Other lists:
https://c19early.com
https://www.consumerlab.com/answers/do-natural-remedies-or-supplements-prevent-coronavirus/natural-remedies-coronavirus/
Florin
Karma: 76
Technically, the best protection is a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) which is a fancy way of referring to a respirator connected to an oxygen tank, but that thing too impractical and overkill for most people.
The amount of protection offered by a positive air pressure respirator (PAPR) depends on what kind of hood is being used and may offer about the same (or more) protection than a reusable elastomeric respirator. Assigned Protection Factor (APF) is a measure of the level of protection offered by types of respirators; PAPRs range from 25 to 1,000 APF, whereas reusable elastomeric respirators offer an APF of 10 (probably around 25 in reality) for half-facepiece respirators and 50 for full-facepiece respirators. Besides a potentially higher APF of 1,000, PAPRs also don’t require a fit test (which most people aren’t going to bother doing), so leaks are less likely, even though the APF might be similar or even less than a full-facepiece respirator. They’re also more comfortable than any other respirator. However, one hard-to-avoid disadvantage of a PAPR is that you’ll have to carry around an elastomeric respirator as a backup.
To mitigate the cost and bulk issues, it’s possible to DIY a PAPR (a plastic bag connected to filters, fans, and a battery). A DIY PAPR might be easier to repair and could also filter exhaust air, unlike commercial PAPRs. I haven’t bothered to DIY it yet, but others have definitely used these things successfully.
DIY PAPR intro info
https://viralhelmets.medium.com/15-viral-helmet-version-of-a-2000-hospital-mask-papr-4950905ae2cc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj_C4GrxfNM&t=102s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfaswOLIHoQDIY PAPR in-depth info
https://www.designnews.com/industry/beyond-n95-hackathon-produces-air-purifying-respirator
https://devpost.com/software/bunnypapr-for-jcrmrg-hackathon
https://bunnyscience.dozuki.com/Guide/Bunny+Science%E2%84%A2+PAPR/4
https://web.archive.org/web/20210202224805/https://bunnypapr.org
https://web.archive.org/web/20210825175428/https://www.viralhelmets.com
https://www.instructables.com/Viral-Helmets-9999-Hospital-Grade-Viral-Protection/
https://www.reddit.com/r/viralHelmets/
There are several elastomeric respirators that are ventless or that have add-on vent filters. I’ve heard that some of these respirators are not that comfortable to wear for long periods of time due to increased humidity, rather than pressure drop or C02 accumulation. I’ve tried a 3M 6000 series respirator with the 3M 604 exhalation valve filter, and I’ve noticed no significant increase in breathing difficulty, but I didn’t use it long enough to determine if humidity accumulation is a problem.
Ventless disposables can also have humidity issues, so you’re probably better off with an elastomeric anyway.
You’re right; I missed your end-of-post recommendation.
Yes, I’m saying that the newer variants can easily get past cloth and surgical masks but are highly unlikely (but not impossible due to faceseal leaks) to defeat elastomeric respirators equipped with P100 filters. This is due to the fact that P100 filters filter out nearly all particles, so the contagiousness of a virus doesn’t matter that much. Here’s another way to think about it: during a poison gas attack, what would you choose, a water-soaked handkerchief or a gas mask?
The whole thing (facepiece and filters) is a knockoff, and as far as I can tell, it’s not NIOSH-approved. Again, you can check for yourself.
This means that the reason to require masks at dances is to allow people to attend for which it would otherwise be too risky.
Or urge the people that think it’s too risky to attend to wear a respirator, instead of requiring everyone to wear one.
A group wearing surgical masks poses a risk to individuals (wearing the mask of their choice) that is roughly (per microcovid) 1⁄4 as risky as if the group were fully unmasked.
Microcovid is (still!) using outdated data (2020 and older) that doesn’t take into account the current covid variants that are far more contagious than the early-to-mid 2020 strains. It should be painfully obvious by now that surgical and cloth masks likely provide close to zero protection against these variants.
P100 is at ($16)
No one should buy that thing. It’s a (not NIOSH-approved) knockoff of the 3M 6000 series. Just buy a real 3M (or other NIOSH-approved model/brand) reusable, elastomeric respirator and filters from a reputable distributor.
Decreased social interaction can be a showstopper but sometimes it isn’t; so, I think a case-by-case policy would be more reasonable than a general stay-at-home-no-matter-what recommendation. In the party scenario, the choice is between attending and not attending (I’m assuming that there’s no remote party option like VR chat or something). For some parties (like birthday parties), attending might be better even if social interaction is reduced. For others (like indoor dinner parties), it might not be worth attending. In the job scenario, many jobs can’t be performed remotely, so physically attending would be better. You seem to have acknowledged this when you said:
if you’re at a job that benefits from in-person presence because of equipment or because your home is too disruptive, this doesn’t apply
Yeah, Paxlovid might not be as good of a cure as was initially thought due to the issue of relapse. How much of a problem this really is seems unclear.
symptomatic people (should) stay home
This is kind of OT, but I’m going to ask anyway: under what conditions do you think that symptomatic people should stay home? If a person’s symptoms are debilitating, staying home is the obviously correct choice. But if a person’s symptoms aren’t debilitating and wears a ventless respirator (and can tolerate it and it doesn’t interfere too much in what they’re doing), I don’t see why they should stay home.
