Seems obvious now, but WEAR MASKS.

[tp4tissue]

Sneeze and Cough micro-droplets stay in the vicinity for upwards of 20 minutes.

#Updat: From a reliable source, 6 feet of social distancing is not nearly enough, Latest studies have determined that 30 feet is necessary

Not a valid vimeo URL

[tp4tissue]

//  From a reliable source,  6 feet of social distancing is NOT enough.  The safest distance recognized in the Latest research is ~30 feet.

[SBJ]

The safest distance recognized in the Latest research is ~30 feet.

Damn queues are going to be a *****.

[Moistgun]

that drip

[tp4tissue]

Damn queues are going to be a *****.

Make sure you clean the shopping cart handles. and wear gloves

[suicidal_orange]

wear gloves

Wearing gloves or not I touch something covered in germs - if I then touch my face that's bad.

If I'm not wearing gloves I pull out my hand sanitiser, clean my hands and the bottle, and the germs are gone.

If I'm wearing gloves I have to take them off without touching them, else my hands get covered in germs anyway.  I then have a pair of germ infested gloves that in the best case I put in a bin - which was likely touched by someone else doing the same thing.  Then I have to wash my hands anyway.  Or, if there is no bin handy I have some germy gloves to put in my bag or pocket, infecting them and requiring another hand washing session later when I take them out...

Gloves just seem to waste time and add another level of risk, not to mention the commonly seen rubber ones are bad for the environment.

What am I missing that makes gloves so great?

[absyrd]

Gloves are good if you don't wash your hands really well. If you can get quality nitriles and know to pinch the bottom and fold them inwards, you're good. Also, please don't throw them on the ground in the parking lot.

Droplets are real. Cloth masks like you see people making are not going to save your ass, but it may reduce the droplets you dish out if you breathe, cough, sneeze.

As many of you know, I have a TON of experience with this.

The only real answer is stay home. I go out for groceries and meds once a week at 9am. I were a hankie with a cut out piece of vacuum bag. Wash the cloth when I get home and toss the piece of bag. No gloves. I do wipe down the cart.

[bliss]

If I'm wearing gloves I have to take them off without touching them, else my hands get covered in germs anyway.

I do a two step process:

• Use hand sanitizer on gloves. (The sanitizer bottle is in a bag.)
• Take off gloves, use sanitiser on hands. (Get sanitiser bottle out without touching the outside of the bag.)

This way I do not have to touch the highly contaminated(tm) gloves without protection. At home I disinfect the sanitizer bottle itself, would be a bummer to have germs on it...

About them masks, I view them as cyberpunk accessories. I know this is not a game, but it helps against mask listlessness.

[noisyturtle]

Time to break out my '60s-'80s gas mask collection. Shall I go with the full-hood plague doctor, or the Psycho Mantis today, Jeeves?

[SBJ]

Damn queues are going to be a *****.

Make sure you clean the shopping cart handles. and wear gloves

I usually just put on some gloves before entering and dispose of them afterwards. Then rub my hands in that alco-gel stuff.
But lately we've taken to getting everything delivered we need.

[Coreda]

Sneeze and Cough micro-droplets stay in the vicinity for upwards of 20 minutes.

They've observed SARS-Cov-2 remaining up to 3 hours in the air after coughing. This is the primary reason people are beginning to recommend or even enforce non-filtered mask wearing, since it mitigates the wearer's coughing (though even just using common sense and sneezing/coughing into clothing would be better than nothing).

I use more thorough protection though and am very particular about disinfecting surfaces both while out and at home. Always been a religious hand washer so that hasn't changed a great deal

[noisyturtle]

Gloves seem unnecessary if you are already wearing a mask. Wearing the mask already deters you from touching your face.

[Coreda]

That, and I don't think gloves are necessary if one brings something to clean one's hands (and disinfect things if one wants) while about. This reduces the risk of contaminating other surfaces which oneself or others might further touch.

Just depends what items one has and how much one cares based on the data (airborne droplets, survivability on different types of surfaces, weighing risk based on activity, etc) but it's easy to be proactive in simple ways.

[chyros]

Almost everybody uses gloves and face masks improperly, so they don't actually do anything. If anything they make it worse by giving the wearer a false sense of security.

[Coreda]

Almost everybody uses gloves and face masks improperly, so they don't actually do anything. If anything they make it worse by giving the wearer a false sense of security.

If they expect to adequately protect themselves yeah though that isn't the only thing they're useful for as has been mentioned. As for the gloves, I've seen a number of places have their staff wear gloves only to then interact with other surfaces/items between customers which completely defeats the purpose. Tokenism, really.

The kind of surgical style masks the vast majority are wearing won't filter the air the person breathes since a) they're not respirators and b) they're not designed to provide any seal around the nose/mouth. The goal from what has been discussed seems more to mitigate droplets of the wearer from reaching others (which is closer to how they're used in a hospital scenario), even if some have a sense they offer more protection than they do.

Then there are those with actual respirators (N95, P2, etc). At least there (if they didn't buy some knock-off, of which there are tons) they would have filtration but only if a seal is achieved otherwise it's not effective and not recommended to be worn by the manufacturer. One has to wonder how many would perform a seal check after donning.

