midnight rambler
16th March 2020, 01:36 PM
It is just plain stupid to think that N95 or better particle respirators don't do tons towards prevention of coming down with COVID 19. Heavy viral loads are what do you in, PPE greatly reduces viral load. Will PPE stop all virions? Of course not. To think otherwise either way is foolish and ignorant.
I'll give you a great example: several years ago I had a huge rat infestation in a storage unit that backed up to some woods. I kept putting the rodent cake out and they kept taking it. By my estimation based on the amount of rodent cake I was putting out hundreds of rats were dying from the bait. I'd put out a couple of dozen pieces (which should kill 2 or 3 rats each) and come back a day or two later and it was ALL gone. So I'd put out some more, rinse and repeat. Out of my concern about contracting Hanta virus pulmonary syndrome I contacted a fellow with the Texas Health Dept. and started quizzing him about Hanta virus. I spoke with him a number of times asking more questions. I finally wised up to the fact that I was over run in that location and retreated to another location. However I learned a lot from this fellow about Hanta virus and how a ('normal') virus can behave. One thing I learned about Hanta virus pulmonary syndrome is that the symptoms mimic the flu as in "flu like symptoms" and IF one does not get diagnosed pretty quickly and get admitted into the hospital for intensive medical intervention then one is very likely to die from Hanta virus. And IF one DOES get quickly diagnosed with Hanta virus and one DOES receive timely intensive medical intervention then the survival rate is ONLY 50%!!!
This is the part that he told me I found most interesting: This fellow at the Texas Health Dept. advised me that despite their personnel going to a suspected Hanta virus site where they ALWAYS suited up in HazMat/PPE (he referred to them as 'moon suits' so they were relatively high end PPE) as a safety measure not to be infected. Here's the kicker - DESPITE being fully suited up for bio-hazards (in 'moon suits' no less!) these personnel who did go out into the field STILL ended up with Hanta virus anti-bodies in their blood! This fellow related to me that they had NO idea how THAT happened with their personnel following all PPE protocols (in 'moon suits'!!!). But I have a pretty good idea why and how it happened...they somehow in the process of doing what they were doing managed to get a very small viral load of Hanta virus, small enough that their bodies were about to fight it off yet enough to form Hanta virus anti-bodies.
Wearing a particle respirator, along with at least some form of eye protection (along with good hygiene in general of course) will obviously reduce viral load.
I submit the same would apply to the Wuhan virus, make every effort to lower your viral load so as minimize the inescapable outcome. You WILL be exposed at some point, might as well do everything to mitigate the problem.
I'll give you a great example: several years ago I had a huge rat infestation in a storage unit that backed up to some woods. I kept putting the rodent cake out and they kept taking it. By my estimation based on the amount of rodent cake I was putting out hundreds of rats were dying from the bait. I'd put out a couple of dozen pieces (which should kill 2 or 3 rats each) and come back a day or two later and it was ALL gone. So I'd put out some more, rinse and repeat. Out of my concern about contracting Hanta virus pulmonary syndrome I contacted a fellow with the Texas Health Dept. and started quizzing him about Hanta virus. I spoke with him a number of times asking more questions. I finally wised up to the fact that I was over run in that location and retreated to another location. However I learned a lot from this fellow about Hanta virus and how a ('normal') virus can behave. One thing I learned about Hanta virus pulmonary syndrome is that the symptoms mimic the flu as in "flu like symptoms" and IF one does not get diagnosed pretty quickly and get admitted into the hospital for intensive medical intervention then one is very likely to die from Hanta virus. And IF one DOES get quickly diagnosed with Hanta virus and one DOES receive timely intensive medical intervention then the survival rate is ONLY 50%!!!
This is the part that he told me I found most interesting: This fellow at the Texas Health Dept. advised me that despite their personnel going to a suspected Hanta virus site where they ALWAYS suited up in HazMat/PPE (he referred to them as 'moon suits' so they were relatively high end PPE) as a safety measure not to be infected. Here's the kicker - DESPITE being fully suited up for bio-hazards (in 'moon suits' no less!) these personnel who did go out into the field STILL ended up with Hanta virus anti-bodies in their blood! This fellow related to me that they had NO idea how THAT happened with their personnel following all PPE protocols (in 'moon suits'!!!). But I have a pretty good idea why and how it happened...they somehow in the process of doing what they were doing managed to get a very small viral load of Hanta virus, small enough that their bodies were about to fight it off yet enough to form Hanta virus anti-bodies.
Wearing a particle respirator, along with at least some form of eye protection (along with good hygiene in general of course) will obviously reduce viral load.
I submit the same would apply to the Wuhan virus, make every effort to lower your viral load so as minimize the inescapable outcome. You WILL be exposed at some point, might as well do everything to mitigate the problem.