#COVID-19 Disinfecting

[iteamanz]

Medical care demands a safe, clean environment. With the rise of COVID-19 and antibiotic-resistant diseases, now more than ever, cleaning must go beyond appearances as a matter of community health.

So, how can you ensure that your ER, recovery rooms, hallways, kitchen, washroom areas, elevators—every floor in the hospital—are clean enough to conform to the standards of high-quality healthcare? With our commecial healthcare cleaning tools combined with the i-know kit, you can monitor the cleanliness of all touchpoint areas. See the best cleaning tools for hospitals, including our i-know test kit to determine if surfaces have been adequately cleaned.

With i-know, it only takes around 60 seconds to measure dirt levels on a surface. That speed and accuracy empowers cleaning teams with useful data to get objective feedback on the quality of their commercial cleaning practises.

[k12academics]

SIMPLE ELEMENTS WAS CREATED TO PROVIDE ALL-NATURAL DISINFECTANT AND CLEANERS TO EVERYONE AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO TOXIC AND HARMFUL CHEMICALS. OUR PRODUCTION FACILITY IN LAKE BUTLER, FL MANUFACTURES, BOTTLES, AND DISTRIBUTES ALL PRODUCTS IN HOUSE. SIMPLE ELEMENTS UTILIZES TECHNOLOGY TO PRODUCE HOSPITAL GRADE DISINFECTANTS AND CLEANERS THAT ARE EPA REGISTERED AND ABLE TO KILL EVERY BACTERIA AND VIRUS IT HAS BEEN TESTED AGAINST, ALL THE WHILE REMAINING NATURAL WITH NO CHEMICALS.

EPA Registered as a Disinfectant FDA Approved for Sanitizing USDA Approved for Food Processing Applications Our products are on the CDC & EPA "N" list for Covid-19 because we have proven to kill coronavirus.

Sapphire Disinfection is committed to producing all-natural products that will not leave behind harmful residual chemicals. Human-safe as it is a Non-Irritating Skin or Respiratory Solution that breaks down into natural elements. Environmentally Benign with No Harmful Chemicals, No Waste, No Preservatives, No Alcohol, and No Allergic Reaction. Powerful Ready-to-Use Broad Spectrum Tuberculocidal Disinfectant & Cleaner that Destroys the Germ's Cell Wall Preventing Germs from becoming Drug Resistant. Sapphire Disinfection's premiere product is Hypochlorous Acid (HOCL) which naturally occurs within the human body to fight infections, but we make at a much higher strength and PH Neutral. Hard Surface Disinfectant and Cleaner without Harming Sensitive Human Skin, fabrics, wood, or metal.

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[rajwillwrite]

Shining a Light on Disinfection

For centuries, sunlight has been known to possess a natural disinfecting power. The culprit behind this phenomenon lies in the ultraviolet (UV) light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, which resides just beyond the violet end of visible light. While UV light is generally categorized into UVA, UVB, and UVC based on its wavelength, our sun primarily showers us with UVA and a small amount of UVB rays. While these are beneficial for vitamin D production, prolonged exposure can also lead to skin cancer and cataracts due to their ability to damage cellular DNA.

Ironically, this very same DNA-damaging property of UVC light makes it a potent weapon against bacteria and viruses. Researchers have been exploring this germicidal potential for decades.  A classic experiment conducted in the 1940s placed UV irradiation chambers in classrooms, cleverly circulating the disinfected air through ventilation systems to prevent the spread of measles without directly exposing students to the harmful rays.

Another fascinating experiment involving rodents tested the effectiveness of UV light against tuberculosis. Here, the air supplied to the hamsters was irradiated with UV rays, successfully preventing them from contracting the disease.

However, a major hurdle in utilizing traditional germicidal UV lies in its safety. While methods like upper-room UV disinfection are employed in hospitals to reduce infection rates by strategically placing UV lamps high up in the room, their effectiveness is limited. The very reason they don't directly expose humans – to avoid the harmful effects – also restricts their ability to completely stop germs from spreading between people within the space.

