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Asit #TheDarnThingIsAirborne 😷🪟

10 Apr, 23 tweets, 7 min read

Situational #Airborne is not a real thing if the so-called situations are the norm! A 🧵 of these situations, likely to contain many places or situations you too frequent 1/

2) In a long bus journey - quite normal for many people commuting between home and work places

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamai…

3) From an inflatable costume at a party - unless you lack a friend group, you will be going to some parties/gatherings?
nytimes.com/2021/01/03/us/…

4) At a gym. I know, most of us would avoid the gym when we can but in a year, you are probably going to come in once in a while? wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26…

5) In a hotel. Agreed that the hotel was being used to quarantine arrivals, but that did not make it any different from other hotels
abc.net.au/news/2020-12-1…

6) In a multi-unit residential building - fancy name for an apartment/flat.
ijidonline.com/article/S1201-…

7) In the living quarters of migrant workers.
nst.com.my/world/world/20…

8) Another one, migrant workers' home
thaipbsworld.com/little-myanmar…

9) Nursing homes/long term care facilities - again, something that is part of a lot of people's life
theconversation.com/poor-ventilati…

10) Actually, there are several examples from long term care facilities, with devastating and heartbreaking consequences - and they have not stopped
academic.oup.com/cid/advance-ar…

11) And it is not just for the residents, it is also a risk for the staff, who often are denied the appropriate PPE for and #airborne pathogen
globalnews.ca/news/6940893/s…

12) And from the care homes, the virus does make it into the community!
theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…

13) Meat packing plants - again, the ideal "situation" for spreading this virus, dry, cold, lack of distancing and lots of recirculated air
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

14) And if you were thinking, how much can a few meat packing plants change things, think again
thejournal.ie/1500-cases-lik…

15) Bars/Nightclubs - sure, who would have guessed getting alcohol in the mix would not lead to more disaster
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27…

16) In your offices, since not everyone can work from home forever!
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26…

17) In a strange display of fair play, the virus will not spare the lawmakers as well
washingtonpost.com/politics/capit…

18) Religious gatherings
washingtonpost.com/politics/capit…

19) In restaurants - since take away is not going to work forever, right?
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

20) Sure, why not a Starbucks as well?
fortune.com/2020/08/25/cov…

21) In a cruise ship - agreed not a frequent destination but still enough people travel on those things and a cruise ship, at the end of the day, is still a ship
pnas.org/content/118/8/…

22) In a church choir - cause being singing. Since as much as detractors of Bollywood movies may interject, singing does happen in our regular lives
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/in…

23) This is not an exhaustive list. The intention was just to show that when some people say #airborne transmission is only situational, those situations they are referring to are the norm of human life

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More from @akm5376

Asit #TheDarnThingIsAirborne 😷🪟

@akm5376

8 Apr

#COVID19 and a tale of two gyms in a 🧵
Gyms are high risk situations since you are exerting and breathing in a lot more than you would usually do. Everything else remaining same, a gym could be 5 times more risky than a classroom 1/

2) Outbreak in a gym, leads to >400 cases
globalnews.ca/news/7744065/q…

3) Staff and clients got infected, they unknowingly carried the virus to a wide range of locations - grocery stores, homes, and workplaces
Final result 419 cases and counting

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Asit #TheDarnThingIsAirborne 😷🪟

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2 Apr

What do we mean by #UseAirbornePrecautions? There are clear guidelines in health care settings, but what do we mean by it for the public? A 🧵 of 🧵(met-thread) on this. Strap in, this will be long 1/

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Asit #TheDarnThingIsAirborne 😷🪟

@akm5376

3 Mar

Twice in as many days, again a 🧵 examining a specific document. This time, I am not very impressed with the document. The document being -
"Should all healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19 wear FFP3?"
ips.uk.net/post/news/shou…
1/n

2) Conflicts/Bias - I do not know the author of the document, and I am seriously biased against messy reviews of selective evidence.

3) The title is as a question. My observation - If you are asking this question, you already have an answer in your head "NO" and your entire effort is going to be to justify that answer.
HCWs deserve the best protection available, period.

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Asit #TheDarnThingIsAirborne 😷🪟

@akm5376

2 Mar

@WHO

The @WHO recently brought about ventilation related guidelines, focused on the #COVID19 #pandemic
A 🧵 with a tour through the document
apps.who.int/iris/handle/10…
1/n

2) Document entitled "Roadmap to improve and ensure good indoor ventilation in the context of COVID-19"
- very specific and focused name though in the document they also state that these steps will have long term benefits, non-Covid ones as well

3) Conflict declaration - The Advisory committee that helped craft this, among them there are people I know personally and some are my former supervisors, people who taught me what I know about indoor air, so my view could be biased

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Asit #TheDarnThingIsAirborne 😷🪟

@akm5376

1 Feb

In July 2020, just as #Singapore was starting to open up after the #CircuitBreaker, the National Research Foundation of Singapore decided to fund projects that would look at life in the new normal - opening up while mitigating #COVID19

@CREATE_NRF

2/ I was then working @CREATE_NRF, with Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore (#BEARS) and we were fortunate enough to be funded for our idea

3/ "AUTOMATED DECONTAMINATION OF WORKSPACES USING UVC COUPLED WITH OCCUPANCY DETECTION"
The idea was, UVC can harm occupants but over the past years, occupancy sensing has also improved by leaps and bounds

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