Pyrian on 25/3/2020 at 20:28
I'm not convinced of the efficacy of cloth masks. I'm not even convinced of the efficacy of the standard medical masks. I have certain allergies, and neither cloth nor standard surgical masks do anything to alleviate them. But once, doing IT on a lab-rat study (I'm allergic to rat dander), they gave me this weird duck-billed HEPA-filter mask that taped on all the way around. THAT device worked like a miracle. I don't know what it's called.
Starker on 25/3/2020 at 20:37
Quote Posted by Gryzemuis
I don't want to turn this into another russian-pissing-contest. I haven't written down exactly when I read that Russia was forbidding foreigners from entering the country. But I think it was the first week of March. Before our government was even advising us to "just wash your hands, and you'll be fine". I think it was just before Trump banned flights from China.
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Russia)
It says here that Russia banned foreigners from entering the country. It doesn't say when they did that exactly. The wiki-article suggests it happened shortly after March 2nd (3 weeks ago).
There is a candidates-tournament going on in Moscow. Eight of the world's best chess-players battle to determine who gets to challenge the world-champion (Magnus Carlssen) at the end of the year. The first game was March 17. But the 8 participants (including US-citizen Caruana, and Dutch citizen Giri) were in Moscow 2 weeks ahead. I followed the situation a bit, because I was wondering if the tournament would proceed or get cancelled. And also I wondered if the candidates would be allowed to enter the country. That's another reason why I think I am correct to remember Russia to close it borders 3 weeks ago. BTW so far none of the candidates have gotten ill.
That's the benefit when you are a dictatorship (China) or semi-dictatorship (Russia). You can employ very strict measures very early on, without parliament blocking you, or everybody else suing you. :/
Wikipedia is wrong then. Russia didn't ban all foreigners (with some exceptions, of course) until March 18:
(
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-moscow-events/russia-bans-entry-to-foreign-nationals-closes-schools-idUSKBN21329T)
There were some travel restrictions before that -- for example Chinese, South Korean and Iranian citizens were banned from entering Russia sometime in the beginning of March and Italians were banned sometime in the middle of March.
In comparison, Italy banned all flights from China on January 31st.
Oh, and btw, there's nothing semi about Russia's dictatorship. Putin was just about to give himself yet another term or two in office when the shit hit the fan.
Gryzemuis on 25/3/2020 at 20:57
Quote Posted by Pyrian
I'm not convinced of the efficacy of cloth masks. I'm not even convinced of the efficacy of the standard medical masks. I have certain allergies, and neither cloth nor standard surgical masks do anything to alleviate them.
The home-made masks are not just cloth. They are cloth on the outside, with a filter of some sort on the inside. E.gl. certain types of gauze. After you wear your mask once, you throw away the gauze filter. And you wash you cloth mask. Next time you use it, you stick in new fresh clean gauze.
Of course I don't know if it works. Or how efficient it is. But remember these masks are not for use in ICUs, or working with confirmed patients. They are just masks for general use. I'm sure there are lots of things that are not stopped by these masks. But remember that covid-19 is not spreading "standalone". The virus is in fluids, in droplets. When people cough, sneeze, or shaking their head when sweating. I can see how a simple mask will protect you (in most cases) against people sneezing. Or breathing in your face. And when everybody wears them (both the infected and non-infected) it should help even more.
Edit: it seems the WHO gives confusing advice. 1) Don't wear them when you are not infected, because their is no proof they help, 2) when you are not infected, but take care of someone who is infected, then you SHOULD wear them.
??? Huh ?
(
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks)
Or maybe the benefits are mostly the fact that you won't touch your face as often, when wearing a mask.
Quote Posted by Starker
Wikipedia is wrong then. Russia didn't ban all foreigners (with some exceptions, of course) until March 18
OK, I was wrong then.
(FYI, the article you quote is from March 16).
I'm pretty sure I read earlier that Russia was closing its borders for foreigners. But maybe they started relaxed, and tightened later. I don't know.
lowenz on 25/3/2020 at 21:24
Quote Posted by SubJeff
SubJeff is a physician (anaesthetic background), ex-behavioural pharmacologist and a drug researcher/developer.
What speciality zombe?
Well, thanks!
So why all that (GOOD) skeptism about the possibility that a drug can enable SARS-Cov-2 to spread more and more in your body AND this is the root of the deaths here in Italy? (Virtually every man and woman is on ACE-inhibitors here when 40/50 yo and the
infection amplification effects of ACE-inhibitors are well known, it's on the package leaflet too!).
Maybe without ACE-inhibitors the infection of this Coronavirus can't reach for the lungs so quickly and deadly.
Starker on 25/3/2020 at 21:48
Quote Posted by Gryzemuis
(FYI, the article you quote is from March 16).
Thank you for the information. The article, as you note, is indeed from March 16. The ban it's talking about, however, started from the 18th:
Quote:
The ban on foreign nationals will be enforced from March 18 until May 1, though diplomats, airplane crew members and some other categories of people will be exempt, the government said.
SubJeff on 25/3/2020 at 21:54
Because there is no good evidence for it.
As you keep being told.
lowenz on 25/3/2020 at 22:22
Quote Posted by SubJeff
Because there is no good evidence for it.
As you keep being told.
Evidence for a *possibility* ? Never asked for the "truth" (there's NO truth here)
Maybe the interaction is more complicated but of course there's must be a reason why the infection ramps up so quickly and common drugs can be involved as a factor.
jkcerda on 25/3/2020 at 22:35
(
https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-los-angeles-to-shelter-in-place-for-months-2020-3?fbclid=IwAR1LD_r5mx-ve6XX595zXpT83cM35q-tCISOp8JDMY50cKKOiH6E60K1VQQ)
Quote:
Los Angeles residents will be confined to their homes until May, at the earliest, Mayor Eric Garcetti told Insider on Wednesday.
In an interview, Garcetti pushed back against "premature optimism" in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying leaders who suggest we are on the verge of business-as-usual are putting lives at risk.
Garcetti said he's worried about the irreplaceable loss of life that's predicted with this outbreak. "This will not kill most of us," he noted. But, "It will kill a lot more people than we're used to dying around us."
"It will be our friends. It will be our family. It will be people who we love dearly," he said. "And everything I do is through that lens."
Renzatic on 25/3/2020 at 22:41
It wouldn't surprise me if people end up pushing the shelter in home mandates into summer.