Since respirators are widely available and have been for some time now, I don’t see any reason for mask mandates; a person wearing a respirator will be protected regardless of how many people around them wear masks. Plus, the masks most people wear (cloth and surgical) aren’t effective anyway.
Sure, I could have added the caveat “if you don’t die of anything else first (and most people won’t),” but I wanted to keep the caveats to a minimum. Perhaps a general caveat would be that these statements should be understood to apply to most people alive today. About two thirds of deaths are caused by aging (100k out of 150k per day) and in the developed world, it’s 90%.
The probability of dying of aging is 100%.
The probability of dying of AGI is less than 100%.
The probability of the development of anti-aging tech via non-AGI means is close to 100% (e.g., senolytics).
The probability of the development of anti-aging tech via AGI is not close to 100%.
Therefore, some of us prefer to focus more on aging than AGI.
There’s fairly decent, real-world evidence that covid spreads almost exclusively by aerosols. There doesn’t seem to be much outdoor transmission, and that rules out direct droplet transmission. There’s nearly zero evidence for fomite transmission. Also, indoor transmission seems to be required for transmission. All of that (and more) points to aerosols.
They upgraded to N95s because that’s what the media and public health experts have talked about. You’ve started to right this wrong, but you could go a little further.
Wearing a respirator such as an N95 is mostly about risk reduction rather than convenience. While there’s no reason not to mention convenience, any recommendations should be ordered mostly by risk reduction.
I’m not sure about the level of counterfeiting, but there does seem to be at least some of it going on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQinLD3sXzQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPhdshC6YewZoro.com (owned by Grainger) is a reliable and reputable vendor.
I see almost no significant reason for anyone (with a few exceptions such as people with speech issues) to use disposable N95s instead of elastomeric respirators. As I pointed out in the comment I linked to, N95s generally provide a poor seal. Another problem is that the straps N95s use are more difficult to put on and take off. The straps also lack adjustability and a head harness. Compared to elastomerics, differences in weight and bulkiness (while wearing) aren’t that significant. Muffled speech is noticeable with elastomerics but can be compensated for by speaking louder or using an electronic voice amplifier.
Here are some technical notes about elastomerics: 1) Elastomerics should not be referred to as “P100s,” because that just refers to a filter standard and most elastomerics can use different types of filters including N95. 2) The 3M 2291 filter is better than the 3M 2091 due to its lower pressure drop (that means it takes less effort to inhale). 3) Another alternative (for people with breathing difficulties, for instance) is to use an N95 filter which probably has an even lower pressure drop. 4) The N95 cartridge filters (3M 603 adapter, 3M 501 retainer, and 3M 5N11/5N71 filter pads) don’t weigh significantly more than the P100 pancakes. 5) I’ve seen some anecdotal reports that the 7500 series is more comfortable than the 6500 series due to the (supposedly) slightly more pliable silicone. 6) You reported on counterfeiting on Amazon, yet still linked to Amazon without offering verified vendors for the filters.
I’d say that unhealthy-for-their-age young and middle-aged people and otherwise healthy-but-middle-aged people might want to be more cautious. Healthy-for-their-age young people probably don’t need to worry.
The counterargument would apply to “It wouldn’t be relevant to non-elderly people....”
It’s probably too early to compare the amount of senescence that’s produced by SARS-CoV-2 versus other viruses, but what is known is that several viruses (including influenza) do induce the development of senescent cells in several tissues.
Even if the original SnCs are eventually eliminated (which isn’t entirely clear), it sure looks like they should increase the SnC baseline anyway. It’s not just background processes that can produce new SnCs, but SnCs themselves produce new, secondary SnCs too. So, it’s not unlikely that adding a bunch of SnCs to the baseline pool of SnCs (whose size increases with age) could further increase the size of this pool. And that would be a net increase in biological age.
This might not be a problem for young mice which can eliminate SnCs fairly quickly, but it seems to be a big problem for old mice. Middle-aged mice probably lie somewhere in between. I’d also expect that overweight, obese, or otherwise messed-up, middle-aged mice would fare worse.
I don’t see why this is worrisome. If a covid-positive person is wearing a ventless N95 (or better) respirator, the chance of them infecting other maskless people is miniscule. This is due to the fact that even if a small amount of aerosols leaked from the respirator’s faceseal, it would be quickly diluted, especially in spaces (including terminals and flights) using any kind of ventilation system. Another thing to consider is that people that don’t use respirators already accept the risk of becoming infected at any time.