Baronvonrort wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2022 at 9:49pm:


crap. Even if aerosols escape, they do so through the sides of the masks and not directly onto whatever you are facing, which in an elevator is usually facing the door and the buttons, the things other people are most likely to handle. Again, no one ever said masks are a panacea. Yes, you always have the aerosols that escape, that cannot be helped unless you want to walk around with a plastic bag over your head. But masks REDUCE the spread. No matter how much you pretend otherwise.

Mask mandates didn't do anything

2021 Jan 27

A key question in the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is whether SARS-CoV-2 could be transmitted via the airborne route as well. We report for the first time SARS-CoV-2 nosocomial infections despite using surgical masks and physical distancing. This report may provide possible evidence for airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

In this report, we describe a single-source outbreak of COVID-19 from an asymptomatic patient to 9 HCWs and room contacts in a general pediatric ward, despite meeting the current guidelines for PPE and wearing surgical masks.

A 3-year-old boy was admitted to a general pediatric ward in SCMC for steroid treatment due to electrical status epilepticus in sleep. He was screened for COVID-19, and a negative result was given (d-4). The hospitalization was uneventful, and he was discharged on d0 as planned. On d4, 2 days after having symptoms compatible with COVID-19, his mother received a positive result. In the next few days, 9 patients were identified as COVID-19 positive; 6 of them were HCWs (4 physicians, 1 nurse, and 1 dietician). All participated in the same medical round, 3 of them without any direct contact with the child.All HCWs reported wearing PPE as guided, including surgical masks. No close contacts or family members of the HCWs were diagnosed with COVID-19. The child’s mother wore a surgical mask constantly as well. The 3 other infected patients were 2 children and 1 mother staying in the same room. On d6 after discharge, that child was also positive for COVID-19.

Three pediatricians (1 interim) were found to be positive for COVID-19 on d5 and d6. Two were symptomatic, and 1 was diagnosed due to general screening of the ward’s staff. Epidemiologic investigation revealed that the only known exposure of each of them was to the family mentioned above, during morning rounds (d0). Two of them were at a distance of about 6 feet (~2 meters) and did not have direct or indirect contact with the child or his mother. The third pediatrician examined the child, without any mucosal exposure or other AGP. All reported wearing surgical masks continuously. The whole meeting with the family lasted less than 10 minutes.

Another pediatrician and a nurse were found to be positive for COVID-19 on d6 and d7, after having mild COVID-19 symptoms. Similarly, their only known exposure was to the same family, when obtaining blood samples from the child (d0). The mother stayed in the room during the whole procedure, which lasted ~10 minutes.The HCWs reported using PPE including wearing surgical masks as guided.

The child had a low-carbohydrate diet due to his medical condition. A dietician consulted on the case twice (d-1 and d0), each time for ~15 minutes. Physical distancing was observed, andboth the mother and the dietician reported wearing surgical masks. On d5, the dietician became symptomatic and tested positive for COVID-19.

DISCUSSION
In this report, we described a superspreading event of 9 COVID-19 infections from 1 familydespite using PPE and wearing surgical masks. Overall, 6 HCWs were infected, of whom at least 3 did not have direct contact with the child or his mother. None of the other 3 HCWs performed any AGPs or other procedures involving mucosal membranes. Also, they did not have any direct contact with the child’s mother. During morning rounds, the child was asymptomatic and did not cough, sneeze, cry, or even talk. The other infected inpatients were at a distance of more than 6 feet away from the asymptomatic COVID-19 patient. No other patients, escorts, or HCWs were infected.



Few studies have described the possibility of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, but the current guidelines focus mainly on droplet precautions

We assume that the facts that the infected individuals wore surgical masks and that most of them were at a distance of 6 feet or more without any direct contact with the COVID-19 patient cannot be explained only by droplets or contact transmission of the virus. It may imply airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and strengthen the assumption of infection via aerosol particles in superspreading events.

Another possibility for transmission is via fomites. It seems like the virus could survive on surfaces, despite the demonstrated rapid infectivity decline from clothes, paper, and cotton [11]. Nevertheless, fomite transmission could not explain the infections of indexes 2, 3, and 6 (2 pediatricians and a dietician, respectively), where there was neither physical contact nor shared equipment


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7928680/

Stats show countries that were less vaccinated, distrusted their govts more and ignored medical advice had a higher death rate.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

In the US, you can drill down through the figures and it shows that individual states that were less vaccinated, distrusted their govts more and ignored medical advice had a higher death rate than states that are highly vaccinated.