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#COVIDisAirborne

5 posts5 participants0 posts today

I was quoted in this Teen Vogue article about mask bans and the harm they pose for the disability community.

This is the kind of inclusive journalism Teen Vogue has been doing for years.

If Bezos purchases them, it’ll be the end to stories about disability, trans rights, immigrant rights etc:

teenvogue.com/story/mask-bans-

Teen Vogue · Mask Bans Insult Disabled People, Endanger Our Health, and Threaten Our Ability to ProtestBy Alice Wong

@DenisCOVIDinfoguy @auscovid19

A headline that needs something else or perhaps a more sensitive expression: “Long Covid is continuing to linger in the workplace, and businesses struggle to cope.”
Because I’m pretty sure the people who suffer from Long Covid also struggle to cope with it.

Linked question: have workplaces done anything to either support workers or prevent transmission? Are they cleaning the shared air, for instance? (Especially with current estimates of ~40% of those with Covid-19 being asymptomatic.)

hey Covid-Competent, well-informed folks! I have a favour to ask!

has anyone bookmarked a good reference for what % of SARS-CoV-2 cases are due to fomite transmission?

the US CDC was at one point saying:

each contact with a contaminated surface has less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of causing an infection [1]

but that's not a % of infections, it's per contact with contaminated surface. That's supported a few ways, eg. by a sampling that included counting touchpoints:

The estimated risk of infection from touching a contaminated surface was low (less than 5 in 10,000) by quantitative microbial risk assessment [2]

but that study didn't actually culture virus, they checked RNA levels and counted touches.

Try as I might, I can't actually find a grounded estimate of how many actual infections have been fomite-driven at any point in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

[1] archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/co
[2] pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/

@askazero

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)By CDC

@DenisCOVIDinfoguy @auscovid19

That “64.5% [of #COVID19 cases] were re-infections” is terrible to read & awful to think about when there are so many easy actions we can all take to prevent transmission: mask-up in shared air; clean the air in health care, aged care, schools & childcare settings; make sure yours & your family members’ vaccinations are up to date…. Press #publicHealth authorities to take meaningful action; lobby your MP… We can do so much better!

Continued thread

I don't perseverate about #COVIDIsAirborne because I am a pessimist. I keep thinking and talking about it because I am an *optimist* and I believe that by engaging with reality, instead of accepting convenient fictions about ballistic droplets being the only important mode of transmission, we can have better policies, safer indoor air, more inclusive society, and better health.

Replied in thread

@jrdepriest the candidate did the right thing: Don't work for #CommercialRealEstate / #OfficeFetishists aka. assholes.

  • Let the top brass know that the decision to force people to do #UnpaidLabour aka. #commute has costed them an applicant and let financial stakeholders and investors know that.

Without #accountability & #consequences, shit like this will continue.

  • Personally I see no value to even consider working #onsite unless it's evidently a necessity (i.e. some electronics lab / repair / manufacturing plant or onsite support for clients).

Cuz it is just a waste of time and resources.

The proposed cuts to Medicaid are an excellent reason to start wearing a mask again.

Covid is a mass disabling event. Don’t count on the system being there to support you when you’re chronically ill.

Mask up to protect your life, your health and the health of your community.

In 1987 volunteers were exposed to rhinovirus ("common cold") either by sharing air, or by sharing heavily contaminated objects.[2]

Most of the people who shared air with an infected person got sick.

None of the people who handled the heavily contaminated objects (and touched their faces!) got sick. And:

5/8 donor hands yielded culturable RV-A16 virus, while none of the recipient’s hands did [1]

[1] virologydownunder.com/rhinovir
[2] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=

h/t mastodon.social/@mackayim2022 via mastodon.social/@mackayim2022/

Virology Down Under · Rhinovirus (RV) transmission by aerosol: does it happen or is transmission solely by hand-contact and self-inoculation?This study set out to determine whether rhinoviruses were transmitted by aerosol, indirect contact, or both.