3 ms·
Also, don't forget to wash your hands. We don't yet know how effective masks are but we have mountains of evidence showing that hand washing works.
by bjourne 6y ago
Also, don't forget to wash your hands. We don't yet know how effective masks are but we have mountains of evidence showing that hand washing works.
- robocat 6y agoMy prediction is that hand washing turns out to be unimportant. I believe the vast majority of cases are transmitted by respiration, and the recent news that super-spreaders dominate transmission will eventually find that they spread the disease by air, not by contact or fomites. I have yet to see any evidence that washing hands reduces transmission by any significant amount (say 5%).
- Rapzid 6y agoThe CDC has been saying for months they don't believe surface transmission to be much of a factor in the overall spread of the virus.
- bjourne 6y agoIf you are right then covid 19 doesn't work like any other virus that spread via droplet transmission or even like any other virus in the corona family. I.e I don't think you are right. :) There is ample evidence showing that hand washing reduces the spread for viruses that are similar to covid 19.
- robocat 6y agoI agree there is a lot of evidence that washing hands reduces the spread of viruses. However I haven’t read anything that measures the percentage of transmission of corona viruses via contact or fomites. We obviously should wash hands regularly and well. Even a 5% reduction for a simple action is really worthwhile (and hand washing is clearly critical in a healthcare setting). My main beef is that in my country I think there has been too much attention paid to hand washing and fomites, and not enough information given on enclosed spaces or mask usage. The turnaround on mask usage is a classic example of seemingly obvious misinformation. Another classic is the news clips of government employees in Asian countries spraying roads and buildings - powerful images that misdirect.