Continued from Part 2 here.
Part 1 can be found here.
There’s talk at the “what do the Military do” about testing masks in whatever suitable environment there may be. I’ll grab and copy it here, but if anyone does it faster, I won’t complain a bit. Thank you. :-)
There’s also the oldish idea to build a how-to for the existing simple-mask. A few photos and slides with the details, sent to the big file project. I think this would be a must-have for the ugly-and-soon scenario. Then build from there, with help from early adopters who would come here to provide comments. All anyone of us needs is a digital camera, a t-shirt, a pair of scisors and so on, and a free afternoon. Anything else you need, ask for help here. Again, Thank you. :-)
lugon vanishes into local work
Forum.What is the Military Doing to Prepare
lugon – at 09:37
I would hope they test “simple masks” with folks who have just joined the Army and are not vaccinated yet. (Look for “simple masks” - they have a thread and a wikipage.)
lugon – at 11:07
If they test simple masks I would hope they make the information available for everyone - in time for the whole world to benefit from such masks.
AVanarts – at 12:58
I’d rather see “simple masks” tested on those who refuse to serve our country instead of unvaccinated recruits.
lugon – at 05:18
AVanarts – at 12:58 - I’d rather see “simple masks” tested on those who refuse to serve our country instead of unvaccinated recruits.
Hmm - hadn’t seen it that way - whereever your our country is ;) (I’m kidding in a friendly way. Really. It’s just that I’m not a US citizen and tend not to asume any specific our country. Sorry about my own personal bias!)
Seriously, I was considering the very small effect common flu has on healthy young people, versus the potentially useful information for all. A military situation has the advantages of discipline (to wear masks properly, among other things) so quite a few confounding factors would be out of the picture. Of course, as usual, research needs both ethics and practicality and scientific method and whatever else I’ve forgotten to mention. I have yet to see one idea of mine that cannot be improved on by most other people!
Volunteer recruits would be vaccinated as soon as the two month experiment ends.
Maybe use nuns instead? Community volunteers?
Ok, so only Forum.TheLargeFileCommunicationsProject3? needs to be done. I won’t have time to do it for at least one week. Do I see some raising hands?
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Sorry Lugon, I’m not too good at the computer formatting stuff. I hope someone volunteers for this wonderful job!
Sorry Lugon, I’m not too good at the computer formatting stuff. I hope someone volunteers for this wonderful job!
Talking about simple masks. Muslim veils are very much in the British news at the moment. I wonder if there is any difference in seasonal flu infection rates for women who wear veils outside the home compared with their male relatives or even the general population?
Anon_22 posted in the thread on the IOM conference that one speaker said that surgical masks, if supplemented with panty hose over the head to keep the surgical mask close to the face, were surprisingly effective. Maybe if we add panty hose to hold down the simple mask we could have a washable, reusable mask system that would be reasonably effective. Just need to get it tested by a reputable lab!
Someone tested this on herself for a while and found it uncomfortable. We should set ourselves - several of us, to try it out and tell others. Under stardard conditions of temperature and humidity etc. Volunteers to guides us all in the trying?
http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2006/11/how_does_flu_spread.php
It looks like aerosol transmission would be the most important factor.
How do simple masks work in this regard? How much do they stop? Is that enough to have any impact (however small, but additive with the other NPI) in the R-naught?
Maybe the mask can be humidified on the outside, perhaps by using a wet brush, in order to turn aerosol particles into bigger droplets that would fall down to the floor? If this is inconvenient to do at all times, then we would be able to do it in specific situations.
Simple masks: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no06/05-1468.htm
I continue to think of N95s as occupational protection (and perhaps for caregivers in the home while in the sickroom), not for general community use. I just don’t see this as having any impact on the community level and it will have some psychological side effects (both good and bad) that are hard to predict. The same goes for simple masks. If flu is really epidemic it will be hard to avoid being exposed. Whether you get sick or not will then depend on other factors, most of which you will have no control over. This is a personal opinion, of course, and I know many people disagree. Meanwhile I’ll continue to worry about the community rather than individual response as that remains my interest and hope for getting through this together.
The “anonymous” entry above is from Revere. Forgot to sign it. Apologies.
Revere — as to psychological effects, having no perception of control can be very debilitating. It might be at some point that the community response will be that people can’t just hide out, they have to go out and about however hesitantly, but having a little something to cover their mouths with and give them some semblance of protection might be the “magic feather” that they need to do what they have to do. Even if it doesn’t actually offer all that much physical protection it might well offer psychological protection. Which will also be important.
Our opinions won’t matter in this regard. Fortunately. :)
I’ve been re-reading the original article about simple washable masks. Still not sure how good they are at filtering aerosols. Or how much aerosol is needed to infect the individual.