You wiped down your groceries with Clorox wipes. You stood in line for an hour before Target opened just so you could get some wipes when every shelf was empty. A spray-bottle became your new workout partner at the gym. You went to all that trouble but guess what? It was all probably for nothing. The Lancet said waaay back in July such precautions were useless in preventing the spread of Covid-19 but the article didn't attract the media's notice until this week. The Lancet reported:
A clinically significant risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission by fomites (inanimate surfaces or objects) has been assumed on the basis of studies that have little resemblance to real-life scenarios....
In a study in which the authors tried to mimic actual conditions in which a surface might be contaminated by a patient, no viable SARS-CoV was detected on surfaces....
For example, in the studies that used a sample of 107, 106, and 104 particles of infectious virus on a small surface area, these concentrations are a lot higher than those in droplets in real-life situations, with the amount of virus actually deposited on surfaces likely to be several orders of magnitude small Hence, a real-life situation is better represented in the work of Dowell and colleagues in which no viable virus was found on fomites. Rest of article.
So people were advised to clean common areas with disinfectant, wipe down cans and boxes from the grocery store and even wear gloves.
In retrospect, Marr says that was "overkill." Today, she says, "all the evidence points toward breathing in the virus from the air as being the most important route of transmission."
Scientists now know that the early surface studies were done in pristine lab conditions using much larger amounts of virus than would be found in a real-life scenario.
Even so, many of us continue to attack door handles, packages and groceries with disinfectant wipes, and workers across the U.S. spend hours disinfecting surfaces in public areas like airports, buildings and subways.
There's no scientific data to justify this, says Dr. Kevin Fennelly, a respiratory infection specialist with the National Institutes of Health.
"When you see people doing spray disinfection of streets and sidewalks and walls and subways, I just don't know of any data that supports the fact that we're getting infected from viruses that are jumping up from the sidewalk."
Marr says focusing on cleaning surfaces is not the best way to slow infection.
"Instead of paying so much attention to cleaning surfaces, we might be better off paying attention to cleaning the air, given the finite amount of time and resources," Marr says.... Rest of article.
Guess those ten canisters of Lysol wipes will remain on my shelf. ;-)
22 comments:
What about all the 'wash your hands', 'wash your damned hands' madness? Hell, I've been urinating, hands-free, for seven months! I don't even trust my own 'little man' although I know (pretty much) where he's been.
I suspected that all along.
This was a respiratory issue from the start.
Proctology complications were never in the mix.
But the panic buying did get my attention.
Never again will I take Charmin extra soft for granted.
surprise surprise. you get it from the air. a virus that attacks breathing is caught by breathing it in. what a revelation.
most countries have put covid-19 in the rear view mirror by everyone wearing a mask. once we made a mask a political statement, we were doomed to fail. which we have. completely.
yes its mostly nothing-but tell that to the 350,000 people who have passed away...and the millions who fought for their lives...
We have been lied to about this virus from the beginning.
They aren’t going to start telling the truth now.
This doesn't take into account of people wiping their nose with their hands, or coughing directly into their hands, and then touching counter tops, stocking grocery items, key pads, etc.
The concentration of viruses in these cases is quite high.
Masks...
No Masks...
Masks...
How many fucking times have there been flip, flop, flip, flop, including this article without footnotes, peer review, etc.
417 - please give us all a list of those countries that have put COVID in their rear view mirror - either because of mask mandates or whatever. Other than the isolated island countries, my reading tells me that there is a spike in damn near every country that has a population base.
You obviously have some inside iformation about these countries; please share it with us rather than just make your broad politically based statement. (And I'm not defending any political philosophy, just the reality that 'other countries' don't exist that are not experiencing a similar spike to ours.
most countries have put covid-19 in the rear view mirror by everyone wearing a mask.
Link?
We knew that, by MARCH, at the latest. How did people forget? The amount of time the virus remains viable and TRANSMISSIBLE, was known by anyone with working ears and a brain, even BEFORE March - February, maybe. The Mode of Transmission was certainly known by February.
Studies show this. Studies show that. Everyone seems to be an expert.
Osterholm proclaimed in March that non-N-95 masks provided no protection because transmission is via aerosol measured as a fraction of a micron. He was correct.
India - 1.4 billion people - 1 death per 9,362 people
South Korea - 51.3 million people - 1 death per 64,691 people
Kenya - 53.7 million people - 1 death per 324,471 people
Malaysia - 32.7 million people - 1 death per 72,505 people
Unites States - 331 million - 1 death per 1,000 people
(FWIW, none of these countries are islands, but the U.K. is, and they're not doing so great)
The virus spreads in many ways.
Washing hands was not a waste of time.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
The troll farmer here was of the opinion the virus wasn’t a thing, then it was a thing but it was chinas fault, it wasn’t airborne, now it’s always been airborne and wiping hands was useless and we are all dummies for wiping hands and food items.
