Masks outdoors --- necessary?
A while back, I pointed out the seeming 100% effectiveness of mask wearing in protecting my first aid squad from Covid patients (who, remember, are the bad cases - coughing, difficulty breathing etc.). I think I challenged Terp to explain it away. I don't recall a response. Feel free to correct me.
ridski said:
ml1 said:
And we got there by collective action to avoid large indoor gatherings and get vaccinated. We didn't get here by every person following their own personal definitions of "freedom" in the face of the pandemic.
Actually we did. It's because every person followed their own definition of "freedom" that we're looking at re-opening in Memorial Day 2021, instead of Memorial Day 2020. The arsehole contingent has kept this thing going far longer than necessary.
Other than that, of course, you're correct.
this is true. I suspect that the reason for the 2nd and 3rd waves in places like NJ were due to the fact that although most of us had done what we needed to do to get the rate of new infections down to about 200 a day in our state, other places didn't. I think there were a lot of people in places like NYC and NJ who had been being very careful from spring through the fall, and finally just said to themselves -- "**** it. why am I denying myself contact with my family, staying home, isolating, when the rest of the country is out having a good time?"
and of course that attitude led to the Nov-Dec wave, followed by the Feb-Apr wave. It's the willingness of most people to be vaccinated that's finally driving down the infection rate.
bub said:
A while back, I pointed out the seeming 100% effectiveness of mask wearing in protecting my first aid squad from Covid patients (who, remember, are the bad cases - coughing, difficulty breathing etc.). I think I challenged Terp to explain it away. I don't recall a response. Feel free to correct me.
I know I shouldn't be getting my medical info from sitcoms but I remember watching M.A.S.H. back in the day, and if Radar or Klinger ever ventured into the OR without a mask, all the doctors and nurses would yell out "mask!" They did have medical advisors on the show, so that wasn't likely a fiction made up by comedy righters. But maybe it was just wokeness or PC that made the medical advisors put that in the scripts. Not a desire to avoid post-op infections.
According to today's NJ Covid data hub, the transmission rate is down to .72. I don't understand how they calculate it on a day to day basis but its been dropping daily and that may be the lowest transmission rate since this thing really began in earnest, I'm not sure. Hospitalizations are down too.
Daily new cases in NJ are bouncing around the low 2000s in recent days. Better than the 3000 plus to 4000 plus numbers we were seeing a week or two ago. I still wonder who these people are. Nobody I know.
For you vaccine skeptics, Israel, with roughly the same population as NJ and which has basically opened up, has been averaging a little over 100 new cases per day.
The key thing you should know about the new mask rules
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/30/opinions/science-behind-new-cdc-mask-guidance-ranney/index.html
...[snip] you can keep the virus from reaching you. Well-fitted masks do exactly that. For the infectious, masks reduce the chance of transmitting the virus to others; for everyone else, masks can reduce the chances of breathing it in. So, masks remain important in places with poor ventilation and air flow, whether you're indoors or in a crowd outside.
This is why the CDC's recommendations for masking distinguish between outdoor activities among small groups (which poses the lowest risk for everyone), outdoor activities where large crowds make it impossible to maintain social distancing (mild-to-moderate risk) and indoor activities (higher risk).
The second important piece of the science behind these recommendations, of course, is the vaccines.
The vaccines that are approved in the United States work amazingly well. If you're fully vaccinated, and you're around other vaccinated people, the chance of being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus is almost nil. This is why the CDC's new recommendations are more relaxed for people who are fully vaccinated than for those who aren't.
I can't emphasize this strongly enough: These vaccines are our ticket to normality.
Why, then, does the CDC still recommend masks for vaccinated people in some situations? It's largely because there are still so many people in this country who aren't vaccinated. And while the vaccines are highly effective, they do not provide a 100% guarantee. The more unvaccinated people you're in a room with, the higher the chances are that someone in that room is sick. What I wrote about the importance of masks, whether it was a month ago, or a year ago, still holds true. They work. And for now, they are still recommended indoors even if you are vaccinated.
But the efficacy of vaccines is also why I am already telling my friends to stay tuned for more changes.
As more of us get vaccinated, the rate of infection will continue to drop -- which means the chance of being exposed to someone who's sick will drop, too. At the current rate of vaccination, it's likely that masks will not be necessary in most circumstances, for most Americans, by early summer -- assuming there are no horrible new variants.
Of course, as I told my friends on Tuesday, even if you are no longer required to wear a mask, you still can choose to wear one. In Hong Kong and Japan, for example, mask-wearing on public transportation and in crowded public spaces has been a norm -- not a requirement -- for years. For people who are immunosuppressed (for whom the vaccines may not be as effective) or otherwise high-risk, it might be a good idea to choose to continue wearing a mask, especially indoors, regardless of the regulations.
So: Breathe easy. The CDC recommendations make sense. And now, if you so choose, you can breathe easy without a mask outside.
But please, please, get your shot -- so we can all do our part to defeat Covid-19.
Per NJ Covid Hub, transmission rate down to .43 today. Cases down too. Less than 1400 today (I know its the weekend but there have bee substantially higher weekend day counts).
Not including today's very low number, here's the NJ daily case trend for the last two weeks:
PS: click on the "all time" tab above the graph and pick 2 weeks or one week or thirty days etc.
I was in Ocean County this weekend. It was amazing the amount of people who disregarded the mask mandate (indoors) including servers and the people who were vocal about their disdain for it. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was...
According to the NJ Covid data hub, today's transmission rate is .27. That is astonishing. I don't know how they figure it out on a daily basis (or at all), but I want to believe it. It's been dropping steadily and rapidly for at least a coup of weeks.
The positive tests were higher today than yesterday - 1500 vs a little over 1000 - but still a lot lower than the 3 to 4 thousand and higher we were getting daily not long ago.
Pfizer Says FDA Will Soon Authorize COVID-19 Vaccine For 12-15 Age Group
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 12 to 15 years old, a decision that could come by some time early next week. The vaccine is currently authorized only for people age 16 and older.
A ruling should come "shortly," Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla told investors in a conference call Tuesday morning.
[continued at link]
marylago said:
I was in Ocean County this weekend. It was amazing the amount of people who disregarded the mask mandate (indoors) including servers and the people who were vocal about their disdain for it. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was...
Ocean County... that is your answer.
Ditto, Salem, Cumberland, Cape May, Burlington and Gloucester. Drive through there and count the number of Trump signs and flags still flying.
Morganna said:
I'm pretty spooked about this virus and will wear a mask around people even outside. I was told by a friend that someone we know who is a health professional contracted Covid, was hospitalized and intubated despite have had both shots. It dashed my hopes that I could start relaxing.
That’s pretty scary. I knew vaccinated people could still get a milder form of the virus. Do you have any more details?
Bottom line - you have to have a healthy immune system for the vaccine to stimulate...
Scully said:
Bottom line - you have to have a healthy immune system for the vaccine to stimulate...
since the vaccines are advertised as upwards of 90% effective, that seems to be a low bar.
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Actually we did. It's because every person followed their own definition of "freedom" that we're looking at re-opening in Memorial Day 2021, instead of Memorial Day 2020. The arsehole contingent has kept this thing going far longer than necessary.
Other than that, of course, you're correct.