This quest for a safer yet effective germicidal solution led researchers to explore a specific range within the UVC spectrum – far-UVC light. Unlike its conventional counterpart, far-UVC light boasts a much shorter wavelength, which translates to a crucial benefit: it cannot penetrate human skin deeply enough to cause damage. In fact, studies have shown it to be safe even for mice specifically bred to be susceptible to cancer

So, why aren't far-UVC lights omnipresent? While the approach holds immense promise, particularly for temporary disinfection applications, large-scale data is still emerging. The long-term effects of high far-UVC doses and its potential impact on human eyes require further investigation. Additionally, far-UVC light sources are not yet readily available in large quantities [Source: refer to research papers on limitations of Far-UVC technology]. This positions far-UVC as a promising future technology for decontaminating spaces in the presence of people, but not necessarily a short-term solution for current pandemics.

Combining UVC light with existing air filtration systems like HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) or air purifiers can significantly enhance overall disinfection efficiency. HVAC systems primarily handle climate control while filtering and recirculating air, while air purifiers specifically target airborne pollutants like smog.

The likelihood of another pandemic seems more a matter of "when" rather than "if". Continuous research and development of innovative disinfection technologies like far-UVC light are crucial in preparing for such eventualities.

[publicacionesconverclick]

ILLUMINATING CLEANLINESS: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO UVC DISINFECTION CABINETS

[rikaklassen]

Airborne Risk Indoor Online Calculator (ARIA)

A team of international experts under the World Health Organization (WHO) developed an Airborne Risk Indoor Online Calculator.

ARIA is an online tool that enables users and building managers to assess the risk of SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) airborne transmission in residential, public, and healthcare settings. The aim is to inform decisions that can significantly reduce the risk of transmission.

A 66-pages document [5.757 MB, English, archived] is available.

[lejournaldupeintre]

3 years ago : South Korean army soldiers spray disinfectant to curb the spread of the new coronavirus

 South Korea’s government banned major rallies in its capital and declared a health emergency in its fourth largest city as 100 new virus cases were reported Friday, bringing the country’s total to 204.  The spike forced officials to focus on steps to contain the domestic spread of the disease, not just its entry from abroad.  Most of the new cases have been reported since Wednesday. The…

[jcmarchi]

Scientists Discover How Ultraviolet Light Degrades Coronavirus - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/scientists-discover-how-ultraviolet-light-degrades-coronavirus-technology-org/

Scientists Discover How Ultraviolet Light Degrades Coronavirus - Technology Org

New research has revealed how light can be used to destroy infectious coronavirus particles that contaminate surfaces.

Scientists are interested in how environments, such as surgeries, can be thoroughly disinfected from viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coronavirus – illustrative photo. Image credit: Pixabay (Free Pixabay license)

SARS-CoV-2 viral particles are composed of a core of nucleic acid chains that contain the genetic information of the virus, surrounded by a lipid membrane with proteinous spikes sticking out. Each component is necessary for infection.

Researchers from the University of Southampton investigated how ultraviolet laser light destroys the virus by impacting each of these critical components. By using a specialised ultraviolet laser at two different wavelengths the scientists were able to determine how each viral component degraded under the bright light. They found the genomic material was highly sensitive to degradation and protein spikes lost their ability to bind to human cells.

UV light includes UVA, UVB and UVC light. Very little UVC light at frequencies below 280nm reaches the earth’s surface from the sun. It is this lesser studied UVC light that the team in Southampton used for their study due to its disinfectant properties. UVC light is strongly absorbed by different viral components, including the genetic material (~260nm) and the proteinous spikes (~230nm), allowing the team to select laser frequencies of 266nm and 227nm for the project.

University of Southampton scientists, led by Professor Sumeet Mahajan, worked closely with scientists from the laser manufacturer, called M Squared Lasers, and the resulting co-authored study has been published in a journal of the American Chemical Society called ACS Photonics. The team found that 266nm light caused RNA damage at low powers, affecting the genetic information of the virus. 266nm light also damaged the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, reducing its ability to bind to human cells by breaking down disulphide bonds and aromatic amino acids.

The 227nm light was less effective at inducing RNA damage, but more effective at damaging proteins through oxidation (a chemical reaction involving oxygen) which unfolds the protein’s structure.

Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 has among the largest of genomes for RNA viruses. This makes it especially sensitive to genomic damage.

Professor Mahajan said: “Light deactivation of airborne viruses offers a versatile tool for disinfection of our public spaces and sensitive equipment that may otherwise prove difficult to decontaminate with conventional methods. Now we understand the differential sensitivity of molecular components in viruses to light deactivation this opens up the possibility of a finely tuned disinfection technology.”

