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Feb 8 23 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Hello class!

This is a bottle of Bitrex solution. It is the bitterest tasting substance known to science. I have filled this nebulizer with it.

*turns on nebulizer, stream of particles shoots out*

🧵
Don't worry, Bitrex is completely safe and has an excellent safety record. It just tastes bad.

*nebulizer is still running*

As you can see, the nebulizer is aerosolizing the Bitrex, and mixing it into the room air. A lot like someone infected with COVID.
In a minute or two, you will be able to taste it.

*nervous shifting*

Under your chairs you will find individually packaged 3M Aura disposable respirators. If you want to see how effective these are at blocking airborne particles, go ahead and locate yours now.
Put on your respirator and mold the nose wire to conform to your nose. Cup your hands over the front of the respirator and blow out forcefully. See if you can feel any leaks around the edges.

*nebulizer hissing*
For those of you who do not wish to wear respirators, no problem, you can be the control group.

*disgusted faces, moaning* 🤢

Ah yes, some of you are tasting it now!
It tastes awful, right? I have chocolate at the front if you want an antidote.
For those of you who can taste it, you are now infected with COVID. You will also notice under your chair there is a single, six-sided die. Roll that die now.

If you rolled a 6, you now have long COVID.

Go ahead and put your hand up if you got long COVID.
*nebulizer still hissing*

*student runs to the front for chocolate*

Okay for those of you not wearing respirators who want the experiment to end, unfortunately in real life viruses don't suddenly disappear, and the experiment never ends.
So if you want to opt-out, go ahead and put your respirator on now, and the bitter taste will fade in a minute.

For those of you who put your respirator on early, congratulations! You avoided a lifetime of disability.
Okay, let's simulate what happened when the Omicron BA.1 variant evolved around December 2021.

*places 19 other nebulizers on the desk and turns them on*
@TempestaRubida @DamiensRegicide @ProfSteveKeen So basically, roll a d6 and if it's a 3 or higher, you get LC 😢
@Bvolz3 Because, you know... dangerous aerosols. We can't have that!
@sorrne @HarryRBurger This experiment does mimic how transmission occurs. It may not reproduce the precise distribution of particle sizes shed by humans, but it's close enough and sufficient to demonstrate the efficacy of respirators.
@mandylmilano The most common substitute is saccharin solution: 13 packets of Sweet'n Low dissolved in 50ml boiling water, let cool, then nebulize. The sensitivity of this gets close to Bitrex, but it doesn't taste bad.
@SBeekeeper Important to have informed consent first

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
@CynthiaElise61 @quellesurprise8 It is not possible for humans to reliably "feel" leaks in their respirator. You absolutely must confirm that the fit is adequate by using a qualitative (QLFT) or quantatitive (QNFT) fit-test. The Bitrex method is qualitative.
@CynthiaElise61 @quellesurprise8 If you can pass a Bitrex fit-test in your respirator, it filters out *at least* 99% of viral particles, and likely much more.

This threshold is fairly arbitrary, but for reasons I can go into if you don't mind some light math, your respirator needs to fit this well to protect.
@CynthiaElise61 @quellesurprise8 Typically worn KN95/KF94/earloop respirators tend to only filter out 50-80% of viral particles. It's not nearly enough to prevent an infection. The failure to communicate this has been a catastrophic public health *and* activist failure.
@CynthiaElise61 @quellesurprise8 A typically worn N95/FFP2+/headstrap respirator is *more likely* to achieve an adequate face seal than an earloop one. This does not mean you are guaranteed to be safe. It's tricky to understand. It means, all other things being equal, you should prefer headstraps.
@CynthiaElise61 @quellesurprise8 So, roughly in order of safety (least-to-most):

