Ready for our morning walk!
Akemi is a big fan of medical masks. They’re quite common in Japan, worn by sick individuals who don’t want to infect others, and by healthy individuals who don’t want to get sick. When, a few weeks ago, the experts started telling the public that “masks don’t work”, Akemi’s response was “Bullshit!”. And, of course, it IS bullshit. Really, these “experts” should have just been honest with the public and just said: “We fucked up. We had three months of warnings that this would happen but we failed to take preventative measures and didn’t stock up to protect our healthcare professionals. We have been caught with our pants down and we’re sorry.” But I don’t think that’s going to happen.
For my part, I’m going maskless – for now, as I’m only really going out to walk Suji at the park (or occasionally going out to pick up eats). Yesterday, we had to go to the bank for what turned out to be an alarmingly all-too-long twenty minute visit. But Akemi had me covered.
Literally.
Planning something special for you Dark Matter fans. I’ll have more details for you early next week!
The Dark Matter Greatest Episode Tournament continues! Choose between –
Episode 1 and Episode 7!
The #DarkMatter Greatest Episode Tournament continues with Round 1 action!
It's Episode 1 vs Episode 7!
Pilot vs Wendy the Robot!
Vote!— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) March 20, 2020
Your daily Covid-19 news update (links embedded in the headlines):
How power companies are keeping your lights on during the pandemic
There’s a correlation between the severity of Covid-19 and the by means by which it is contracted
Infection via contact results in milder cases than infection through lungs
How people in Nanjing went from 93 infections to 0 infections:
And how a small Italian city eradicated the virus. Spoiler Alert! They tested everyone!
If we go into full isolation for four weeks, we can get on top of this.
How long will the shutdown take? Short segment from my call with @nntaleb pic.twitter.com/Csz0GgcwZj
— Yaneer Bar-Yam (@yaneerbaryam) March 19, 2020
I’ve been saying this all along. America needs to pick it up!
An unprepared New York could run out of medical supplies in 2-3 weeks
Drugmaker brings down the price of chloroquine, a promising treatment
We’ve all heard of scaremongering – but in Canada, we have caremongering
Bored? The internet to the rescue!
Akemi is once again right. “Masks don’t work” is a lie to preserve the supply for health care workers. It takes mental gymnastics to believe it, but I’ve seen the routine performed.
There can be a titers blood test to prove you have been exposed already. Such people will be free to roam around and spread other people’s viruses, though, with no risk to themselves. Also, Bill Gates wants to implement a vaccine certification dystopia where people like me who can’t receive all the vaccinations, but not for one of the few reasons he pretends are the only things that put you at greater risk, will be excluded from all sorts of things. Getting people used to a titers certification is a first step to that.
Titers testing definition & information. Reliable source: I got my 2015 travel vaccinations at a Passport Health office.
https://www.passporthealthusa.com/vaccinations/titer-testing/#what
Just my humble opinion.
Y’all may recall that I was both volunteer and paid staff with local American Red Cross in 2000s.
Having participated in several disaster responses, starting with 9/11/01, I am not surprised that the overall USA response appears slow.
Frankly, not all disasters can be predicted by local, state, national governments or other entities. It’s counter-productive right now to assign blame instead of taking action to reduce /mitigate effects.
My plan right now is to stay calm and do what I can. Y’all are welcome to check my Facebook page for fact checks from reliable sources.
https://www.facebook.com/gilder.mccarroll
#Iamstayingathome #yomequedoencasa
You and Akemi look like bank robbers.
Akemi is smart! Do what she says. You should get a little mask for Suji. That would be so cute.
Well, week 2 and I still cannot find any toilet paper. No Sam’s, no Costco, no grocery stores, no nothing.
But then, at Walmart there wasn’t even any canned goods either. And who bought all the peanut butter? How rude!
That would be adorable, wouldn’t it? I doubt Suji would keep it on though.
I had to keep checking all the time online from the usual online sources until I found toilet paper on Walmart.com and had to move in quickly before someone bought it out before I got to my checkout cart which has happened before. It wasn’t my brand but it was Angel Soft and that was a decent brand.