The troll farmer here is intellectually bankrupt.
KF As you pointed out this was in July. It's the first day of a New Year and the virus has mutated to be more contagious. How is it more contagious? We don't know.
And, that's critical to all the politicizing. It was an UNKNOWN virus virus! For anyone to expect that all research to learn about a unknown virus would all be on target is ridiculous. But, initially,testing theories based on the behaviors of other viruses was all we had.
Now you want to hold all those trying to gain knowledge to help reduce the effects of the new virus up to ridicule. And, in doing that,overlook that all research has to be able to be duplicatable to have merit. Ruling in and ruling out variables is necessary to gain knowledge of which variables are determinant. For some of you, which things matter and which things don't.
We seem to have lost all common sense and any sense of public decency.
Were this many of us really never taught to cover their mouth when they coughed or nose when they sneezed? Weren't many of us taught how to or when to wash their hands either? Do some of you feel the freedom to pick your nose in public or rub your snot on your sleeve should be symbolic of your political freedom rather than proof you are crude and thoughtless ? You might as well be objecting to having to wear shoes or a shirt in a restaurant.
This is mass insanity!
As to the " only islands" can control this Yahoos. Fine, then just compare per capita cases in other countries and ask yourself why we have only done well in tamping down the death rate? That New Zealand had the virus and was able to stop it is proof it could have been stopped with a couple of months of economic and individual hardship instead of a whole damn year.
It's called realization " No man is an island". But, those of you " everybody dies sometime people, seem to think others are expendable and play no role in your well being.
Sorry 9:50am.....but others ARE expendable when they begin to encroach on another people's freedom. Never in history have completely healthy people been forced into quarantine. Never. If you don't want to die in a car accident, don't drive...ever. If you don't want to get sick or even die, don't go outside...ever. Every decision you make is not predicated on what other people may/may not do.....the risks you take are yours.....that's what a free society is based on.
Had I shit the bed as badly in my profession as scientists did in 2020....I would’ve been fired in May.
Fact!
Thank you, 9:50. I couldn't have said it better but have pretty much given up on trying to explain anything to science illiterates and covid-deniers. It's a waste of my time and energy which is better spent on keeping my family and myself covid-free, healthy, happy and involved with daily life.
7:44, incorrect. Here's what he's said, below. And, FYI, he's part of the new Biden Covid Task Force. And he wants us all to wear masks.
"At the outset, I want to make several points crystal clear:
I support the wearing of cloth face coverings (masks) by the general public.
Stop citing CIDRAP and me as grounds to not wear masks, whether mandated or not.
Don't, however, use the wearing of cloth face coverings as an excuse to decrease other crucial, likely more effective, protective steps, like physical distancing
Also, don't use poorly conducted studies to support a contention that wearing cloth face coverings will drive the pandemic into the ground.
But even if they reduce infection risk somewhat, wearing them can be important."
Maybe now she can investigate Pinnacle “Trust”...
Nov 9 2020
SARS-CoV-2 has far lower Case fatality rate (CFR) than Ebola, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1).
COVID has therefore been reclassified away from a high consequence infectious disease.
SARS-CoV-2 causes mild or asymptomatic disease in most cases; severe to critical illness occurs in a small proportion of infected individuals, with the highest rate seen in people older than 70 years. Known CFR of SARS-CoV-2 differs between countries ranging from 1.5% in Australia to 9.3% in Italy.
https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(20)30992-5/fulltext
Oh good grief!
You have not been LIED to since the beginning!
Scientists didn't KNOW anything about this NEW virus and early research wasn't constructed as perfectly as it might have been.
Really, people, part of knowledge is knowing how things work, including scientific research.
Didn't any of you take science? Was your teacher so bad that they didn't tell you how to tell good research from bad or that preliminary research is just that...preliminary ( a way to rule in or rule out variables) or to translate, first efforts to know what the important causes are or aren't by testing all causes.
Yes, early research used too much virus in testing because they didn't know who much was the right amount.
SIGH
Sighing, necroposting liar
Some of you seem not to understand that CV19 was a NEW virus. There are viruses that can be transmitted surface to hands and from hand to body.
Being overly cautious was rational until enough information was available.
And,for those of you who think other citizens " expendable" to your "freedoms", your " freedoms" do not include being physically comfortable, entertained,having what you want when you want it or causing physical harm to others or their property. You seem to totally avoid the moral and ethical principles which are the foundations of democracies and republics. You would cheerfully eliminate those who aren't just like you and don't believe as you believe...ISIS and every other group responsible for mass murders in history. I suspect your emotional development stopped when your temper tantrums at age 2 succeeded! That is usually the explanation for self-centered jerks.
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