- Surgical
- KN95/earloop (no fit-test)
- N95/headstrap (no-fit-test)
- KN95 (passes fit-test)
- N95 (passes fit-test)
- Elastomeric N95 (passes fit-test)
- Highest scoring QNFT respirator on your face
@CynthiaElise61 @quellesurprise8 If you haven't yet passed a qualitative fit-test in your respirator, I would get on that right away. If you haven't passed one, you have no idea how protected you currently are. It might be equivalent to wearing a surgical mask! I'm not exaggerating!
@CynthiaElise61 @quellesurprise8 Instructions and materials for a DIY at home qualitative fit-test (about $10-20 for saccharin, and $10-40 for Bitrex, please prefer Bitrex if possible) are in this thread:

@CynthiaElise61 @quellesurprise8 You're also welcome to DM me any time if you need help troubleshooting! 💪😷
@CynthiaElise61 @quellesurprise8 Additional valuable context, studies, etc.

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More from @antiviral_mktng

Jan 25
This conversation is useful and should be required reading for anti-SARS2 advocates. We stand zero chance of changing hearts and minds if we cannot empathize with others, listen, and understand their perspective.

I will pull valuable quotes into this 🧵
"I don't mask at work because I'm afraid of loosing my job. I'm neurodivergent and already weird enough. I use nose spray, probiotics, xylit gum for some prevention"
"I still carry my masks around with me and wear them from time to time. But really and truly after I got COVID a few months ago I gave up. I did all I could and I feel like everyone around me failed me and there’s no point."
Read 15 tweets
Jan 7
I would like to tell you a secret about risk mitigation, Murphy's law:

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

🧵
You want to dine outdoors because "cases are low" and you think "there is a low risk of infection". How dangerous is this?

Very.
Put a number on it. How risky is it?

"Uh, I dunno, 1 in 1000?"

Great. And how many times will you dine outdoors this year.

"Maybe ten?"
Read 10 tweets
Jan 2
"because if you don't have a relationship, it's noniterating Prisoner's Dilemma, and 50/50 they defect because why not?"

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
For those unaware, in all finite iteration prisoner's dilemmas, the rational move is to defect.
From Axelrod's "The Evolution of Cooperation":

"[I]f the other player is unlikely to be around much longer because of apparent weakness, then the perceived value ... falls and the reciprocity of TIT FOR TAT is no longer stable."
Read 14 tweets
Dec 31, 2023
Okay, a quick lesson in how power works, since I see many people falling for the grift. 🧵
Powerful people do not generally go around making explicit threats.

Chomsky noted that powerful states have learned propaganda is more effective than brute force.
If you beat people up and take their money, they think you are evil.

If you tell them capitalism leads to prosperity, then employ them and skim some money from their wallet, they love you as a "job creator".
Read 17 tweets
Dec 28, 2023
So... life expectancy went up again?

Why are we not talking about that?

I don't know what to make of this. Figure from National Center for Health Statistics Vital Statistics Rapid Release Report No 31. Provisional Life Expectancy Estimates for 2022. It shows life expectancy declining in 2020-21, reversing some of the decline in 2022.
I thought perhaps the death data was lagging, but apparently not.

"Mortality data used in this report include more than 99% of the deaths that occurred in 2022, but certain jurisdictions and age groups may be underrepresented for later months."
Read 25 tweets
Dec 26, 2023
@sleepyknave @SpatialEnigmas Just want to double down on a couple things (mini 🧵):

Molding the nose wire is important, but not sufficient to make the respirator work properly. Experienced respirator users cannot "feel" leaks in their face seal. Qualitative fit-testing is required!

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…
@sleepyknave @SpatialEnigmas "All 137 experienced users indicated that they had an adequate seal after performing the user seal check; however, 41 (30%) failed the subsequent quantitative fit-test, and 30 (22%) failed the qualitative fit-test."
@sleepyknave @SpatialEnigmas A passing qualitative fit-test will guarantee your respirator filters at least 99% of virus. We know because it is harder to pass a qualitative test than to achieve a Portacount fit factor of 100.

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.117…
Read 6 tweets

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