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Anecdotally, as someone who works in a clinic where we test for COVID-19 much of the day (and have multiple positive patient tests per day), I can tell you that
by hanklazard 6y ago
Anecdotally, as someone who works in a clinic where we test for COVID-19 much of the day (and have multiple positive patient tests per day), I can tell you that this editorial certainly seems correct. Even with our caution with PPE, I’m certain that we would have had a major outbreak among staff over the past year if this thing was transmitting efficiently via fomite—it’s just too difficult to use perfect form 100% of the time when dawning and doffing PPE or to not absentmindedly touch your face, etc.
- mordechai9000 6y agoIt seems like people have been saying this from the beginning. But no one can say for certain that there is little or no fomite risk, and hand washing and surface cleaning gives people something to do that helps them feel like they are in control.
- _jal 6y agoSo one way people lose my trust is to tell me to do useless things for my perceived psychological benefit. I have both changed doctors and jobs for this reason. Treat me like a child and you're out of my life.
- xiphias2 6y agoWhat if your broker is ,,protecting you’’?
- irrational 6y agoI’ve got to be honest, that does sound rather childish on your part.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- staunch 6y agoIf you're locked down at home, so not sharing air with strangers, then fomites are basically the only risk of exposure. There's no good reason not reduce it to near zero with basic sanitation procedures.
- hanklazard 6y agoThere is still minor (1) risk of transmission via fomite, so I agree it’s still a good idea to wash hands and keep surfaces relatively clean. I just think we should rebalance our behaviors/resources based on the accumulating evidence. 1. https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laninf/PIIS1473-3099(20)30561-2.pdf https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laninf/PIIS1473-3099...
- sigstoat 6y agotreating surface cleaning as a big deal and the air as minor caused many business to make bad trade offs. last summer target was making you wait in line longer (dangerous) while they carefully wiped down self checkout stations between users (minimally helpful). i don’t know what they’re doing now, because i didn’t care to subject myself to that any further.
- Johnny555 6y agoBut telling people to do something that's not known to reduce risk distracts people from doing the things that help the most. Instead of a store spending thousands of dollars on cleaning supplies and labor to disinfect floors and shelves 3 times a day, they could spend that money improving ventilation.
- dingaling 6y ago"Improving ventilation" isn't something you just order from the hardware website. You can't just fit a fan to a window to extract air and call it job done job done without studying how that changes internal airflows. Does it address dead zones? Does it actually make matters worse by creating hot zones which coincide with areas where people concentrate? Does the exhaled air create risks to workers outside? It requires a lot of study, planning and execution and lots more money than some cleaning supplies.
- sigstoat 6y ago> lots more money than some cleaning supplies lots more money than 12+ months of cleaning supplies, labor, delayed purchases, and increased transmission risk amongst your staff and customers? i suspect it is close enough that we can't hand wave it away as you want to do. in some facilities it may have been nearly free, with some reprogramming done to the existing HVAC system, to run the fans more, or more frequently pull in outside air. > Does the exhaled air create risks to workers outside? this is just FUD.
- divbzero 6y agoSetting up better ventilation also helps people feel in control and actually makes a bigger difference.
- legerdemain 6y agoDonning. As in "don we now our gay apparel," and so forth.
- lambda_obrien 6y agoI'm just amazed he got doffing correct but donning incorrect, most people don't know the word doffing in my experience.
- selimthegrim 6y agoDoff one's cap probably fell out of common use when people stopped wearing hats.
- arduanika 6y agoAnd when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat, No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.
- fsckboy 6y agoi just googled "don and doff" to see if I could find any shared etymology with "on and off" or if that was a coincidence... and discovered that "donning and doffing PPE" is a thing, hence, not so surprising that somebody would learn it or know it.
- schoen 6y agoHuh, Wiktionary suggests that these came from "do on" and "do off" or similar phrases in Middle English. I never realized that!
- lambda_obrien 6y agoI'm not surprised someone used them together, but in my experience most people don't deal with PPE a daily basis, so a lot of folks seem to use don (a common word I guess) but I've rarely seen doff used.
- 6y ago
- AareyBaba 6y agofomite: objects or materials which are likely to carry infection, such as clothes, utensils, and furniture.