So Donald Trump fucked up by the numbers in his response to the Coronavirus mess.
(perhaps, perhaps not)

BUT…

The World Health Organization could “Only go with the information it had at the time to make decisions”.

Funny, innit?

CBS and their current expert Dr. Deborah Birx.

Now that masks started working for those of us not in health care (hint: they always did, if worn right) I am seeing lots more people wearing masks in public.

Sadly, while they are wearing masks, few of them are fitting those masks correctly. Some so incorrectly so as to provide pretty much ZERO protection.

I see folks with the masks gaping at the sides…which will help keep them from infecting ME with their coronavirus when they cough (somewhat, anyway) but not keep them from getting it when all that air leaks in unfiltered from the sides.

I also see folks wearing the mask over their mouths BUT NOT THE NOSE. Kinda foolish and meaningless there.

Also with only one of the straps.  Both the top and bottom straps are necessary.   Again, missing the point.

Not fitted at the bridge of the nose. Leaking all that air makes the mask effectively useless as a protection for the wearer.

Having a mask on but hanging over one ear doesn’t do much for protection either. Hint: It has to COVER your mouth and nose.

Handmade masks: While I am not too certain that a layer or two of cotton cloth is that great of protection for the wearer, it is much better than nothing…..and it likely protects the rest of us from them rather than the other way around.

But, hey, at least they are trying, if very imperfectly. Or it could be simply a case of “monkey see, monkey do” …or just plain fashion.

ETA: I am not a medical professional but was trained to fit particulate masks for dust and asbestos. So yeah, I can spot a bad fit pretty easily. 

Check out this report on the subway crowding there.

“Social Distancing” my ass.

Busses and the El trains in Chicago are nearly as bad.

Until they shut down or greatly modify the way people use the public transportation, this won’t go away in cities. Might be somewhat mitigated if everyone started wearing masks.

So it seems that in the greater Chicago metro area, the South Side…largely black (or African American, if you are being PC) has a large number of Coronavirus-19 cases.

The numbers keep changing, but something like 52 of the 98 cases in the greater Chicago Metro area are black, even though they are less than 30% of the population.

And, in typical fashion, it is somehow a conspiracy of White People against Black people (keepin’ the black man down) or some variation of that meme.

It couldn’t be because the Black community, or at least a large part of it, REFUSES to stop gathering in groups, refuses to follow the social distancing  guidelines, that police keep having to break up groups on streets, that women keep chatting in groups in the grocery stores. That men keep congregating in barbershops and in alleyways.

Nope, like all good liberals, it MUST be the fault of someone else. Gotta find someone to blame, but (again) it can’t be black people to blame for the ills of their community. Nossir.

Idiots. 

So, apparently, the hospitals in NYC (and other places) are “converting” normal patient rooms to “Negative Pressure Rooms” to isolate, handle, and care for the large numbers of Coronavirus patients.

Now, negative pressure rooms are just that, they have slightly lower pressure than the adjacent room so that air leakage is one way…into the NP room, preventing whatever cooties the patient inside the room has from getting out into the hallway or through the door.

This, of course, requires a bit of fine balancing of air out vs air on, and some pretty powerful fans and/or other air handlers. Generally, the NP rooms also get the air changed more frequently, like 10-12 times an hour.

Modifying the airflow in a set of rooms from “normal” to Negative Pressure is not a trivial task.
One has to find some way to handle the additional airflow, to heat (or cool) the increased incoming air to environmental standards (likely 65-70 degrees F) to balance that airflow  correctly and some way to handle the infectious materials that may be in that air you are exhausting from those rooms.

Since the hospitals are doing this “quickly” I don’t think I would want to spend much time breathing the air around the outside of the hospital. You are talking at least 5 times the air quantity of a “normal” room and that air has to be somehow filtered for the diseases that the patients have. The filtering/germicidal devices that are in place to filter for the rooms that already exist won’t work well if they are expected to handle 2 or three times as much air volume. And you can’t just easily add to such devices on a moment’s notice….they need to be ordered and custom built and tested and adjusted before they can be used.

Lots of air, handled quickly, and now at a greater load for that filter or germicidal device to make the air safe for the rest of us. All done in a “hurry”…I’m glad I don’t live downwind of a hospital that has covid cases.

Yeah, I feel safe about it.  You should too….

Went to help a friend yesterday, (yes, we “social distanced” outside) and stopped in to the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things.

Lots of fresh veggies
Lots of milk
Lots of eggs.
Lots of cheese
Lots of lunchmeat.

Fresh fish counter had lots of stuff and all of it was on sale.

Meat at ~70%
Bread shelves at ~ 30%
Chips at~50%
Cookies at ~50%
Canned goods at~70%
Pasta at ~30%
Rice nonexistant
Wheat flour shelves completely empty
TP, some, not much

Sugar maybe 10%
Pop/soda at ~70%

Half the folks wore masks, everyone was pleasant but staying apart.

North West Indiana 4/5/20.

How are things in your area?

Had to make a trip today.

25 or so miles each way.

I saw a fair number of people wearing masks…..INSIDE THEIR CAR….alone.

I think they are missing the concept.

I find this interesting:

“The underlying cause depends upon what and where conditions are reported on the death certificate. However, the rules for coding and selection of the underlying cause of death are expected to result in COVID- 19 being the underlying cause more often than not,” the guidelines read.


“COVID-19 should be reported on the death certificate for all decedents where the disease caused or is assumed to have caused or contributed to death,” CDC guidelines issued March 24 read. “Certifiers should include as much detail as possible based on their knowledge of the case, medical records, laboratory testing, etc.,” the guidance continued.”

S if John comes to the hospital, with a heart condition at 75 years old, already on oxygen, with diabetes, showing signs of Covid 19  and subsequently dies, then he is assumed to have died from coronavirus, tested or not.

So we won’t have any decent statistics to work with, later.

“If the decedent had other chronic conditions such as COPD or asthma that may have also contributed, these conditions can be reported in Part II.”

I am gonna go work outside today.

Be safe

Seems that (locally, at least) WalMart is finally limiting the numbers of people in the store, and actually acting like there is a health crisis instead of Business as Usual.

No more than 5 people per thousand square feet.

‘Cause everyone needs to shop for cheap chinese goods. Clothing, footballs, and cheap electronics.
The food at the SuperWalmart grocery section I can understand….But the rest?

Odd how no one ever questioned the people at Walmart considering the “lockdown” orders, innit? 

How to reuse an 9-95 mask…do’s and don’ts.

I was wrong that sterilizing the surface with alcohol would do the trick. Treatment with alcohol degrades the efficiency of the mask.

But hot air at 158F will do the trick.

Steam 125C will do the trick.

Soap and water will degrade the efficiency of the mask.

Hot water (boiling) may well be effective.