The Flue Virus

[leptraps]

I want you to think about this. The current Flue Epidemic has gripped our nation, many people have chosen to wear a Mask.

Now think about this. When you arise in the morning you get dressed. Underwear, pants, possibly a jacket or coat. During the day while your at work or home, you break wind. It ain't nice. All your clothing cannot contain it.

Soooooo, you wear a mask to keep the flue out?

Think about that!!!

[Deleted]

The mask isn't for keeping viruses out so much as keeping what you might have in therefore slowing the spread of viruses like the flu and covid-19. I have to wear a N95 mask and a full face shield when I'm at work. Cant wait to have all that PPE on when its 90 degrees out. Masks and shields are not effective at protecting from flatulence though.

[exoticimports]

N95 masks filter 95%. The popular cloth masks filter about 20%. That said, the latter do catch larger matter and slow the velocity of exhaled particulates, reducing the cloud.

It’s clear with COVID exposure to plumes in enclosed environment is what readily spreads the disease. This was stated in a NYS study, and the NYC Hispanic community took it as a personal and racial attack, as a result the NYS government, not wanting to upset their support base, went silent on the topic. So we still are told to worry about countertops, while it’s OK to order take-out prepared on heavily used restaurant countertops.

It can, and has, been spread person to person in casual encounters, as indicated by the spread from those fleeing NYC to rural areas. In almost every Upstate NY county the first death reported was “someone from outside the area”. But sadly we get no details on what level of interpersonal interaction proved to be sufficient to spread to the next victim.

Notably, a recent NYC study showed that COVID has NOT been spread through vectors one would reasonably presume: NOT in healthcare providers, NOT on subways! The highest spread is within the older retirees and older unemployed! Unfortunately this study fails to identify the activities in that demographic that results in the spread, so we cannot accurately alter our behavior based on observations.

In any event, it slowed to a crawl outside of NYC meaning now the exposure level is less than 2% of the rural population- meaning this will have a long, frustrating impact. That is, until schools open in September. Then it won’t matter if you wear a N95 or Richard Nixon mask.

[leptraps]

I remember reading that at the end of WW2, it was learned that the Japanese had made an attempt to dump cylinders of fleas containing various plaques on Islands that the USA had captured. There was supposedly an attempt made on the USA west coast. However, the submarines assigned to these task disappeared. More than likely sunk in route.

I have been surprised that some biological attack has not been attempted in the middle east.