Jan. 26:
- ZeroHedge: “N95 Virus Masks Sell Out Across The U.S.” [Ed. notes: not true! Ed. was watching Amazon as the virus spread. Ed. bought masks without difficulty on Feb. 20.]
- “Even though there are only five cases of Wuhan coronavirus in the United States, the mask hoarding has begun. [. . .] Although masks actually do little to protect healthy people, the prospect of shortages created by panic buying worries some public health experts.” [Ed opines.: NY Times carrying water for the C.D.C.]
- “To mask or not to mask: confusion spreads over coronavirus protection.” [. . .] “Official guidance from the World Health Organisation and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention makes no mention of wearing a face mask as a preventative measure against the virus - but their websites do not specifically advise against them.”
- “Take off that facemask: You’re not protecting yourself from coronavirus.” [Ed.: link goes to MSN but this is a NY Daily News piece.]
- “Face masks fly off shelves in Central New York as fear of coronavirus grows.”
- [Editor and spouse buy two dozen N95 masks. They we not for sale to medical professionals. They were predominantly sold to painters and others working in nasty environments.]
- “America has 30 million masks, needs 300 million for health care workers fighting coronavirus, H.H.S. Secretary says.”
- “US is buying half a billion masks to guard against coronavirus.” “At the moment, the US has about 30 million masks on hand.” [Ed. notes: these are orders, not fulfillments. Ed has no idea if these orders were ever filled.]
- Silly prole, you're not being rational. “The psychology behind why you want to wear a face mask — even though it probably won't help you avoid illness. [. . .] Psychotherapist Amy Morin explains that wearing the masks does more for our mental health than our physical well-being, by soothing our anxiety and giving us the illusion of being in control.”
Feb. 29:
- U.S. Surgeon General: “Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!” [Ed.: please recall, the flattening in Taiwan and S. Korea is well-known at this point.]
Mar. 2:
Mar. 4:
Mar. 13:
Mar. 26:
- “U.S. health officials say Americans shouldn’t wear face masks to prevent coronavirus — here are 3 other reasons not to wear them.”
- “Americans don't seem to be heeding health officials’ advice: Walgreens and Duane Reade pharmacies have seen increased demand for face masks and hand sanitizer across the country.”
Mar. 4:
- “WHO warns of mask shortages as virus cases rise worldwide.”
- “Critical Component of Protective Masks in Short Supply. The epidemic has driven up demand for material in N95 filters; ‘everyone thinks there is this magic factory somewhere.’”
- “Coronavirus can travel twice as far as official ‘safe distance’ and stay in air for 30 minutes, Chinese study finds.”
- Coronavirus: Face masks ‘not safe’ announces developer of ‘first COVID-19 resistant mask’
Mar. 13:
- Essence Magazine: 7 Fashionable Face Masks To Help Shield You From The Coronavirus
Mar. 26:
- W.H.O.: “If you do not have any respiratory symptoms, such as fever, cough, or runny nose, you do not need to wear a medical mask. When used alone, masks can give you a false feeling of protection and can even be a source of infection when not used correctly.”
- Sui Huang at Medium argues: “The official recommendation in the United States (and other Western countries) that the public should not wear face masks was motivated by the need to save respirator masks for health care workers. There is no scientific support for the statement that masks worn by non-professionals are ‘not effective’.”
- “In contrary, in view of the stated goal to ‘flatten the curve’, any additional, however partial reduction of transmission would be welcome — even that afforded by the simple surgical masks or home-made (DIY) masks (which would not exacerbate the supply problem). The latest biological findings on SARS-Cov-2 viral entry into human tissue and sneeze/cough-droplet ballistics suggest that the major transmission mechanism is not via the fine aerosols but large droplets, and thus, warrant the wearing of surgical masks by everyone.”
- “But coughing or sneezing can shoot them like projectiles out of the mouth with a ‘muzzle velocity’ of 50 meters/second (for sneezing) or 10 m/s (for coughing), and droplets can reach distances as far as 6m away. If so, then the much mentioned ‘safe distance’ of 6 feet in social encounters may not suffice — except if you wear a (simple) mask.”
- We should all be wearing masks, realizes the Washington Post.
Mar. 29:
- “My data-focused research institute, fast.ai, has found 34 scientific papers indicating basic masks can be effective in reducing virus transmission in public — and not a single paper that shows clear evidence that they cannot…”
- “Studies have documented definitively that in controlled environments like airplanes, people with masks rarely infect others and rarely become infected themselves, while those without masks more easily infect others or become infected themselves…”
- “Oxford University found evidence this month for the effectiveness of simple fabric mouth and nose covers to be so compelling they now are officially acceptable for use in a hospital in many situations.”
- A paper on re-opening the country: “Public hygiene will be sharply improved, and deep cleanings on shared spaces should become more routine. Shared surfaces will be more frequently sanitized, among other measures. In addition [. . .] people will initially be asked to wear fabric non-medical face masks while in the community to reduce their risk of asymptomatic spread.”
- Seen on a friend’s Facebook page, site here. So obvious. So simple. But we have to have the F.D.A. approved masks, so no, we won't get on board.
- “‘We certainly don't have enough masks in health care,’ says William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University. ‘I wouldn't want people to go out and buy them now, because we don't want to siphon them off from health care’.” [Editorial hint: if the public can buy them, they're not available to health care. If they’re for health care, they’re not available to the public.]
- “I Wear A Mask In Public. The CDC Needs To Catch Up.”
- “Doctors say hospitals are stopping them from wearing masks. ‘I’m being yelled at. I’m being told to take it off. I’m being told that I’m scaring patients and that I’m scaring other people.’ We’ve had people who had their jobs threatened.” [Via Instapundit]
Apr. 3:
- C.D.C. recommends cloth masks. “CDC continues to study the spread and effects of the novel coronavirus across the United States. We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (“asymptomatic”) and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (“pre-symptomatic”) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms.” [Ed. to C.D.C.: “No kidding!”
Apr. 7:
- Research raises concern of infection from breathing or talking. “‘Currently available research supports the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 could be spread via bioaerosols generated directly by patients’ exhalation,’ writes Harvey V. Fineberg from the Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats, who was the author of the letter”, while urging cautious interpretation of the results so far.
- “We identified virus RNA in a small number of participants who did not cough at all during the 30-min exhaled breath collection, which would suggest droplet and aerosol routes of transmission are possible from individuals with no obvious signs or symptoms.”
Apr. 8:
- “The Face Mask Debate Reveals a Scientific Double Standard” [Ed. note: it was all about conserving a precious commodity that we could not figure out how to make more of.]
- “South Korea Rations Face Masks in Coronavirus Fight”
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