Coronavirus - political views - supporting or otherwise...

[Foxholer]

Not photoshopped at all

View attachment 31692

That's a completely different (and hardly believable) image to the one I posted!
I seem to remember it was even on BBC's site - which, understandably, goes to pretty extraordinary lengths to verify authenticity.
But if you are determined to only accept things that reflect your views....

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I do remember Trumps saying he dislikes 'wearing a mask that makes him look like the Lone Ranger' .

For the youngsters, the Lone Ranger mask was an eye mask like the one Trumps is wearing.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

By now you're all aware that we yanks are not welcome to travel anywhere in the civilized world.

After doing less than nothing on a national level to help mitigate this bio-disaster, Troglodyte Trump is now threatening all local school districts who are wary of opening schools for the coming fall semester as though everything were normal.

Last week, at the cluster of mailboxes, I overheard two of my mentally deficient neighbors bemoaning how poor Trump gets blamed for everything.
We're all elderly, but I could have sent these two to their just deserts in hell, both at once, in about eight seconds MAX.
And God be my witness, I really, really wanted to.
Instead, I said and did nothing.
My wife and I have to live in this community.

But I've lived to an age where I'm seeing and hearing things that I never ever needed to see or hear.
And short of spending my last days in prison, what the hell can I do about it?

 

[Doon frae Troon]

You really have to scratch your head in wonder about many of the major world political leaders at this moment in History.
Then to make matters worse you have to wonder about the people who voted to put them in power.
It is a scary time.

 

[Deleted member 21784]

You really have to scratch your head in wonder about many of the major world political leaders at this moment in History.
Then to make matters worse you have to wonder about the people who voted to put them in power.
It is a scary time.

What worries me as the we (as for now a united kingdom) are looking to deal with the biggest moron in the free world.

He has handled his country the worst arguably out of everyone yet we look to do anything to align with what they want

 

[MegaSteve]

What worries me as the we (as for now a united kingdom) are looking to deal with the biggest moron in the free world.

He has handled his country the worst arguably out of everyone yet we look to do anything to align with what they want

We've been 'dealing' with the biggest load of chancers/freeloaders for 40+ years to the detriment of many...
With the absolute likelihood of there being no change in the relationship...
Yet, there are still some that remain unconvinced we are doing the right thing of kicking them into touch...

In the fullness of time the Donald will be gone and relations with our good friends from across the pond will resume to something way more responsible/reasonable...

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Do country lockdowns really work, another interesting write up on it :-

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30208-X/fulltext

This will continue into the future and adjust accordingly.

 

[Foxholer]

By now you're all aware that we yanks are not welcome to travel anywhere in the civilized world.
...

I thought that the wearing of outlandishly gaudy clothes by US tourists was a reflection of the 'requirement' to warn locals of your presence! So actually being 'not welcome' is only a small step further!
And it doesn't just include 'the civilised' world either! New York State is not welcoming folk from several other states!
Lifting lockdown certainly requires a delicate balance between 'freedoms' - to restart the economy - and prevention of 2nd spikes that would ruin all the sacrifice that lockdown has entailed. IMO, Trump is so singularly focused on re-election that he has ignored the negative consequences - or will write them off as caused by State Governors and/or Democrats/protesters. Or/And, he may actually be planning use the sensible (imo) moves that (mainly) Democrat Governors have taken as a 'This is not freedom' message in the election - in the same way he calls it 'The China Virus'!

Whatever happens, I fear for what may happen if he gets re-elected!

 

[Deleted member 21258]

200 000 people would need to wear facemasks to prevent one new infection per week in the current epidemiological situation.

https://www.fhi.no/globalassets/dokumenterfiler/rapporter/2020/should-individuals-in-the-community-without-respiratory-symptoms-wear-facemasks-to-reduce-the-spread-of-covid-19-report-2020.pdf

First kind of summary I have seen, so if 66 million wear masks, then 330 infections less in a week, based on those figures.

 

[Ethan]

https://www.fhi.no/globalassets/dokumenterfiler/rapporter/2020/should-individuals-in-the-community-without-respiratory-symptoms-wear-facemasks-to-reduce-the-spread-of-covid-19-report-2020.pdf

First kind of summary I have seen, so if 66 million wear masks, then 330 infections less in a week, based on those figures.

This is a statistic similar to one used in medicine called the number needed to treat (NNT). It is overwhelmingly driven by the background prevalence of the condition, so if few people have the infection, wearing a mask will not reduce the chance of them spreading it, obviously. But this sort of cheery stat is highly sensitive to that prevalence. A change in the rate of infection in the community changes this number quite significantly and fast, and usually before we know that rate has changed added to which the rising R number further multiplies it.

Wear your masks, please.

 

[GB72]

I am all for wearing masks and not necessarily for a scientific reason. We all want things back to normal and we all want the economy to bounce back. many people, me included, feel more comfortable in shops etc if people are wearing masks. If people feel more comfortable, they are more likely to go out, more likely to spend money and so more likely that the economy will get back on track quicker. For that reason, if no other, I am more than happy to go through the minor inconvenience of putting a mask on.

