Corona Virus #5

[ruffdog]

That can't be all of it. The fella in Portugal said that the German healthcare system is really really good and Italy's is really really bad.

But it has been said many times that Italy has more doctors and beds than the USA does per capita.

 

[ruffdog]

I can explain respirators and masks as I work in the industry. This won't be short, but I will keep it light on the technical stuff...

Respirator can mean 2 unrelated things 1) A piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) that you wear to filter out or exclude contaminants from your lungs. 2) An apparatus used in the hospital to help you breathe. I'll be honest that I know nothing about #2, though I believe that they may be calling these ventilators more often nowadays. Still a lot of people hear the word respirator and think the #2.

Mask can mean anything on your face. A respirator can be called a mask generically but people in the industry get picky about this as a "mask" can mean anything. You see a lot of surgical masks in healthcare photos. They are intended to protect the patient, not really the wearer, as they do not seal to the face. You are basically trying to stop the wearer from breathing/coughing/spitting droplets directly into an open incision, for example. They will resist exhaled droplets as those will just get stopped by the mask, but they do not filter to any reliable degree, and are not tested for filtration, for the most part.

In the US, NIOSH controls respirator approvals (part of NIH/CDC structure). There are 9 approval levels, but you mostly hear of 2: N95(basic) and P100(top). The number is the minimum filter efficiency against a standard particle challenge. Anything 95 or higher is generally accepted for use in these situations. The 9 approvals have a letter (N/R/P) which talks about what type of aerosols they are tested against, and a number (95/99/100) which is the min filter efficiency in % (the 100 is a bit of a fudge as it is actually 99.97% which is the most that the instruments can measure). The letter has to do with the type pf aerosol as oily particles can cause more trouble with some filters, so R and P levels are tested with oily particles, N is not. Stuff exhaled from a person is all water based so the N category is most suitable. That is why you hear N95 all the time in the news these days.

The most important part of a respirator is the fit, not the performance level. If you cannot get a good fit, then your protection will be poor. The non-woven disposable type (often called paper, incorrectly) are the basic type and can be fitted well with proper care and some training. The rubber type masks are kind of the next step up and can be easier to get a good seal and are more comfortable for long term use. Rubber respirators will come in 2 basic forms - half-face (covers nose and mouth) and full-face (covers nose/mouth/eyes). Many people think of the the half face as a "painters mask", but they can be set up many ways depending on what filters you attach. Most people have only seen a full face on firefighters, but they have regular industrial uses also, with the same filter selection as half-face.

Disposables or rubber respirators are perfectly suitable as long as you put N95 or higher filters on it. A lot of people know the heavier carbon cartridges on these which are used to take organic vapors and other chemicals out of the air, but you can use a regular particulate filter also. You will mostly find P100 filters, and frankly the reason for that is "just because". It is the top level filter and so most people seem to gravitate to it, whether the really need it or not. You can find N95 and mid level filters, too but they are not as common for that reason.

And then you can get into real high end with filtering blowers and supplied air lines that can feed rubber respirators, hood, helmets, or other special setups. Disposable masks are often $0.50-2 ea (in normal times...), rubber half face can be $15-50 (depending on features and materials), full face in the $150-400 range, and the blower systems can easily get you into $1-2k, once you have all the parts.

So if you have N95 disposable types, those work fine as long as you are well-fitted, and the rubber half face respirators also work fine for all this, with an N95 filter or better (no need for carbon cartridges for this - they don't filter particles, only gasses/vapors). And again - FIT is most important!

I know it is long, but it is hard to explain all this clearly otherwise... Hope this helps.
-Dave

Good write-up...problem with masks....they don't protect people from getting the virus through the eyes.

 

[Ortimber]

I really appreciate our members from Portugal and Norway giving us the situation in their parts of the world. It's very interesting. Thank you!

Regarding looting- A friend of a friend is an LA County sheriff and the whole law enforcement community is as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. They know if even a small amount of looting starts, it'll spread faster than they could possibly contain.

 

[Locoweed]

I have seen many pictures on the net of guys with beards wearing a mask. Without a good tight fit, I think they are just wasting the mask.

 

[dstig1]

Good write-up...problem with masks....they don't protect people from getting the virus through the eyes.

That's an "it depends". Full face rubber respirators cover the entire face, including the eyes. The powered blowers often feed hoods or helmets that also totally enclose the face/head. That is why you see some healthcare workers in hoods (with blowers). The blower feeds air into the hood which greatly reduces worker fatigue and improves comfort. Plus you get fully covered. But not something you are going to find in every Home Depot...

 

[/pine]

There's a simple solution to stop any looting at the onset...shoot the first ones that even think about it...!

 

[Ortimber]

There's a simple solution to stop any looting at the onset...shoot the first ones that even think about it...!

Works for me.

 

[ruffdog]

This is a good article explaining what is happening with your body when you are fighting covid-19. If you like the science part of things, you'll like this. It even has nice pictures.

What coronavirus does to the body: COVID infection process, symptoms

 

[California]

Here's a small town in northern Italy, right in the heart of the contagion, that halted the spread by 100% testing of the population then isolation of those contagious. No new cases have appeared for several days.

Coronavirus: Experiment in northern Italian town halts all new infections after trial | World News | Sky News

I read that similar work halted spread in Guangzhou, China's third largest city, a major industrial city, right next to Hong Kong. There, the contacts of every person who tested positive were traced, found and quarantined. This tamed the 'curve' of each infected person infecting several more, illustrated on the compounding upward trend line we see elsewhere.

Obviously a huge number of people were needed to do the testing and also to go out and find every contact in a city that large - 56 million population in the city and its surrounding metro area per Wikipedia.

 

[rswyan]

Here's a small town in northern Italy, right in the heart of the contagion, that halted the spread by 100% testing of the population then isolation of those contagious. No new cases have appeared for several days.

Coronavirus: Experiment in northern Italian town halts all new infections after trial | World News | Sky News

I read that similar work halted spread in Guangzhou, China's third largest city, a major industrial city, right next to Hong Kong. There, the contacts of every person who tested positive were traced, found and quarantined. This tamed the 'curve' of each infected person infecting several more, illustrated on the compounding upward trend line we see elsewhere.

Obviously a huge number of people were needed to do the testing and also to go out and find every contact in a city that large - 56 million population in the city and its surrounding metro area per Wikipedia.

Makes the case for a well-staffed, competent, and knowledgeable Public Health Service ...