3 ms·

>You won't often catch covid from... how do you know? it seems like most cases are attributed to the nebulous "community spread" and nobody is really sure who

>You won't often catch covid from... how do you know? it seems like most cases are attributed to the nebulous "community spread" and nobody is really sure who they're coming from or how we're catching it. maybe we are getting it from the person breathing near us - if masks help, i don't see a reason that improved air filtration wouldn't.

drzaiusapelord 5y ago
Because understanding how viruses spread is a solved art. None of this is "unknown."
- bmeski 5y ago
  In the same way that people are dumbfounded that natural immunity from having it is superior than the vaccine. It’s as if we all forgot how viruses work.
  - sfkgtbor 5y ago
    In terms of safety, vaccines are much better then getting COVID. One of the big factors of "better protection" of immunity gained after recovering from the virus is survivor bias. In data about mortality after reinfection there are no people who died after getting it for the 1st time. This leaves only ones who had body strong enough to recover. There's no surprise that later that group fares better.
asdff 5y ago
All the data suggest that its not someone breathing on you in passing that's going to result in covid infection, but spending long periods with someone indoors in close proximity. Within a half hour in the massive grocery store? I would be shocked if you caught it. Drinking in someones living room, swapping stories within arms length, swapping spit flecks for 5 hours straight? Definitely going to spread everything you have in such a small enclosed space where the viral load is able to reach a much higher concentration over a long period of time.
- notatoad 5y ago
  yes, that's pretty much exactly what i'm saying: all the data we have is that it spreads exactly as you say, sitting with somebody for an extended period of time. because that's the sort of thing that people remember, and tell the contact tracers about. but at least in my region, the majority of cases still don't have a known source. maybe that's because people are catching it in scenarios where they're in close proximity to somebody for extended periods of time but forget about it when the contact tracers call them, and all cases are spread that way. or maybe it's spreading in grocery stores and other casual contact scenarios but that's just impossible to measure or count. we keep hearing that there's no evidence of it spreading in schools, and yet as long as students are in school it spreads a lot more among students. is it not spreading there, or is it just really difficult to find the evidence of that?
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  > but spending long periods with someone indoors in close proximity. It's not obvious to me that in-room air filters wouldn't reduce the exposure in this case, as the original commenter claimed? If it reduces the virus in the air, as the OP study finds, it seems like it probably would reduce virus exposure and thus infection rate when spending long periods indoors in close proximity, no? Sure, just because it reduces the virus in the air doesn't necessarily mean it reduces infection -- like hypothetically the virus could commonny be going right from someone's exhale to someone else's inhale without having a chance to be filtered -- which I think is what the original commenter was suggesting -- but that's not the "spending long periods" scenario at all. I think it's true that while you probably can get infected in as little as ~15 minutes (not necessarily in just a couple minutes), but also clear that the longer you are in the same room, the higher risk. But sure, we don't know exactly everything. All we can do is build knowledge one brick at a time, AND all we can do is act on the bricks we already have (that we don't have the whole wall yet is not a reason to avoid acting on our best picture (mixed metaphor, sue me) form what we do have)... but reducing virus in the air is a pretty huge brick for a respiratory infection. Based on everything we do know, it is hard to believe what the original commenter asks us to, to believe that reducing viral concentration in the air would NOT significantly lower infection rate. I think it's becoming increasingly clear we should be spending at least as much attention on HEPA air filtration as people have been on masks.

drzaiusapelord 5y ago

Because understanding how viruses spread is a solved art. None of this is "unknown."

bmeski 5y ago
In the same way that people are dumbfounded that natural immunity from having it is superior than the vaccine. It’s as if we all forgot how viruses work.
- sfkgtbor 5y ago
  In terms of safety, vaccines are much better then getting COVID. One of the big factors of "better protection" of immunity gained after recovering from the virus is survivor bias. In data about mortality after reinfection there are no people who died after getting it for the 1st time. This leaves only ones who had body strong enough to recover. There's no surprise that later that group fares better.

asdff 5y ago

All the data suggest that its not someone breathing on you in passing that's going to result in covid infection, but spending long periods with someone indoors in close proximity. Within a half hour in the massive grocery store? I would be shocked if you caught it. Drinking in someones living room, swapping stories within arms length, swapping spit flecks for 5 hours straight? Definitely going to spread everything you have in such a small enclosed space where the viral load is able to reach a much higher concentration over a long period of time.

notatoad 5y ago
yes, that's pretty much exactly what i'm saying: all the data we have is that it spreads exactly as you say, sitting with somebody for an extended period of time. because that's the sort of thing that people remember, and tell the contact tracers about. but at least in my region, the majority of cases still don't have a known source. maybe that's because people are catching it in scenarios where they're in close proximity to somebody for extended periods of time but forget about it when the contact tracers call them, and all cases are spread that way. or maybe it's spreading in grocery stores and other casual contact scenarios but that's just impossible to measure or count. we keep hearing that there's no evidence of it spreading in schools, and yet as long as students are in school it spreads a lot more among students. is it not spreading there, or is it just really difficult to find the evidence of that?
jrochkind1 5y ago
> but spending long periods with someone indoors in close proximity. It's not obvious to me that in-room air filters wouldn't reduce the exposure in this case, as the original commenter claimed? If it reduces the virus in the air, as the OP study finds, it seems like it probably would reduce virus exposure and thus infection rate when spending long periods indoors in close proximity, no? Sure, just because it reduces the virus in the air doesn't necessarily mean it reduces infection -- like hypothetically the virus could commonny be going right from someone's exhale to someone else's inhale without having a chance to be filtered -- which I think is what the original commenter was suggesting -- but that's not the "spending long periods" scenario at all. I think it's true that while you probably can get infected in as little as ~15 minutes (not necessarily in just a couple minutes), but also clear that the longer you are in the same room, the higher risk. But sure, we don't know exactly everything. All we can do is build knowledge one brick at a time, AND all we can do is act on the bricks we already have (that we don't have the whole wall yet is not a reason to avoid acting on our best picture (mixed metaphor, sue me) form what we do have)... but reducing virus in the air is a pretty huge brick for a respiratory infection. Based on everything we do know, it is hard to believe what the original commenter asks us to, to believe that reducing viral concentration in the air would NOT significantly lower infection rate. I think it's becoming increasingly clear we should be spending at least as much attention on HEPA air filtration as people have been on masks.