Five key facts are being ignored by those calling for continuing the near-total lockdown.
Fact 1: The overwhelming majority of people do not have any significant risk of dying from COVID-19.
Fact 2: Protecting older, at-risk people eliminates hospital overcrowding.
Fact 3: Vital population immunity is prevented by total isolation policies, prolonging the problem.
Fact 4: People are dying because other medical care is not getting done due to hypothetical projections.
Fact 5: We have a clearly defined population at risk who can be protected with targeted measures.
Transmission
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Speaking may be a primary mode of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Considering that reports of asymptomatic transmission account for 50-80% of COVID-19 cases and that saliva has peak viral loads at time of patient presentation, droplet emission while speaking could be a significant factor driving transmission and warrants further study. We used a planar beam of laser light passing through a dust-free enclosure to detect saliva droplets emitted while speaking. We found that saying the words ‘Stay Healthy’ generates thousands of droplets that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye. A damp homemade cloth face mask dramatically reduced droplet excretion, with none of the spoken words causing a droplet rise above the background. Our preliminary findings have important implications for pandemic mitigation efforts.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.02.20051177v1
Among outpatient health care personnel, N95 respirators vs medical masks as worn by participants in this trial resulted in no significant difference in the incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza.
http://archive.today/2020.04.16-074055/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31479137/
There is no evidence to support the wearing of surgical masks by healthcare workers for close patient encounters and staff meetings, according to new official guidance.
The guidance was issued by Health Service Executive clinical lead on infection control Prof Martin Cormican in response to moves towards routine wearing of face masks by a number of hospitals.
One Dublin hospital last week advised staff they should wear surgical masks for all patient encounters and meetings between staff where social distancing of at two metres cannot be maintained.
…While acknowledging many staff are fearful for their own health and the wearing of masks provides “a sense of security for many people” Prof Cormican said the recommendation to use three, or two, masks during a shift is “likely to be counterproductive”.