insert cool title

Petra, 24, Brazil. I love cats and sometimes I make some art. (they/them) Tell me if you need me to tag anything.

[dankmemeuniversity]

[mysharona1987]

[hopefulmisanthrope]

The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill

All pandemic long, scientists brawled over how the virus spreads. Droplets! No, aerosols! At the heart of the fight was a teensy error with

I have so many feelings about this, but they boil down to the same frustrated rage I've had for a year or more.

[commandersgrab]

you need to read this article

[spontaneousmusicalnumber]

This is a long read, and I really suggest going into it if you have the time, but here are the main points:

Throughout the early pandemic, the CDC and WHO insisted that COVID was spread through droplets, not through aerosols, insisting that to be considered 'airborne' it had to travel on particles 5 microns or smaller. Anything larger was a 'droplet', which would fall quickly and stick to surfaces, explaining the emphasis on social distancing and surface sanitation.

Aerosol scientist and infectious disease researcher Lindsey Marr, along with others such as atmospheric physicist Lidia Morawska, argued that made no sense. Depending on temperature, humidity, ventilation, etc much larger could easily travel large distances through the air. They presented evidence like choir practice superspreader events, which droplets couldn't explain. The WHO shut them down, insisting on the 5-micron fulcrum.

Marr wanted to find out where everyone was getting the 5 micron number, because everything quoted it like fact. She communicated with Hong Kong indoor-air researcher Yuguo Li who had come to similar conclusions. With the help of grad student Katie Randall's forensic approach to research, they eventually tracked down where the number came from:

Tuberculosis.

In experiments from the 40's and 50's, only guinea pigs who had been exposed to aerosolized TB particles 5 microns or smaller contracted the disease. The problem is, tuberculosis is SUPER PICKY. If It doesn't get all the way through your respiratory system into your lungs, it doesn't cause an infection.

The 5-micron limit has been applied to every disease since, but no other respiratory infection is that picky. If enough viral particles of COVID, or the flu, or the common cold lands anywhere in your respiratory system it can get a foothold.

Very slowly and quietly, the CDC and WHO has changed its stance on aerosolization, and the importance of ventilation and mask-wearing indoors. This article argues it was too little too late, and caused too many unnecessary deaths.

[mycroftrh]

I read about this way back in July, when the group of scientists and physicians first sent a huge petition to WHO to change their guidelines, and I’ve been trying to tell people about it ever since. Because what you need to do to protect from aerosols is very different from what you need to do to protect from droplets and this is killing people by the hundreds of thousands.

So here’s what we know about what ACTUALLY protects people from COVID. Basic definition of terms: an aerosol is a gas/vapor. It’s the air from your lungs. Physically it acts like steam or smoke.

Not significantly helpful:

I’m not telling you this to say, like, “don’t do these things”, but so you know that doing these things does not make you safe. You need to do the things in the second list.

1) 6 feet. I’m sorry. I know this has been your guiding life principle for the last year. The WHO and CDC lied to you. This is not a conspiracy anti-mask dumbass thing. They actually did. That’s the biggest thing about aerosols vs droplets: droplets stop at six feet. Aerosols DO NOT. You can be all the way on the other side of a church service or a wedding or a whatever and get COVID. That’s how superspreader events happen. (You know how everyone’s het up about the CDC saying vaccinated people don’t have to be six feet apart? It’s... not actually about the vaccination. They just know now that 6 feet didn’t help significantly in the first place.)

2) Sanitizing objects. It’s not very specifically mentioned in this particular article, but was part of what they said back in July: “fomites” - contaminated objects - are just... not a factor in COVID at all. All that Lysoling of chairs and shit is pointless. Probably don’t watch someone cough on a counter and then immediately lick it, but we’ve known for more than a year that tables, chairs, railings, etc cannot pass COVID.

3) Handwashing. Please... please do wash your hands, there are many other things you transmit/get from your hands. COVID is however not one of them. Hands fall under the category of “fomites”. Again, don’t put your hand right into your mouth seconds after someone coughs on it, but since COVID is actually passing through air there’s like... not much air that sticks on your hand??? The amount of virus that sticks to your hand is not enough to give you COVID. Also COVID infects you through your lungs not your skin.

4) Bad masks. While wearing a mask is good, many (most!) sorts of masks actually make the problem worse. Your goal isn’t to block droplets from shooting forward, it’s to stop aerosol - gas - from getting, well, anywhere. An ill-fitting mask that has a gap between the mask and your cheeks will cause aerosol to blow backwards at people behind you. A mask that doesn’t have wire at the top will blow the aerosol upwards where it can settle back down all over the room. A bandana, or a mask not covering your nose, or a face shield, or a mask with a valve or a hole, will do absolutely fuck-all.