Light-based deactivation has received a lot of attention because of the wide range of applications where conventional liquid-based deactivation methods aren’t suitable. Now the mechanism of deactivation is better understood this is an important step in rolling out the technology.

Mechanisms of SARS-CoV‑2 Inactivation Using UVC Laser Radiation is published in ACS Photonics and is available online.

Source: University of Southampton

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[snigepippi]

I am disabled and very much into people wearing masks and washing hands often. At my work place we also have ethanol to clean the common areas several times a day.

But I'm curious.

What did the disabled people you are talking about, usually do in the cold season (which is either other corona viruses or rhinovirus), in the flue season, during bird flu outbreaks, when they interacted with children or pets. when there are measel or polio warnings in your county, when you met foreigners from countries who might carry foreign strains of bacteria?

I mean yes covid-19 is horrible and long covid is even worse. (I've developed migraines since I had it.) But if you are disabled or in extra risk due to age or trouble with your immune system, all the other diseases are horrible and dangerous too and have been so in the past. So how did everyone deal with it before 2019?

God the saddest thing about all the unmasking stuff is that people are probably secretly (and some openly) happy to not see any of us cripples in public now. Lots of us have to stay at home bc we can't risk getting covid (again). And the ones that go out get harassed for wearing a mask. Like I've had people come up to me and ask why I'm wearing that or say loudly that they don't think masks work. It's scary.

And even probably people at pride think this too. That they are happy not to have any cripples in wheelchairs or canes/crutches slowing them down or getting grossed out by people with feeding tubes, diapers, or colostomy bags. We "ruin the fun" by just existing apparently.

If you are abled and read this, check your biases. You probably feel this way too deep down. Wear your mask.

[imaginecare]

Ultraxide: Modern, Pleasant Smelling Disinfectant for Influenza Outbreak

Ultraxide is a modern pleasant smelling disinfectant for eliminating disease-causing microorganisms. It is a combination of Glutaraldehyde and Quaternary Ammonium compounds. It kills all 17 classes of viruses, bacteria, protozoa (Coccidia), mycoplasma (CRD), and fungi which are both harmful to man and animals. It ensures hygiene in houses for poultry, cattle, pigs, brooders, and slaughterhouses.…

[robertreich]

10 Worst Things About The Trump Presidency

Donald Trump left office with the lowest approval rating of any president ever. But some people now seem to be suffering from amnesia.

Let me jog your memory. Here are 10 Worst Things About the Trump Presidency — in no particular order.

#1. Trump fueled division and sparked a record uptick in hate crimes.

#2. Murder went way up under Trump. He presided over the largest ever single-year increase in homicides in 2020. A number of factors might have contributed to that, but a big one is…

#3. Gun sales broke records under Trump, who has bragged about how he “did nothing” to restrict guns as president in spite of…

#4. Under Trump, America suffered more than 1,700 mass shootings.

#5. Trump said there were "very fine people" among the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville.

I’m halfway to ten. If you think I’m missing something big, leave it in the comments.

#6. Trump allied himself with the Proud Boys, a violent hate group who helped orchestrate the Jan 6 Capitol attack.

#7. Trump’s not wrong when he says…

TRUMP: I got rid of Roe v. Wade.

It is entirely because of Trump’s judicial appointments that 1 in 3 American women of childbearing age now lives in states with abortion bans.

#8. One of Trump’s Supreme Court justices was Brett Kavanaugh, a man accused of sexual assault by multiple women.

#9. Trump’s White House interfered in the FBI’s investigation of Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assaults.

And now: #10. Trump has been convicted of committing 34 felonies while in office. The criminally false business filings he got convicted for in New York? All of them were committed while he was president.

I’m sorry, did I say the 10 Worst Things About the Trump Presidency? I meant 15.

#11. Trump’s failed pandemic response is estimated to have led to hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. By the time Trump left office, roughly 3,000 Americans were dying of covid every day. That’s a 9/11-scale mass casualty event every single day. How did Trump screw up so badly?

#12. Trump’s White House discarded the pandemic response playbook that had been assembled by the Obama administration.

#13. Trump disbanded the National Security Council’s pandemic response team.

#14. Trump repeatedly lied about the danger of covid, saying it was no worse than the flu or that it would go away on its own.

But behind closed doors, Trump admitted he knew covid was deadly.

