Actually, that works out well for you. Less likely to get their cooties.
Yeppers. I’m becoming a fan of segregation and I volunteer to NOT be close to a bunch of uneducated plague monkeys.
Okay, so I bought a box of KN95s off Amazon. I didn’t read the labeling listed on the website closely enough, so I didn’t see that it specifically says that they are “one use only.”
How likely is it that this particular brand is manufactured so fundamentally different from others that they can’t be reasonably reused?
They’re all “one use only” in the sense that after a few hours of breathing through them the fibers that electrostatically trap tiny particles will lose their mojo. They’re good for multiple short-term uses if properly stored (basically, not allowed to get wet or dirty).
Some of them are rated for 40 hours of office use. Most of them are good for 30-40 hours in a clean environment. Aaron Collins, the mask guy, did some primary research on this:
I rotate my masks and wear them until they are visibly soiled, smell funny, or stop fitting snuggly. In theory I’d also throw one away if it got harder to breath through, but i haven’t noticed that happening yet, except once when a mask got saturated with sweat. (I was digging in the garden, and wearing a mask because the oak pollen was incredibly thick that day, not trying to avoid viruses. But i was using one of the same masks.)
In general, it’s better to buy from a merchant with a reputation (like Walmart or CVS) and not on Amazon or eBay, because there have been a lot of fakes sold by fly by night vendors on those platforms.
Yeah, the above is what I thought I’d heard about how much you can reuse a mask. I’m mostly wearing it during my commute these days, so if I only use each one day a week, I figured I could get a few weeks’ worth out of an individual mask, though I still have to factor in shopping trips and stuff.
Shame about not being able to trust Amazon, since obviously they tend to have the biggest boxes for cheapest (although counterfeits might by why…). Is there a good way to tell “fakes” from real, now that I have the box?
Unless it’s an established brand of KN95, I don’t know how you could. For things like N95s, I know for brands like 3M, there’s information out there on how to tell if it’s fake.
And yes, if there’s a big difference between what you’d pay at a reputable retailer and the price on Amazon, then it’s probably counterfeit. One important thing to know is, KN95 is a Chinese government standard, but there’s no enforcement mechanism. So shipping masks out with that marking if it doesn’t meet the standard won’t draw regulatory enforcement. KF94 on the other hand, is a South Korean government standard, which has robust enforcement. So, if you order KF94 masks and they are from Korea, they have a higher chance of being genuine. (They’re also more expensive.)
I have bought KF94s and N95s that I’m fairly certain are genuine. One reputable source of N95s is Grainger Industrial Supply. There may be a location near you, so you might not have to pay shipping. Behealthyusa.net is a reputable source of KF94s, and they are expensive.
Here’s an article that recommends some specific masks, including Powecom KN95.
Powecom has an exclusive US distributor, bonafidemasks.com, so you can be pretty certain you’re getting the real thing from them.
Unfortunately, that article links to Amazon for some masks, which doesn’t really fit with the headline.
This could have gone in a couple of different threads but I’ll put it here. Can anyone with a better understanding of the science please comment?
An international team had previously collected samples at the wet market right after it was closed when it was suspected to be the source of the pandemic. This data and hospital data was used by an american team to trace the origins of the first two viral strains back to the huanan wet market. The american researchers that did the genetics and epidemiology suggested that it came from raccoon dogs because they had been to that wet market years earlier and found illegal raccoon dogs in the western portion of the wet market where positive viral samples were found. That was published last summer.
The Chinese have been sketchy about their illegal animal trading and slaughtering so their CDC claimed in a study back in Feb that it may have come from humans or legal animals and then the wet market became a superspreader. The American scientists dispute that. After their study, the Chinese scientists started publishing their raw data. A french scientist stumbled on a interesting DNA sequence that popped up in that database. She found that the DNA came from illegal raccoon dogs that the chinese denied having there. She got the American team involved. A sample that happened be from a cage in the same area of the wet market as where the Americans found racoon dogs back in 2014 had both raccoon dog and the viral DNA. As a reminder, the American’s previous paper on this showed that positive viral samples were found on both cages and slaughtering tools. Now, we have DNA from a species that has been suspected as a intermediate species in the viral chain to be in the same samples. That’s as close as you’ll get without actually having a sample taken from the animals themselves. Here’s the kicker. That racoon dog raw data has since mysteriously disappeared. Da, da, DAAAHHH.