Even if you do not see the scientific need, see the psychological one and do it to help the economy.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

This is a statistic similar to one used in medicine called the number needed to treat (NNT). It is overwhelmingly driven by the background prevalence of the condition, so if few people have the infection, wearing a mask will not reduce the chance of them spreading it, obviously. But this sort of cheery stat is highly sensitive to that prevalence. A change in the rate of infection in the community changes this number quite significantly and fast, and usually before we know that rate has changed added to which the rising R number further multiplies it.

Wear your masks, please.

The report basically says your first sentence.

What did interest me, was that Norway had 52 recorded infections in the last week for a population of about 5.5m. Based on that if all the population wore masks then the infections could have been half, hmmm (not knowing if they currently are wearing them or not, pass and not overly relevant).

For me, the wearing of the mask doesn't make me feel safer and wont affect if I go into indoor spaces or not. In fact I am much more likely to touch my face wearing one and personally think people are likely to reuse masks, take off, then put back on whilst out and about, which would defeat some of the object of it all. Jury is far from out on these kind of masks and the case is far from proven to me. That ignores the people who have been killed for trying to enforce mask wearing or trouble erupts due to trying to enforce them. Life sadly is never simple etc. But don't get me wrong, I comply as personally do not have strong feeling over masks or not tbh. I just like researching and reading such riveting stuff.

I would be much more interested if we had to wear 'proper' masks but clearly the supply is not there atm, it would make so much more sense if the mask protected the wearer and other people we come into contact with fully......

 

[Ethan]

The point is that the number has little to do with the inherent effectiveness of the mask, but all to do with the risk in the population. The inherent effectiveness of the mask won't change much, but the prevalence of the condition very probably will.

NNTs often generate bigger numbers than people expect, especially for preventative medicines, for much the same reason.

The mask probably doesn't make YOU much safer, but may make others safer if you happen to be an asymptomatic carrier. It may or may not be a coincidence that high mask usage is seen in places like Vietnam and S. Korea which have very low death rates and have controlled the infection.

 

[Jamesbrown]

I’ll be interested to see the trend once they are introduced. I’d expect to see a sharp downward trend in new infections to see if masks was effective within a month.

I don’t think we will see it though. Time will tell.

Luckily, there’s no queue on morrisons website like there used to be and plenty of slots available for online shopping.

 

[Foxholer]

I’ll be interested to see the trend once they are introduced. I’d expect to see a sharp downward trend in new infections to see if masks was effective within a month.

I don’t think we will see it though. Time will tell.

Luckily, there’s no queue on morrisons website like there used to be and plenty of slots available for online shopping.

I don't believe there'll be a noticeable reduction either - but that's not because masks will not have an effect. On the contrary, I believe masks are a sensible additional safety measure consequential to a significant 'loosening' of the rules! Without masks, I believe we'd see a significant rise in cases - as appears to be happening in US. With masks, the danger of transmission through closer allowed distance is mitigated.

 

[road2ruin]

I am all for wearing masks and not necessarily for a scientific reason. We all want things back to normal and we all want the economy to bounce back. many people, me included, feel more comfortable in shops etc if people are wearing masks. If people feel more comfortable, they are more likely to go out, more likely to spend money and so more likely that the economy will get back on track quicker. For that reason, if no other, I am more than happy to go through the minor inconvenience of putting a mask on.

Even if you do not see the scientific need, see the psychological one and do it to help the economy.

For me this is absolutely spot on. I am in the camp (rightly or wrongly, only time will tell) that feels that masks have no particular benefit in terms of the spread of the virus. However, I will happily wear one (and have been from last week) if it means that it gets people out and about more and feeling more confident to rejoin society. We need people out spending money and if wearing a mask gets them out then it’s a small price to pay imo.

 

[Slab]

The Gov is making a dogs turd of this face mask thing, where's @SwingsitlikeHogan when you need him

All they had to say was; Wear a face mask/covering when in public. And if you really don't know if you are in 'public'... wear one anyway!

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Nicola had the best safety comment.

'If you feel like things are getting back to normal, you are doing something wrong.'
Followed by 'Keep the Heid' of course.

 

[bobmac]

that feels that masks have no particular benefit in terms of the spread of the virus.

I've done a google search on the effectiveness of the mask and the answers vary from ''can help'' to ''definitely help''.

''But health experts say the evidence is clear that masks can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and that the more people wearing masks, the better.''

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/4...s-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I've done a google search on the effectiveness of the mask and the answers vary from ''can help'' to ''definitely help''.

''But health experts say the evidence is clear that masks can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and that the more people wearing masks, the better.''

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/4...s-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent

Its interesting isn't it, I will counter that with this proper one in a medical setup(tho) and test results :-

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971//

We have provided the first clinical efficacy data of cloth masks, which suggest HCWs should not use cloth masks as protection against respiratory infection. Cloth masks resulted in significantly higher rates of infection than medical masks, and also performed worse than the control arm.

I appreciated it is a clinical setting and the viral hit is likely to be more regular and heavier, but certainly shines a different light on it, as it performed worse than the control arm. There other such studies..

However I think that masks do overall help and there is mounting anecdotal evidence in support of a mask(a couple such cases given in your link but plenty more around), in an indoor environment.

Its crazy to think wearing a mask outside with any element of social distancing, actually helps to stop the spread to a measurable amount(+ve or -ve).