#15. Trump promoted fake covid cures like hydroxychloroquine and even injecting people with disinfectants.

After Trump’s “disinfectant” remarks, poison control centers received a spike in emergency calls.

That’s fifteen things. Should I keep going? Ok, I’ll keep going. The 20 Worst Things About the Trump Presidency.

#16. Trump presided over a net loss of 2.9 million American jobs — the worst recorded jobs numbers of any U.S. president in history.

#17. Trump profited off the presidency, making an estimated $160 million from foreign countries while he was president.

#18. Trump also billed the Secret Service over $1 million for the privilege of staying at his golf clubs and other properties while they protected him. That’s your money!

#19. Trump caused the longest government shutdown in U.S. history when he didn’t get funding for his border wall, which he said Mexico was going to pay for.  

#20. Under Trump, the national debt increased by about 40% — more than in any other four-year presidential term — largely because of his tax cuts for the rich and big corporations.

You didn’t really think I was stopping at 20, did you? We’re going to 25 —

#21. Trump separated more than 5,000 children from their parents at the border, with no plan to ever reunite them, putting babies in cages.

#22. The Muslim Ban. Yes, Trump really did try to ban Muslims from entering the country.

#23. Trump sparked international outrage by moving the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem while closing the U.S. mission to Palestine.

#24. Trump tasked his son-in-law Jared Kushner with drafting a potential Middle East “peace plan” with zero Palestinian input.

#25. And finally, Trump recognized Israel’s occupation of the Goh-lahn Heights, which is considered illegal under international law.

So there you have it, folks: The 25 Worst — Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Did I mention the impeachments? We’ve got to do the impeachments. Let’s go to 30.

#26. Trump broke the law by trying to withhold nearly $400 million of U.S. aid for Ukraine in an effort to extort a personal political favor from Ukraine’s Pres. Zelensky. Trump wanted Zelensky to interfere in the 2020 election by announcing an investigation into the Bidens. Delaying this aid to Ukraine weakened Ukraine and strengthened Russia.

#27. Trump personally attacked and ruined the careers of everyone who stood in the way of his illegal Ukraine scheme, including Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman.

#28. To cover up the scheme, Trump ordered the White House and State Department to defy congressional subpoenas.

#29. For these reasons, on December 18, 2019, Trump became the third U.S. president to be impeached. He was charged with Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress.

#30. Even while he was being investigated for trying to get Ukraine to interfere in the U.S. election, Trump publicly called for China to interfere in the election.

So those are the 30 Worst Things —

I’ll go to 35.

#31. Long before Election Day, Trump started making false claims that the election would be rigged.

#32. After losing, Trump falsely claimed the election was stolen, even though his own inner circle, including his campaign manager, White House lawyers, and his own Justice Department and attorney general told him it was not.

#33. Trump kept telling his Big Lie even after more than 60 legal challenges to the election were struck down in court, many by Trump-appointed judges.

#34. Trump ordered the Department of Justice to falsely claim that the election “was corrupt.”

#35. Trump and his allies used threats to pressure state leaders in Arizona and Georgia to falsify the election results.

We may go to 40.

#36. When none of the previous schemes worked, Trump and his allies produced fake electoral votes cast by fake electors in multiple swing states. His former White House chief of staff and Rudy Giuliani are among the many members of his inner circle who have been criminally indicted for this scheme.

#37. Trump tried to bully Vice President Pence into obstructing the certification of the election.

#38. Trump invited a mob to the Capitol on Jan 6 with his “be there, will be wild” tweet.

#39. Sworn testimony alleges that when Trump was warned that members of the crowd were carrying deadly weapons, he ordered security metal detectors to be taken down.

#40. Knowing the crowd had deadly weapons, he ordered them to go to the Capitol and…

TRUMP: …fight like hell.

#41 — Yes, yes, I know, bear with me.

Trump betrayed his oath to defend the nation by doing nothing to stop the Jan 6 violence. Instead, according to witness testimony, he sat and watched TV for hours.

#42. On January 13, 2021, Trump became the only president ever to be impeached twice. This time he was charged with incitement of insurrection. It was a bipartisan vote.

#43. The majority of senators — 57 out of 100 — voted to convict Trump, including 7 Republican senators.

So that’s the two impeachments and the Big Lie, but wait, we haven’t dealt with Russia, right? So we’re going to 50.

