Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Everyone thinks they're right about masks (medical-political games)

#1
C C Offline
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...ks/609235/

EXCERPT: . . . Should I wear a mask? For health-care workers, the answer is obviously yes. But which masks? [...] For everyone else, the debate is even trickier. For months, the WHO, the CDC, and most public-health professionals have advised that people don’t need to wear face masks unless they have COVID-19 or are caring for someone who does. At the same time, these experts have noted that health-care workers are in dire need of masks, which are running out because of strained supply chains and surging patient numbers.

[...] If masks are limited, conserving them for the people who need them most makes sense. But that message was lost amid the confusing claim that masks somehow protect health-care workers but are useless for everyone else. In recent weeks, that simmering tension has come to a boil. Opinion pieces, news stories, and scientific papers have urged Western countries to use masks widely, emulating the example set by East Asian countries. Masks are mandatory for anyone entering a supermarket in Austria, and anyone leaving their house in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In the U.S., the CDC is reportedly contemplating a change in guidance, and many public-health experts have already pivoted.

[...] If the virus is traveling through the air, then it seems intuitive that masks would block it. But the evidence for this is all over the place ... Several past studies have found that face masks could reduce the risk of flu-like infections, slow flu transmission in households, and even reduce the spread of SARS, especially when combined with hand-washing and gloves. Other studies have been more equivocal, finding that masks provide no benefit, small benefits, or benefits only in conjunction with measures like hand-washing. “Airflow follows the path of least resistance, and if it won’t enter through the mesh, it can come in from the side,” Bourouiba said. “There’s no evidence whatsoever to suggest that [surgical masks] are protective against the smallest droplets.”

There’s still a good case for masks, though, even if they can’t stop viruses from getting in: They can stop viruses from getting out. [...] This might be especially important for SARS-CoV-2, which can spread without immediately causing symptoms. If people are infectious before they fall sick, then everyone should wear face masks “when going out in public, in one additional societal effort to slow the spread of the virus down,” says Thomas Inglesby of the John Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Some commentators have argued that countries that have thus far succeeded in curbing their COVID-19 outbreaks have widely used masks. But this relationship isn’t as perfect as it might appear. China advocated mask use early on and still struggled to contain the disease. Japan uses masks widely but is now seeing an uptick in cases. Singapore reserved them for health-care workers but still flattened the curve of infections. Many successful mask-using countries relied on other measures, such as extensive testing and social distancing, and many were ready for the pandemic because of their prior run-in with the 2003 SARS epidemic.

In Asia, masks aren’t just shields. They’re also symbols. They’re an affirmation of civic-mindedness and conscientiousness, and such symbols might be important in other parts of the world too. If widely used, masks could signal that society is taking the pandemic threat seriously. [...] Or masks could have the opposite effect...

[...] The debate is somewhat moot right now, because there simply aren’t enough masks for medical professionals, let alone everyone else. ... This might well be why public-health officials have been so loath to recommend mask-wearing more broadly: Hoarders have already begun to exhaust the dwindling supplies...

In the meantime, citizens (and, unfortunately, many health-care workers) will have to make do with MacGyvering their own alternatives. A few studies suggest that homemade cloth masks are less effective than proper medical ones, but are still better than nothing.

[...] The mask debate is so intense because both the stakes and the uncertainty levels are so high. “We’re trying to build the plane while we’re flying it,” Hanage said. “We’re having to make decisions with quite massive consequences in the absence of secure data. It’s a nightmare for your average cautious public-health professional.”

The coronavirus pandemic has moved so quickly that years of social change and academic debate have been compressed into a matter of months. Academic squabbles are informing national policy. Long-standing guidelines are shifting. Within days, an experiment that’s done in a hospital room can affect how people feel about the very air around them, and what they choose to wear on their faces... (MORE - details)
Reply
#2
confused2 Offline
We (in the UK) don't think masks are helpful because we haven't got any.
Reply
#3
Zinjanthropos Offline
Trump seems to think Americans should be wearing masks since he ordered 3M not to send any to Canada. Trudeau said Trump making a mistake. There's always something somebody doesn't have but we do. You can keep Howie Mandel.
Reply
#4
Syne Offline
Canada doesn't supply anything the world desperately needs. Many waistlines could do without a little maple syrup.
Reply
#5
Zinjanthropos Offline
(Apr 3, 2020 11:04 PM)Syne Wrote: Canada doesn't supply anything the world desperately needs. Many waistlines could do without a little maple syrup.

