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Masks

Discussion in 'COVID-19' started by eskirvin, Oct 31, 2020.

  1. eskirvin

    eskirvin DI Forum Adept Blood Donor Veteran Navy

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    Here's a pretty interesting article on masks. Clearly, wearing a mask is beneficial to prevent spreading the disease, but it seems it is also protective to the person wearing it. Here in Kuwait, the Arab males are either braver than the rest of us, there's a social stigma preventing a male from wearing a mask, or it is fashionable to wear it as a chin diaper, because only 1 out of every 4 you see actually have the mask over their nose and mouth.

    https://theconversation.com/covid-1...best-fabric-do-they-protect-the-wearer-146822
     
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  2. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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  3. Dutchie

    Dutchie DI Senior Member Showcase Reviewer Veteran Army

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    Policy is one thing, the public adhering to such a policy is quite another in many countries.
    My own country of origin has a rather disconcerting record so far. Mask wearing went up from 7% in mid july to 33% recently, but a comparison learns that e.g in France it went up from around 40% to almost 70% in the same time frame, while in Belgium it went up from barely 25% to almost 70%.
    Oh well, in Denmark it went up from 1% to 4% only, and on social distancing they don't do much better. Nevertheless the epidemic has been quite benign in Denmark until very recently cases started exploding (50% increase in total cases in 3 weeks).
     
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  4. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    Did you see this: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/corona...s-concern-mutated-covid-infections-in-humans/

    PART of the article: "Copenhagen, Denmark — Denmark's prime minister said Wednesday that the government wants to cull all 15 million mink in Danish farms to minimize the risk of them re-transmitting the new coronavirus to humans. Mette Frederiksen said a report from a government agency that maps the coronavirus in Denmark has shown a mutation in the virus found in 12 people in the northern part of the country who got infected by mink.

    Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said half the 783 human COVID-19 cases in northern Denmark "are related" to mink.

    "It is very, very serious," Frederiksen said. "Thus, the mutated virus in mink can have devastating consequences worldwide.""

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    I think people dismiss the risk of mutations within other host species at their peril.
     
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  5. Dutchie

    Dutchie DI Senior Member Showcase Reviewer Veteran Army

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    Yes I did see that, and I note they're only going to cull all animals currently held in those farms, they haven't legislated a ban on mink farming like in the Netherlands. Hopefully Denmark (the biggest mink fur producer on the planet) and other involved countries will follow suit.

    As for the virus, that specific mutation seems dangerous only if one of two things happen, either if that mutation spreads among people (so far only a few cases were found), or, and a more serious risk in my mind, if that mutated virus has gotten away in minks that escaped from these farms into the wild (which seems likely).
     
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  6. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    The concern is, as you say, getting the virus out into the wild animal population, then it goes from species A to B to C, or whatever, before coming back to humans. Don't throw away your masks just yet!
     
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  7. Philpots

    Philpots DI Senior Member Restricted Account

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    Hmmmm worrying. I wonder what other farmed animals will or could be future hosts? (By farmed I dont mean sheep cows etc but the animals like those mentioned in the article.)
     
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  8. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    Actually, even sheep and goats can pass on pathogens to humans: Rabies, brucellosis (bacteria), 'soremouth' caused by the orf virus (actually the first virus I ever saw under an electron microscope), ringworm (fungus), chlamydiosis (bacteria), campylobacteriosis (bacteria), listeriosis (bacteria), salmonella (bacteria), Q fever (bacteria).

    With other livestock included, the list is much longer and accounts for over 2 million deaths per year to humans. These diseases include TB.

    Poor methods of animal farming leads to many of these problems IMO.
     
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  9. Philpots

    Philpots DI Senior Member Restricted Account

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    I'm think specifically Viruses like Covid 19.
     
  10. Toto

    Toto DI Senior Member

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    I was talking to some old zonians (Panama, CZ) and some lived in wooden houses with bats in the eves and attics. They have spots o n their lings that have never gone away and never pass TB tests.

    I've always been concerned Covid might change and am happy so far that it hasn't. I didn't consider farmed animals. We could create new reservoirs in the wild in different areas, increasing mutations, some of which will transfer back into humans. Disconcerting.
     
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