#44. In a likely obstruction of justice, Trump pressured then FBI Director James Comey to stop the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn. This was documented in the Mueller report.

#45. When Comey didn’t bend to Trump’s will, Trump fired him.

#46. Trump tried to shut down the Mueller investigation by ordering White House Counsel Don McGann to fire Mueller. McGann refused because that would be criminal obstruction of justice.

#47. When news got out that Trump tried to fire Mueller, Trump repeatedly told McGann to lie — to Mueller, to press, to public — and even create a false document to conceal Trump’s attempt to fire Mueller.

#48. Trump ordered his staff not to turn over emails showing Don Jr. had set up a meeting at Trump Tower before the 2016 election with representatives of the Russian government.

#49. Trump convinced Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about Trump’s plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, and Cohen served prison time for lying to Congress.

#50. Trump was not charged for criminal obstruction of justice because it’s the Justice Department’s policy not to indict a sitting president, but more than a thousand former federal prosecutors who served under both Republicans and Democrats, signed a letter declaring there was more than enough evidence to prosecute Trump.

So those are the 50 Worst Things About the Trump Presidency. Now I could go on…

And I will! The 75 Worst Things About the Trump Presidency.

#51. Trump said he’d hire only the best people, but…

His campaign chair was convicted of multiple crimes.

So was one of his closest associates.

His deputy campaign chair pleaded guilty to crimes.

So did his personal lawyer

His National Security Adviser

The Chief Financial Officer of his business

A campaign foreign policy adviser

And one of his campaign fundraisers.

They all committed crimes, and Trump pardoned most of them.

#52. Trump said he’d drain the Washington swamp. But he appointed more billionaires, CEOs, and Wall Street moguls to his administration than any administration in history

#53. Trump intervened to get his son-in-law, Jared Kushner top-secret clearance after he was denied over concerns about foreign influence.

#54. Trump hosted a Russian Foreign Minister to the Oval Office, where Trump revealed top-secret intelligence.

Oh, and Trump’s economic policies!

#55 Trump promised that the average American family would see a $4,000 pay raise because of his tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. How’d that work out? Did you get a $4,000 raise? Of course not! Nobody did!

#56. Trump vowed to protect American jobs, but offshoring increased and manufacturing fell.

#57. Trump said he would fix America’s infrastructure, but it never happened. He announced so many failed “infrastructure weeks” they became a running joke.

#58. Trump said he would be “the voice” of American workers, but he filled the National Labor Relations Board with anti-union flacks who made it harder for workers to unionize.

#59. Trump’s Labor Department made it easier for bosses to get out of paying workers overtime, which cheated 8 million workers of extra pay.

#60. Trump repeatedly suggested he might serve more than two terms in violation of the Constitution — and continues to do so.

#61. Trump called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries.

#62. Trump tried to terminate DACA, which protects immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. Luckily this was struck down by the courts.

#63. Trump called climate change a “hoax.”

#64. Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement.

#65. Trump rolled back more than 100 environmental protections.

#66. Every budget Trump proposed included cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

#67. Trump tried (and failed) to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would have resulted in 20 million Americans losing insurance. And striking down the ACA’s protections for the roughly 130 million people with pre-existing conditions could have driven up their insurance premiums or led to a loss of coverage.

#68. Trump made it easier for employers to remove birth control coverage from insurance plans.

#69. By the end of Trump’s term, the number of people lacking health insurance had risen by 3 million.

#70. Trump lied. Constantly. He made 30,573 false or misleading claims while president — an average of 21 a day, according to Washington Post fact-checkers.

#71. Trump allegedly took hundreds of classified documents on his way out of the White House, reportedly including nuclear secrets, which he then left unsecured in various parts of Mar-a-Lago, including a bathroom. He was even caught on tape showing them off to people.

#72. Trump seriously discussed the idea of nuking a hurricane.

#73. When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Trump delayed $20 billion of aid and allowed Puerto Rico to be without power for 181 days.

#74. Trump suggested withholding federal aid for California wildfire recovery and said the solution was to “clean” the “floors” of the forest.

#75. Trump pulled out of the Iran deal, placing Iran on a path to developing nuclear weapons.

Honestly, there’s so much more, from exchanging “love letters” with North Korea’s brutal dictator to publicly denigrating a Gold Star military widow and making her cry, to the way he attacked journalists, to late night tweet binges.