Things that do help:

In summary, the NUMBER ONE THING - the factor that controls like 95% of risk - that we now know matters (as of a year ago, fuck you, WHO) is air flow/ventilation.

1) Being outdoors. This the single best way to avoid COVID. Being in an outdoor area with free airflow is the best thing you can do by miles, I cannot emphasize this enough. This is why protests weren’t superspreader events. An outdoor area with restricted airflow (like between buildings) is not as good but is still infinitely safer than being six feet away from someone with masks indoors.

2) Proper air circulation. If you have to be inside and have any control over the building, open the doors and windows. Put fans blowing air outside. Turn on the bathroom and stove exhaust fans. If nothing else stand near the door.

3) Air filtration. Get. a. HEPA. cleaner. These filter virus out of the air. A properly used HEPA cleaner cuts indoor virus risk to almost as low as being outdoors.

4) Air filtration part 2. If you have full control over a building, revamp the HVAC system. You need a system that recirculates large amounts of air continuously and filters it to medical standards. If it’s just your home, make sure your HVAC system has a good filter on it. Pressure businesses and airlines to update their air filtration.

5) Good masks. Remember: the mask has to stop air. Not droplets. If air can get in or out anywhere around your mask, the mask is NOT HELPING. Your mask needs to have a wire at the top to stop gaps around your nose and to fit smoothly against your cheeks. If the mask isn’t layered enough to filter air it is also not helping.

6) Get. Fucking. Vaccinated. We didn’t know at first but we do know now that the COVID vaccine is incredibly effective. Like, way more than most vaccines. (Get all your vaccines. But they all do leave some risk of both getting and transmitting the disease, which is one of the reasons we need herd immunity. The COVID vaccine has a way lower lingering risk.) It keeps you safe and it keeps everyone else safe.

In case it got lost in all that: the best thing you can do by a huge margin is to STAY OUTDOORS.

[afronerdism]

Saw a post that said “Not every person you dislike is a narcissist and not every unpleasant experience is trauma” and a lot of you needed to hear that.

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

Not all conflict is abuse.

[memeclassheroes]

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Stellan Skarsgård gives the only good answer to the world’s most tired question

[sweetnessfollowsmp3]

[Image Description: A screenshot of a news article about an interview with Stellan Skarsgård.

The interviewer asks: “What is your take on the criticism of superheromovies by directors such as Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott?”

Skarsgård responds: “I've got nothing against superhero movies. I've been in a couple and they definitely have a place. The problem is that the system that allows eight people to own half of the wealth in the world enhances the power of the market forces, so small and independent cinemas rarely exist any more outside a few big cities. There's no distribution channels for all the mid-budget films that have the best actors, the best writing, because they can't throw up $3m for a marketing campaign. When cinemas let them in, they do so for one week and if it doesn't pay off in a week, they're gone.

Remember that The Godfather first opened in 100 cinemas in the United States - big films now open in 4,000. They had small ads in the New York Times, but it grew and grew because it was such a good film. The people's opinion has no chance any more. And that is sad.

I think that we should have Marvel films and more rollercoaster films. We should have other films, too. And that's the sad thing: when raw market forces come in, studios start being run by companies that don't care if they're dealing in films or toothpaste so long as they get their 10% [return]. When AT&T took over Time Warner, it immediately told HBO to become lighter and more commercial. They were always making money. But not enough for an investor.”

End Image Description]

[chewedcorn]

Ruh Roh Raggy

[givemearmstopraywith]

you are not unloveable you are just sad and a little bit angry. let’s go have some soup

[medjouls-deactivated20220425]

valentine's day is a holiday meant to celebrate the love between mutuals not couples btw

[pleasantlyzanywombat]

[rakdos-dogdyke]

[tomaturtles]

@cloune why would you leave this in the tags

[heystephen]

you just know he was having flashbacks while typing that reply

[gingerhastoomanyobsessions]

this was funnier in my head

[urbanfantasyinspiration]

Then you must be in hysterics

[lethalbutterfly]

[blvckflamingo]

reblog if it's okay to IM you

[lesbiangunshow]

its okay to Immediately Murder me even if we aren’t mutuals

[schwrzbld]

Spending the first valentine's day alone in years... This one is gonna hurt. A lot.

So weird to think they're not lonely. They never had to be. And i was lonely even when still with them. They can just have a happy day today while i sob every time I'm not distracted. They can keep living while i keep hurting.

How is one supposed to move on from someone they never wanted to stop loving but were forced to leave. Someone that even afterall u can't hate.

[zooophagous]

I love cats they're just like "I love you." *walks all over your entire body*

[land-of-maps]

Map of the most requested countries for musicians to tour (red)