We have idle threats.  Big Grin
Reply
#6
Secular Sanity Offline
I don’t know if it’s true or not but the French are reporting that we swooped in and bought a planeload of masks right out from under them. They said that we offered China double the money and paid cash right at the airport. The France-bound plane then flew the load to the U.S.
Reply
#7
C C Offline
Is it possible that all three countries (US, UK, Canada) were not exactly the brightest bulbs in this department? Or as Bernard Fontenelle once said (not): "The line between goodwill and injudiciousness is so subtle that one careless step intrudes upon the other."

(At least the UK list is specific that it was a mere 2,500 facemasks sent by them to China.) 

U.S. sent 17.8 tons of masks, respirators, other PPE to China in February
https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/local...-february/

EXCERPT: As states fighting the COVID-19 novel coronavirus detail their struggles with shortages of personal protective equipment, a U.S. State Department release revealing a 17.8 ton donation of masks, respirators and other PPE to China has come under increased scrutiny.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted about the humanitarian relief on February 7. A State Department release that same day offered more details about “the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.”

- - -

Canada sent 16 tonnes of masks, face shields to China in February
https://www.capebretonpost.com/news/cana...na-430137/

EXCERPT: . . . But in February, Global Affairs Canada announced it sent 16 tonnes of personal protective equipment to China to assist with the outbreak of COVID-19 there.

“Our deepest thoughts are with all those affected by this outbreak,” Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne was quoted in the news release announcing the gift. “We continue to monitor the situation and stand ready to provide further assistance as needed.”

Health Canada did not answer questions Thursday regarding whether those supplies had come from the national emergency strategic stockpile and if so whether they had been replaced afterward.

On Thursday, the Globe and Mail reported that hospitals in Ontario were rationing personal protective equipment to front-line staff.

- - -

UK sends 650,000 gloves, wipes and gowns to China to fight Coronavirus crisis (FEB 24, 2020)
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/u...s-21566192

EXCERPT: Britain has sent more than 650,000 gloves, wipes and gowns to China as part of efforts to fight the Coronavirus crisis. Despite an outbreak spiking to more than 220 cases in Italy, Boris Johnson's spokesman insisted the risk to individuals in the UK "remains low".

And he confirmed the extent of the help offered to China by the British government. The PM's official spokesman said: "We have supplied them with 1,800 goggles, 430,000 disposable gloves, 194,000 sanitising wipes, 37,500 medical gowns and 2,500 facemasks."
Reply
#8
Syne Offline
(Apr 4, 2020 03:18 AM)C C Wrote: Is it possible that all three countries (US, UK, Canada) were not exactly the brightest bulbs in this department?

Or just generosity in the face of China's lies, repeated by the WHO, that it wasn't human-to-human transmissible.
Reply
#9
Zinjanthropos Offline
Should hospitals push for DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) orders for Covid patients. Primarily for Heart & Lung difficulties/problems. It would free up some PPE and time.  I read somewhere that ventilators are only allowing 10% of patients the extra time required to recover/build immunity. Would a DNR for one patient save time for health professionals to look after incoming patients? Would the death rate increase or be balanced by earlier care for new patients? 

https://www.psqh.com/news/covid-19-hospi...nr-policy/

Excerpt: There is also the time it takes to don PPE in the critical minutes after a patient codes. “By the time you get all gowned up and double-gloved, the patient is going to be dead,” Fred Wyse, an ICU nurse in Michigan, told the Washington Post. “We are going to be coding dead people. It is a nightmare.”

When my wife's father died, the family signed a DNR. I can't remember which bug he had but he was unconscious with serious breathing difficulties, plus in his 90th year. There were quite a few similar cases going on at the time and many patients. My memory is telling me that he had C Difficile but I don't think that was a respiratory ailment, although it might possibly get to that point, not sure.
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  COVID authoritarianism tries to revive itself with viral propaganda (political games) C C 1 62 Jul 18, 2022 10:24 PM
Last Post: RainbowUnicorn
  Mixed bag of political-R commentary (party games) C C 0 64 Mar 12, 2022 05:35 AM
Last Post: C C
  Why do Maine & Nebraska split their electoral votes? (political games) C C 0 107 Nov 5, 2020 08:59 PM
Last Post: C C
  50 the magic number? (UK) + Bojo improves + Why some won't wear homemade masks C C 0 198 Apr 8, 2020 06:52 PM
Last Post: C C
  Let the NHS political games begin! (UK health service - round two) C C 0 192 Jun 9, 2019 06:15 PM
Last Post: C C
  We taught bees a simple language – and they got it (number games) C C 3 293 Jun 5, 2019 08:10 PM
Last Post: Zinjanthropos
  Elon Musk thinks we all live in a video game. So what if we do? C C 1 597 Jun 10, 2016 07:46 PM
Last Post: Magical Realist
  Games: The Chart That Explains Everyone C C 0 385 May 20, 2016 02:21 AM
Last Post: C C



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)