Look, I can understand why a lot of people want to block all of this out of their memories. But we cannot afford to forget just how terrible Trump’s time in the White House was for this nation.

And we sure as hell can’t afford to put him back there.

[alex51324]

Now, more than ever, we need to be careful about spreading misinformation and rumors

I can guarantee that over the next few months, we'll be hearing about a lot of alarming things going on here in the US. Some of those things will be true, and some won't. (And some will have both true and false or exaggerated elements.)

It's going to be absolutely vital that important information is not drowned out by misinformation, rumors, and ragebait.

That means, when you see something that would be important if true, before sharing, you check whether it's actually true.

In library world, we use the acronym SIFT:

STOP: Don't spread the information, or get caught up in your emotional reaction to it, before you've checked it out. INVESTIGATE: Who is saying it? How do they know? If there are links or sources in the post, do they actually say what the person is saying they do? FIND other coverage: Do an internet search for key details: quotes, people's names, specific locations. If something major is happening, there will normally be a lot of coverage. TRACE claims, quotes, and media back to their original context.

Usually you don't need to do all four things: just STOP and then pick what makes sense from the other three. If you decide to share the information, you can also say what you did--"This is a firsthand account from XYZ protest; it lines up with what the local TV station is saying, but has a lot more details about what the cops did," or whatever.

The more urgent the information seems, the more important it is to make sure it's reliable.

If we're hearing every other day that this or that vulnerable group is in immediate, life-threatening danger--but 49 times out of 50 it turns out to mean Trump rambled somewhere about something which, if actually implemented, could end up having the described consequences at some point down the line--then people aren't going to know the difference the one time in 50 when the danger really is immediate.

Think, here, things like immigration crackdowns, CPS investigations into parents who affirm a trans child's gender, or demands that health care providers report miscarriages to law enforcement. We all know that these are things Trump World talks about a lot and would like to be able to do, in some form. For the sake of the people affected by these topics, we need different ways of talking about, "Here they are, back on their bullshit," versus, "This is a policy proposal for a real thing that could happen," versus, "Holy shit, grab the kids and run."

We cannot go to "Holy shit, grab the kids and run" every time Trump, or someone in his inner circle, decides to bloviate about something that could disastrously affect people lives. The people who are most in danger can't stay at DefCon 5 every day of their lives, and when they do really have to grab the kids and run, we need that alarm to be heard over the constant background hum of dread.

The same goes for action items--whether protests, ways to help, or little things people can do to stay safe/sane. There's going to be plenty going on, and nobody is going to be able to do everything, so do your part by passing along those things that you can vouch are true and important, and skipping the things you aren't sure about.

I'll leave you with an example. Remember how a few years ago, we were all-in about hand hygiene and disinfecting surfaces? And then it turned out that those were not actually very important in terms of preventing the transmission of COVID-19, and what we really need is better air filtration in public spaces--but, at my work at least, we still have canisters of surface-disinfecting wipes sitting around, and tattered old signs up about hand hygiene, and no air filters.

At the time, early in the pandemic, we were sharing the best information we knew about how to stay safe, but people got a little too fixated on that initial advice--remember how people would wipe down their groceries? And those little sticks for pressing elevator buttons?--and then when the advice changed, they didn't want to hear about it.

Distrust, fatigue, superstitious attachment to the old grocery-wiping ways--there were a lot of reasons, but the key thing to take away is that attention, energy, and goodwill are all finite resources. Try to avoid wasting it with grocery-wiping--or worse, shilling for the guy selling little sticks to press elevator buttons with.

[theculturedmarxist]

In photos of 2023’s World Economic Forum- or Davos as it is commonly called, after the Swiss resort town where it annually occurs- you might not notice the HEPA filters. They’re in the background, unobtrusive and unremarked upon, quietly cleansing the air of viruses and bacteria. You wouldn’t know- not unless you asked- that every attendee was PCR tested before entering the forum, or that in the case of a positive test, access was automatically, electronically, revoked. And if you happened to get a glimpse of the strange blue lights overhead, you could reasonably assume that their glow was simply a modern aesthetic choice, not the calming buzz of cutting edge Far UVC technology- demonstrated to kill microbes in the air.

