MULTIPLE layers of cheesecloth.
There’s nothing new about it, though. As pointed out, it’s the principle of layered filtration. The surgical masks we currently use specifically have 3 or 4 layers to make them more effective. Single layer or double layer masks are contraindicated.
Now it’s probably not all that big a difference in the case you indicate, but I suspect that’s more to do diminishing returns with how big a difference there is in their filtration capacities. Instead, a cloth mask is likely more functioning as a prefilter, which makes masks last longer–something their manufacturer might not want as they’d rather you keep buying new masks.
I also note that there are surgical masks now that have antiviral coatings, which have seen some promise in testing. That’s what my dad was wearing until we got a couple (very expensive) N95s. The costs are way too high right now in the US–I wish I could find them for $1 a piece, so yes, we are reusing them.
(But my understanding is that the main issue is bacterial build-up as long as you let the N95s rest after use. The SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t last long on surfaces. Filtration does degrade over time, but not in a few hours of use. And double masking again should in theory help with that.)
My understanding is that using liquids can degrade filtration fairly quickly. Either letting them rest, or, even better, using UV sterilization of sufficient intensity (and making sure it hits every part of the mask) is what I’ve seen recommended.
Yeah, so I hear, but in the early days it was either a very light misting or wear a stinky mask.
Umm. . . are they serious?!
CA Gov. Newsom lifts stay-at-home order for the State, leaving the restrictions back at the county level.
IMF says that China and US will recover faster than other countries due to their willingness to extend policy stimulus and have more readily available vaccines.
IMF expects US and China to recover most strongly from virus economic hit [paywalled after I read it]
Here’s the thing, the most amazing thing about why N95 masks work so well is not physical filtering but electrostatic filtering. If this is a question about prefiltering so as to preserve N95 function, people should probably look more into hack methods to recharge the electrostatic fibres instead.
But this is the news thread so maybe one of us should start a “mask hack” thread.
Probably. There was a lot of research into testing for COVID in sewage in the early days before widespread individual testing was available. Testing a sample from a sewage treatment plant or a seward pipe couldn’t tell you who had COVID, but it could sure tell you what percentage of the local populace had COVID.
The point as it relates to the Chinese is testing the output end of a person works just find for finding COVID. The logistical issues of taking anal samples in a drive-thru are probably something only the Chinese can cope with; I can’t see that approach selling well in, .e.g., Texas. 
Based only on personal experience with other organisations, I’d say they maintain the list so that when people call or visit, they can say, “OK, you’re in the right place. I’ve put your name on the list.”
The problem with nose swabs is that they are actually poor at detecting anything unless you have a runny nose. They are quite good for checking a lot of people to see if they have an active nose infection, but not terribly good at finding hidden asymptomatic cases.
So the answer is, yes, really really really serious…
Regarding sewerage testing: Australia now has lots of sewerage testing, although they don’t talk about it very much At this point, all it shows is that a lot of people have had COVID in a lot of places. They are still “shedding viral fragments”, so the sewerage tests come up positive. On one occasion that I know of, they got a positive result from an unexpected location, leading them to believe that there was an unaccounted-for case in that location, but even then they thought it probably wasn’t a problem: just some person that had had COVID and hadn’t known it.
A number of cities are doing it. It’s kinda neat. There’s probably a few different diseases they could routinely watch for this way.
100,839,430 total cases
2,167,167 dead
72,864,949 recovered
In the US:
26,011,222 total cases
435,452 dead
15,767,413 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
It’ll be more than 101,000,000 tomorrow.
It seems Austria may now have the same problem, in the personage of FPÖ parliamentary leader Herbert Kickl. There’s going to be yet another anti-lockdown protest in Vienna on Sunday, and he’s attached to it as one of the star speakers. He’s already lent his name and face to a series of political ads attacking the coronavirus vaccine. Last I checked, his party’s support among the general population was only around 10%, though it was (and probably still is) growing, particularly among those who are looking for someone and something to legitimize their own skepticism or outright rejection of the pandemic containment measures.
The previous demo, earlier this month, was also well attended by FPÖ members, as well as those even farther right on the political spectrum, who whipped up the crowd with calls to depose the chancellor. There was no violence at the time, but if the crowd at the upcoming event decides to pull off something like what happened in the Netherlands or in Washington, they might be able to inflict a great deal of physical damage. Unlike in many other countries, the parliament building, as well as the official residences of the president and chancellor, are not fenced off; they’re just ordinary buildings abutting ordinary streets and the general public can walk right up to the front doors.
The trend continues – no states have reported a record daily high in new cases (seven day average) so fat this week. The number of daily new reported cases appears to be going down in the US and most countries, and in the world altogether.
Just to be clear – there are new cases being reported daily, but the number of such cases is clearly trending downwards, and we’re no longer reporting record high numbers of such cases. This is definitely progress. But we have a long way to go.
And, because to balance that happy news, we need a downer, here it is:
We seem to be back below pre-Thanksgiving daily new case numbers. This is frankly stunning to me, and not at all where I expected to be late January.
Panama’s cases also have been trending sharply downward. Today the 7-day average is 1,757, after peaking at 3,618 on January 12. (Highest one day total of 5,186 on January 6.) Hopefully the trend will continue. Only small amounts of vaccines have arrived so far, and AFAIK are mostly going to health care and security workers and people in nursing homes etc.
14 weeks translates as 3-1/2 months. So mid-May. If that’s the end of “the darkest part”, dawn is still far away and noon farther away yet.
Be a hell of a note if the human race was comprehensively outsmarted and defeated by a few thousand Daltons of RNA & some lipids.
I don’t know if this counts as breaking news. I also don’t know what to say about it that wouldn’t look partisan, so I’ll just leave the headline. I will say that’s taxpayers’ dollars at work.
101,441,177 total cases
2,184,273 dead
73,325,507 recovered
In the US:
26,166,201 total cases
439,517 dead
15,942,757 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison: