6/ Understand that PLEXIGLASS BARRIERS help in a cashier / teller situation. But they actually INCREASE TRANSMISSION when lateral, as they make ventilation more difficult.
10/ Any mask is better than no mask. But to work best, masks need to:
1) Be a good filter (aerosols stick to it when air goes through its cloth) 2) Let us breathe (low resistance) 3) NOT LEAVE GAPS between face & mask - BIGGEST PROBLEM IN THE REAL WORLD
11/ Since #COVIDisAirborne and AIRBORNE IS THE DOMINANT mode of transmission (see our paper in @TheLancet, thelancet.com/article/S0140-…), we should recommend higher quality masks, especially for riskier situations when sharing indoor air
16/ But filters DO NOT NEED TO BE HEPA!! Cheaper filters built with a regular (Comfort) fan and HVAC filters work just as well and are much cheaper. E.g. #corsirosenthalbox
17/ For more information on the science, the historical errors that have made it so difficult for @WHO and @CDCgov and other govs. to accept that #COVIDisAirborne etc., see this thread and the linked articles and threads:
CO2 (above ~400 ppm outdoors) indicates the amount of exhaled air (& virus) trapped in a space
Also per recent scientific results by @ukhadds, CO2 helps SARS-CoV stay infectious in air much longer
@united flight boarding, pretty terrible!
2/ This is the trip so far:
-Low outdoors
-Pretty high ~2000 in @RideRTD bus to airport
- ok ~800 at @DENAirport, except restroom ~1500. Not sure why restrooms at this airport are so often poorly ventilated
- Then boarding on @united, ventilation OFF, so huge increase till ON
3/ For details of the recent results on how and why CO2 makes SARS-CoV-2 stay infectious much longer in the air, see this recent thread by @ukhadds
1/ "After four years of fighting about it, @WHO has finally proclaimed that viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID, can be spread through the air"
3/ "Words matter. When people heard that COVID might spread on surfaces, they wasted time wiping down groceries. People who misunderstood airborne spread needlessly wore masks on outdoor walks and veered off sidewalks to avoid their neighbors."
1/ New paper in @ScienceMagazine: "Mandating Indoor Air Quality for Public Buildings"
Explaining current status of indoor air quality standards (in short: bad or non-existent), the huge health benefits that would arise from them & proposing a path forward science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
2/ "People living in urban & industrialized societies, which are expanding globally, spend more than 90% of time indoors, breathing indoor air (IA)."
"Most countries do NOT have legislated indoor air quality (IAQ) performance standards for public spaces"