It’s hard to square this information with the public narrative about COVID, isn’t it? President Biden has called the pandemic “over”. The New York Times recently claimed that “the risk of Covid is similar to that of the flu” in an article about “hold outs” that are annoyingly refusing to accept continual reinfection as their “new normal”. Yet, this week the richest people in the world are taking common sense, easy- but strict- precautions to ensure they don’t catch Covid-19 at Davos.

These common sense, easy precautions include high-quality ventiliation, use of Far UVC-lighting technology, and PCR testing. You’ll also see some masks at Davos, but generally, the testing + air filtration protocol seems to be effective at preventing the kind of super-spreader events most of us are now accustomed to attending.

It seems unlikely to me that a New York Times reporter will follow the super-rich around like David Attenborough on safari, the way one of their employees did when they profiled middle-class maskers last month. I doubt they will write “family members and friends can get a little exasperated by the hyper-concern” about the assembled Prime Ministers, Presidents and CEOs in Switzerland. After all, these are important people. The kind of people who merit high-quality ventilation. The kind of people who deserve accurate tests.

Why is the media so hellbent on portraying simple, scientifically proven measures like high-quality ventilation as ridiculous and unnecessary as hundreds of people continue to die daily here in the US?

Why is the public accepting a “new normal” where we are expected to get infected over and over and over again, at work events with zero precautions, on airplanes with no masks, and at social dinners trying to approximate our 2019 normal?

We deserve better. We deserve to be #DavosSafe as the hashtag going around on twitter puts it. Your children deserve to be treated with the care that world leaders are treating each other. Your family deserves to be protected from the disease which is still- unlike the flu- the third leading cause of death in the US. We don’t deserve to be shoved back into poorly ventilated workplaces while our politicians and press assure us that only crazy people would demand to breathe clean air.

Clean water and clean food are rights we fought for; we have regulatory bodies that ensure we aren’t exposed to pathogens via our water supply nor our food. In 1854, John Snow famously conducted his Broad Street Pump study in London and demonstrated that cholera was water-bourne; however, it took decades for our public policy to catch up with our scientific knowledge.

A public health case study published by the NBCI describes the years that followed:

The first use of chlorine as a disinfectant for water facilities was in 1897 in England. The first use of this method for municipal water facilities in the United States was in Jersey City, New Jersey, and Chicago, Illinois, in 1915. Other cities followed and the use of chlorination as standard treatment for water disinfection rapidly grew. During the 20th century, death rates from waterborne diseases decreased significantly, and although other additional factors contributed to the general improvements in health (such as sanitation, improved quality of life, and nutrition), the improvement of water quality was, without doubt, a major reason.

Forty-three years passed from the initial demonstration that pathogens were being spread via water, and public action and regulation to halt disease.

Can you imagine, in the 1890s, being somebody who argued against cleaning the water?

Can you imagine, in those years of plentiful cholera, calling the people who demanded shit-free water “hold outs”?

One thing COVID realists are accused of is being “doomsayers” and “fearmongers,” so let me share a dose of optimism about the future with you. When we choose- whenever we choose- to get COVID under control, there’s an exciting new world awaiting us. One, not only without constant COVID reinfection, but where our kids can grow up free of colds, flus, RSV, and many other common bugs. And no, contrary to what you may have heard, staying healthy (shockingly enough) is not bad for children!

Once we choose to institute ventilation standards and introduce new technologies like Far UVC lighting- and embrace masking as an easy, kind, and useful tool to control outbreaks- we can bring every nasty airborne pathogen under control the way we did cholera. We didn’t have the science before; now we do. (I mean that quite literally; I can’t recommend enough the linked Wired article cataloguing the long journey to establishing that Covid is, indeed, airborne).

We face a stark choice; down one road, the one with zero infrastructure upgrades, no air quality regulations, and Covid safety only for those who can afford it, you and your family will get Covid this year. You will get Covid next year. You will continue to get Covid over and over and over again, as the health problems - like cardiac damage, viral persistance, and immune system dysfunction- continue to build up. (The billionaires, of course, will not).

Down the other road, we quite simply treat ourselves the way Davos would. We engage with what the science is telling us and we build a safer, better world for our kids. We embrace the lessons this pandemic is teaching us, and let go of things we now know are harming people. We stop clinging desperately to the idea that 2019 will come back if we just get the virus one more time, and we come together to achieve what we’ve been told is impossible: elimination.