The other issue is contamination from touching the outside of the masks then touching other parts of one's face either while on (eg: eyes) or mouth after removal.

One would have to be conscious of all these things (ie: RTFM) and other factors if one wanted some adequate protection, it's true.

[Sintpinty]

Sneeze and Cough micro-droplets stay in the vicinity for upwards of 20 minutes.

Not a valid vimeo URL

The only mask i have is the boba fett one . we have some n95 in the basement

[bliss]

Anything less than FFP3 is considered just a courtesy, not protection.

The idea is to contain droplets of infected persons. So wearing a standard mask telegraphs to other people: 'I care about you; even if I were infected, chances are lower that I spread it around.'

What the 'experts' are telling around here. Nonetheless, an effective strategy iff everyone is wearing masks. AFAIK they did that in South Korea, and their 'numbers' reflect that.

[tp4tissue]

Don't forget guys, latest research indicates we need 30 FEET distancing, ~10 meters. 6 feet/2 meters is not nearly enough.

[Coreda]

Anything less than FFP3 is considered just a courtesy, not protection.

I know with 3M's filters for their reusable respirators that P3 (99.95% filtration) isn't achievable with anything less than a full face respirator (when used on half-masks just over P2 filtration is achieved). I'm actually curious how the disposable FFP3 (99% filtration) kind compares in real world use given disposable respirators don't achieve the same facial seal.

Idk where the idea that anything less than FFP3 is 'just a courtesy' though, given both N95 and P2 are used extensively in frontline care and certainly for general public use seems entirely adequate (a 2012 study showed that a properly sealed N95 respirator stopped 99.6% of the tested infectious influenza virus from 6 feet away).

[bliss]

Anything less than FFP3 is considered just a courtesy, not protection.

I know with 3M's filters for their reusable respirators that P3 (99.95% filtration) isn't achievable with anything less than a full face respirator (when used on half-masks just over P2 filtration is achieved). I'm actually curious how the disposable FFP3 (99% filtration) kind compares in real world use given disposable respirators don't achieve the same facial seal.

Idk where the idea that anything less than FFP3 is 'just a courtesy' though, given both N95 and P2 are used extensively in frontline care and certainly for general public use seems entirely adequate (a 2012 study showed that a properly sealed N95 respirator stopped 99.6% of the tested infectious influenza virus from 6 feet away).

Yes, hence the quotation marks on 'experts'... It baffles me how there is no consensus on that. No, actually, I am not surprised at all

So, yes, what tp and Thomas said

[Coreda]

Yes, hence the quotation marks on 'experts'... It baffles me how there is no consensus on that. No, actually, I am not surprised at all

There are global shortages on such respirators so there's a possibility such statements have been attempts to influence public opinion away from them. As there's more than enough literature about such respirators, from studies to official government resources, on their use in shielding from all kinds of virus strains, including documents regarding extended use of N95 respirators during pandemic shortages and prioritizing supplies.

[tp4tissue]

There are global shortages on such respirators so there's a possibility such statements have been attempts to influence public opinion away from them. As there's more than enough literature about such respirators, from studies to official government resources, on their use in shielding from all kinds of virus strains, including documents regarding extended use of N95 respirators during pandemic shortages and prioritizing supplies.

Peeps have a distorted understanding of PPEs,  N95 is super restrictive and hard to breath in.  You'd only use something like that if you're in the hospital, or sanding drywall mud.

[noisyturtle]

The masks make my glasses fog up. Does that indicate the seal is bad?

[Coreda]

The masks make my glasses fog up. Does that indicate the seal is bad?

If it's a surgical style mask that's to be expected. The purpose is mainly to minimize one's own droplets from reaching others if coughing/sneezing (it does minimize droplet exposure to the wearer somewhat though, the study mentioned above showed it blocked 56% of the infectious virus they tested coughed at a 6 feet distance, worn typically).

If it's a disposable respirator then you'd need to perform a seal check (see for example page 3 of this 3M PDF). For valved variety it's similar but the valve openings are covered instead. For the reusable kind check the user manual (I'd hope one would anyway given how different these are).

Peeps have a distorted understanding of PPEs,  N95 is super restrictive and hard to breath in.  You'd only use something like that if you're in the hospital, or sanding drywall mud.

Might depend on the variety as I haven't in the past found the valved kind hard to breathe through but I also don't have any existing respiratory issues. This topic seems to have been created as a plea to minimize airborne droplets in public and to wear any mask though at the same time I'm not sure how realistic it is to expect people in general will be observing 30 feet distances in common, more congested scenarios such as shopping, in elevators, etc, or that the vast majority in non-Asian-majority countries will be wearing some form of mask (to minimize airborne droplets collectively). That said it's getting better.

If one can avoid entirely such scenarios it's not much of a concern (hence numerous countries' pushes for limiting close public interactions as much as possible), particularly more at-risk demographics, otherwise one is trusting that everyone is doing the right thing and no non-open area has been exposed to infectious droplets in the past 20m to 3h. It's a pretty nebulous risk. In a hospital different PPE tiers make more sense since patients are both assessed and kept in specific areas (eg: if in this or that area wear different types of PPE, if any). It's a more known and enforceable environment.