> From: "Sharon Collier" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [h-cost] What I Did During COVID-19 Panic Lockdown
> Hi, Brenda, > Masks are not to protect YOU, they are to protect others from your > exhalations. If you wear a mask, any germs you may be exhaling will hopefully > not go very far. First, masks only prevent droplet transmission, which is supposed to be only about six feet. If we're already distancing by more than six feet, it seems more a placebo than an effective tactic. Second, masks seem more to "protect" me from breathing normally (reduction of inbound air, increase in reinhaling exhaled CO2), and from seeing (clouded glasses). I deem both breathing and seeing necessary for my survival. On the protective-behavior side, there seems to be mixed review over whether or not the virus can transmit from aerosols (which will go through most homemade masks and into the closed air system of a public building like a store or office) and from surfaces like clothing. > And my brother is an EMT on an ambulance. He's transported patients with this > disease. He says it is so much more horrific, that the idea that it was here > and undetected is ridiculous. It's a HORRIBLE disease, unlike anything he's > ever seen before. Understood. But here's the rub: *MOST people who get the virus do not get ANY symptoms, or they're so mild that they're written off as seasonal allergies or a cold. (THIS is why we didn't detect it for months.) *About 80% of the people who got the first waves of tests (those with very severe symptoms and a doctor's note) tested NEGATIVE for COVID-19. These are two of the reasons I'm not all *that* concerned about the panicdemic. > List-Post: <mailto:[email protected]> > From: Lavolta Press <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [h-cost] What I Did During COVID-19 Panic Lockdown > The article you linked to does *not* say antibodies to Covid-19 disappear > within three months of exposure. No, but others I read do note cases where people who have been tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and are tested again in a few months then test negative, which is also the case for SARS and MERS (two closely related, deadlier, but much less contagious, coronaviruses - coronavirii). > It just says that there hasn't been enough time for people to get Covid-19 > twice, that researchers are doing research on how long the antibodies last, > and that we don't actually know anything at all yet. The reason I linked to that article is that, based on the antibody behavior after experiencing SARS and MERS, and reinfection tests, a posited hypothesis (and I consider it not unreasonable) is that if SARS-CoV-2 immunity exists (can exist? will exist?), we will find it to be conferred not by antibodies, but by memory T cells. > I'm in the group that believes we'll all have to get vaccinated once a year, > after a vaccine is developed, or an old one (like the TB vaccine) repurposed. If indeed an antibody-based vaccine does get developed, an annual booster may not be sufficient. That said, I'm in the group that considers a vaccine based on antibody theory highly unlikely, and will probably not work as expected - even if boosted quarterly. > I'm ordering exclusively online, except for curbside pickup of groceries. > Which means the grocery store has someone shop, then puts the groceries in > the trunk of the car. You will not see me in any retail store (or restaurant, > or public event) until there is either a cure, a vaccine or both. I was > mostly ordering online anyway. Or at a doctor or dentist unless there is a > real emergency. No routine checkups. And no risking my life to "support the > economy." I'm very close to the other end of the spectrum. Other than going to a completely digital economy with mostly robotic manufacturing and fulfillment, and being afraid of contacting any other human being, I can't see a way to avoid contamination (especially since more than half the people carrying the virus don't know they have it and either won't have symptoms for two weeks, or will never have any symptoms worth reporting). Since my doctor isn't concerned about me contracting anything in the course of visiting her office for my quarterly checkup, I'm not, either. I will respect if you would rather me cover if we're going to be within six feet of each other, but if we're both comfortable being unmasked (in part because we ARE more than six feet away from each other and not subscribing to the aerosol theory), I'm *more* comfortable with that. I'm not going to hide away and be scared of my own shadow. Brenda _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] https://indra.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