For those of you who hate black licorice (to which I say, MORE FOR ME!!): there is or at least was some early discussion of it having a beneficial effect in treating COVID:
Sadly, this hasn’t gotten a lot of attention since then.
On a more humorous side, this video shows a fellow with COVID-induced anosmia, trying loathed foods - including licorice - and finding that he LOVED them. Hell, even I won’t eat a whole forkful of blue cheese but he really went to town.
https: // Sad COVID Boy Hank Green Eats Foods He Hates but Can't Taste - YouTube
I think I’ve realized just how skewed my danger and risk sense has gotten these past few years.
I was eating somewhere indoors, so obviously no mask. Midway through my meal, I realize that this guy has been coughing - more than normal, and harder than normal. So my immediate logic goes: okay, it’s August, and this is an older white guy; he has to have Covid, right? And in this relatively closed environment, I have to have breathed in a huge amount of his cough effluvia, right? And with how virulent Covid is, even with multiple vaccine doses like me, I have to be infected now, right? I know, I know, but the whole chain just felt logical and right.
I think this is a major reason why I’m still dumbfounded that Covid still isn’t filling hospitals the way it did three years ago, and why I assume that a new variant of concern would put us back at 2020 levels, vaccine or no. What a world, huh?
Naw, a new variant of concern might make a lot of people feel lousy for two weeks, and kill a few old people, and maybe disable a bunch of middle-agreed people who develop long covid. But it’s unlikely to fill the hospitals. At this point, most everyone has some prior exposure (vaccines, prior infections, both) and people with prior exposure and a normal immune system just don’t get as sick as people with a naive immune system.
I’m still worried. I’m smack in the middle of the demographic that’s more likely to get long covid. But i doubt I’d be acutely ill enough to be hospitalized.
The last I read, the newest vaccine might be available by mid-September, but then again maybe not until (some unspecified time) in October. We have to travel in mid-October, and we were hoping to be vaccinated against the perils of travel before then. I’m keeping fingers crossed that the latest vaccine by early October at the latest.
Well, this article says the latest vaccine should be available in mid-September. So it looks good that we’ll be vaxxed up a good three or four weeks before our trip. Phew.
I got the new vaccine yesterday. My 7th shot.
Never had a reaction before. This time, I feel unsteady and achy, and my arm is killing me.
Hope this will be over tomorrow.
Covid vaccine in one arm, senior-strength flu shot in the other; about three and a half hours ago.
So far, only mild arm soreness. Though I just did a farmers’ market on about 4 hours sleep, followed by errands and unpacking of both market stuff and groceries, so I’m very tired and probably couldn’t tell fatigue due to vaccine from fatigue due to ordinary tiredness. Also, of course, symptoms might show up later; really too soon to tell.
Our are scheduled for tomorrow morning, at CVS.
Yesterday we read that some CVS pharmacists are doing walkouts to protest understaffing. We were worried that our local pharmacist and crew might do so as well, so I drove to our CVS to ask if they’d be on duty on Monday. They assured me that they’d be there and our appointments are a go.
I have some pre-made food in the fridge in case we feel like crap the day after the vaxx.
Update: Still somewhat groggy today, though that might be due to other reasons.
Both arms noticeably sore this morning. By now (late afternoon) the flu arm seems to be getting better. The covid arm got worse through the day, but now seems slightly better also. Both arms have been usable all the way through, though I certainly haven’t felt like splitting any wood.
Will update again if anything else relevant happens, but probably not if it continues to just be sore arms and maybe sleepiness, and improves over the next day or few.
Last year i got both covid and flu vaccines in the same arm, almost the same place. (The pharmacist used a single bandaid to cover both.) My plan is to do the same this year.