Wow, the Coronavirus has spread through the United States so fast that people's heads are spinning. At first, Americans were told STOP BUYING TOILET PAPER AND MASKS. Then it was social distancing. Then is was reluctantly shutting down large portions of the country.
You see masks are not effective due to how non-medical personnel uses them. First, a mask needs to have a TIGHT seal. That seal must not be broken. If it is...get a new mask. You can not reuse masks.
So while masks can be effective they are not because we need at least a few masks per person per day. I see people walking with their masks below their nose. Ok, I am not a saint. When I work I also can not help removing my surgical masks (not really useful at compared to the n95 masks) at times. I also have a limited number of masks, so I reuse mine as well.
People are looking to China and Korea ( a few countries did well with containment as well) and think they are model systems to be used. Actually, China you can not trust what comes out of that country. However, they were harsh and brutal from what I have seen and heard about quarantine and containment. People had their homes blocked with bars to prevent people from moving and spreading disease. People on the streets who tested positive were rounded up and even placed in a box to be taken to quarantine. When the media were filming in areas of Wuhan one of the worse hit zones reported by China; people shouted from windows "It's fake! It is not true!"
However, China appears to have contained the virus, as has Korea. How? Measures that would have Americans killing each other in heartbeat. In China, they used advanced facial recognition, drones, and social media to track and warn others of infected persons locations, and where they went. Korea tracked people and like China quarantined clusters of people. It worked. In the USA people would have major issues if their personal information was put on public display. People scoffed at using masks. Americans and Europeans acted like this was just a "flu" not understanding what immunity really means.
If you are not immune to an antigen it can cause unexpected reactions within your immune system. In some coronavirus patients, people had massive immunological responses. So massive that it led to autoimmune behavior. So, in humans, the immune system goes while and wipes out healthy tissue as well as infected cells.
Botton line? Use masks (do not put 100% faith in them BUT USE THEM they act as a barrier). Washing hands, and using sanitizers when in public often. Stay at home if you can. This stupid social distancing movement where people "hang out" a few meters from each other is so dangerous!
ok I have class!
/tata