There is toilet paper on Amazon, but it isn’t the brand names you are familiar with, but its toilet paper. My sister in New Jersey needs some and she doesn’t have the money to do that so I told her to pick out the description she likes the best and let me know exactly what the title says and then I’d order it and have it delivered to her house. It’s been 12 hours and she hasn’t gotten to it. She isn’t really internet savvy so I told her to ask her daughter to help her. She sounded like she was desperate for toilet paper. If there is going to be some time lapse before the delivery will get it to her you would think she would want to move quickly on this while there is still toilet paper on Amazon to BUY. I’ll have to get with her in the morning. She can’t dilly dally on this.
Ponytail, can you order T. P. on Amazon? I have a friend that did that.
I can’t help but wonder what the situation in the US would be if this had happened under the previous administration. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!
You guys look adorable in your matching masks. I’m going to steal that picture from you. I’ll give you photo credit. Perfect for my business twitter.
My vote today is for Ep7 Wendy – not joining twitter so cant vote there ! Masks are effective when dealing with airborne (lighter than air!) particles however the official line here in Denmark is that corona isnt airborne (except for the seconds when expelled by coughs) and is spread by touching contaminated surfaces. Masks are essential for infected people to stop them spreading it when in vicinity of others and for the high risk elderly/weak lunged also including those caring for infected people. Healthy & immune folks should not be diverting limited supplies of masks away from vulnerable people which were decimated here by the 2nd week of February by personal exports of existing stocks to China.
My main concern with masks is that if they have actually worked and caught copies of the virus, then it must be treated as a contaminated surface. So it’s important to put it on and remove it carefully, washing hands carefully afterward. Also, it’s possible if you have been that close to one of the infected, the drops may have gotten in your eyes too, from where the virus can migrate to the respiratory system. I think they can work, but logically they are more effective for use by those already or suspected of being infected. Better to keep those aerosols from ever being airborne in the first place! Of course, if there were enough masks, it wouldn’t be an issue either way.
It doesn’t surprise me that here in the Maritimes that folks would be caremongering. There’s a long history here of most people pulling together and getting done what needs to be done. I don’t know anyone around here that’s not taking this situation seriously.
Myself, I’m feeling fine and listening (sadly) to Kenny Rogers songs. RIP.
Might go out for a walk later, it’s nice out but pretty windy! The typical March winds, I guess.
Hope you guys are doing well there and not going too stir-crazy. Give Suji a big hug for me!
Yes, that’s true about it becoming a contaminated surface. In a health care environment, you’d be trained about this and your coworkers would help hold you accountable to not touching it. I think some of that nuance is how experts can feel justified telling us masses that it doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t make as much of a difference if you’re not trained to use it, but that doesn’t mean we’re all unteachable.
So much mainstream advice is over-generalized with the assumption people are unteachable and can’t grasp nuance. Unfortunately, this can lead to public policy (personally relevant topic here) just because the simple message can get so much public support that those influenced by corporate money can take that public support as a green light to use government force to bring about the wishes of their corporate benefactors and plow over those who would be hurt by it.
I often wear a Vogmask when I fly, not so much to keep germs out, but to prevent me from touching my face. I really should get new ones at some point, my old ones are saturated with playa dust. I should check and see what masks I have in the Safety Box for camp.
You both look very cute with the masks.
I hope everyone finds their eggs, milk, bread and T. P.!
Very excited about something Dark Matter….could it be a synopsis of the next episode?!?!
Stay safe Joe xxx
Better!
When I was a vet nurse we were told masks stopped you from transferring any bacteria from you to the op site and/or patient. Not the other way round.
I’m not a scientist but I do know from experience as a gardener now, that when we (me and my gardening volunteers) wear masks eg when pulling large amounts of Ivy off walls, we don’t necessarily cough up or inhale the dust it produces but when we take the masks off our faces are still black with the dust. Make of it what you will.
On a different note….. Can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to the Dark Matter surprise you have in the wings. Best thing I’ve heard for ages, whatever it is 😁👍
Stay safe and healthy everyone 🤗💕
Just to say, it depends on the specification of the mask. If it’s a P3 ( high filtration ) and fits well to the face it may do something. This is still really only to stop bacteria sized particles, dust, fume etc. and not a small virus particle.
But better than nothing.
In industry we have to have a face fit test to make sure the mask fits “airtight” to the face, as many people got ill/injured relying on a lask that didn’t fit correctly.