work done in the George W. Bush administration when he assembled a pandemic advisory team after reading about the 1918 influenza epidemic. A lot of the assumptions made in the US public health came from that report and computer models that had been done in that era, including the thought to close schools, lock down movement, and require PPE. As you note, PPE was in short supply, and one of the early recommendations to not seek out PPE was because it was desperately needed in hospitals treating patients, and what little supply might exist was in the control of "entrepreneurs" who had bought out supplies and were charging exorbitant rates for the items. With Just In Time supply shutting down, replenishing the supplies proved near impossible. Errors by the administration to properly employ administrative power to require manufacturers to convert process and make more PPE was not properly engaged, but Ford Motor Company did make thousands of ventilators of a novel design that were not needed once we determined we were intubating and mechanically ventilating too many people based on flawed assumptions (that acute respiratory distress and the pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 was in any way similar to prior ARDS cases from other agents; it wasn't) and began treating more people who exhibited low oxygen saturations on room air with high-flow non-invasive oxygen, and then if needed, modalities such as CPAP and BiPAP.
Information was coming in so quickly that, at least in my case, I barely had time to tell anyone the highlights of what I'd learned in the last 24 hours much less write a coherent story for publication anywhere. Katelyn, on the other hand, had the capability to digest the material and keep reasonable and accurate summaries of credible data flowing, something I only wish I could have done. I might have contributed in other ways, but while I'm usually a pretty good communicator with patients and families, I was not a good public communicator in the first 2 years or so of the Pandemic.