The economic elite thrive on our divisiveness and blame casting. They don’t mind that we’re calling each other names, engaging in racial stereotyping, or leaving disabled people to die, so long as we keep their machine running. But we can choose to stop throwing blame at each other, and direct it where it belongs: at the powerful people who’ve left us to suffer, at the politicians who are whipping people into a frenzy over masks instead of over our millions of dead, at the talking heads on TV that work so hard to convince us: you want to get sick. It’s better than being a *weirdo* or a *hold out*.

We needn’t wait 43 years to redirect our energies. France and Belgium have already introduced new air quality standards, and DIY projects to build Corsi-Rosenthal boxes for schools and healthcare settings have popped up around the country. We have the science, we have the technology. All we need now is the political will and the solidarity to truly end the pandemic- the kind of solidarity the super rich always show with one another.

The billionaires at Davos don’t accept continual Covid reinfection. They demand better. It’s time we demand better too.

[k12academics]

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[russellsppttemplates]

Lando when reader gets Covid (self indulgent)

Note: I hope you feel better soon! 🫶

Cw: reader has Covid-19

"We had a deal, Lando!", you grumbled before coughing a bit more, "I would quarantine with you in my spare room if you kept the distance and always wore a mask!", you scolded.

You almost never got sick, and in the three years you have been dating, Lando could count one instance where you had been ill. It was during a race weekend when you ate something that didn't settle well with you. So, when you woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and a cough that wouldn't budge, you thought it would be best to test yourself since Lando would be coming to Monaco to spend some time back home before the Chinese GP and you didn't want to accidentally pass something to him.

Still, when your boyfriend heard that you got tested and it came back positive, he insisted he would help you when he got back. So far, he had cleaned your apartment, and you were now on day five after your positive test.

"I'm wearing a mask, baby - the "best boyfriend in the world" mask", he joked as he looked for one in the cabinet.

"Not the time to be funny, Lan", you argued softly, "I'm serious, I don't need you to catch this too!", you groaned.

"I have it, I have it!", he called as he stepped inside the room, "here's some soup, and some other foods too, they'll be good for you. I know you can't taste much, but they'll be good for you", he assured.

"I really want a cuddle right now but I can't do it", you pouted under your mask.

"Here, hold my hand, then", Lando said as he stretched his hand out, "I'll disinfect it as soon as I'm out of here and touching nothing else", he assured.

Feeling his fingers lace in yours, you sighed as for now that would have to do and satisfy your needs for now, "you're the best", you cooed.

"I know, my other mask said it but you insisted I put this one on - is it because you can't see my face?", he joked, making you laugh despite your illness.

"Shut up - you know I love your handsome face, almost as much as I love you, Lando", you looked into his eyes.

"I love you too, beautiful girl, even when you're coughing your lungs out every ten minutes", he cheekily smiled.

(Thank you for sending this in ✨️)

[covid-safer-hotties]

Aerodynamic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in two Wuhan hospitals - Published April 27, 2020

Never let them tell you "We didn't/don't know that Covid is airborne"

Abstract The ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly on a global scale. Although it is clear that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is transmitted through human respiratory droplets and direct contact, the potential for aerosol transmission is poorly understood1,2,3. Here we investigated the aerodynamic nature of SARS-CoV-2 by measuring viral RNA in aerosols in different areas of two Wuhan hospitals during the outbreak of COVID-19 in February and March 2020. The concentration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in aerosols that was detected in isolation wards and ventilated patient rooms was very low, but it was higher in the toilet areas used by the patients. Levels of airborne SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the most public areas was undetectable, except in two areas that were prone to crowding; this increase was possibly due to individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the crowd. We found that some medical staff areas initially had high concentrations of viral RNA with aerosol size distributions that showed peaks in the submicrometre and/or supermicrometre regions; however, these levels were reduced to undetectable levels after implementation of rigorous sanitization procedures. Although we have not established the infectivity of the virus detected in these hospital areas, we propose that SARS-CoV-2 may have the potential to be transmitted through aerosols. Our results indicate that room ventilation, open space, sanitization of protective apparel, and proper use and disinfection of toilet areas can effectively limit the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in aerosols. Future work should explore the infectivity of aerosolized virus.

[pandemic-info]

The figures from this are amazing:

...to avoid inhaling the sanitizer vapor, the volunteers placed hands on one side of the body and turned the head to the opposite side, as shown on the right in Figure 2. The second practice was named as the vapor‐avoiding hand disinfection.