Coronavirus: The Sick Elephant In The Room

There are many variations of the simple mask popping up, which are more comfortable.

In the hot summer, the simple surgical variety mask, lying flat on your nose and mouth like a blanket, creates a build-up of heat from the hot exhaled breath and saliva, also some sweat, so the climate in that confined space with exchange of gasses and fluids with no space or fresh air becomes uncomfortable and oppressive -- especially in the Fahrenheit above 90 degrees outside temperature range. I would imagine the ambient temperature underneath the mask is quite heated, especially in the summer heat and humidity. (It is incidentally welcomed in the cold winter months.

I see that they are selling a very simple plastic bridge structure that inserts neatly into the inside of the mask, secured ingeniously by the elastic earstraps. This underlying framework, elevates the filter structure of the mask itself ever so slightly above your nose and mouth, while still maintaining a seal for the most part around your face to avoid leakage. This bit of space seems to dissipate some of the heat buildup while elevating contact a bit above the nose and mouth and you no longer will see each and every inhalation and exhilation registered on the front of the mask by the rise and fall of the outer material.

It is a very cheap, simple and highly effective upgrade from the simple mask and you only need to have one or two as they never wear out and can be washed.

That is a simple device and I certainly can foresee many comfortable improvements being made to the mask in the future that provide comfort and safety. They are here to stay, Might as well get used to them and enjoy the best quality for your own comfort, fashion and safety.
 

SUPAMAN

Not here for the bear hunting
It looks to me also that heard immunity is very close — for the current variant anyway
Right, herd immunity doesn't mean it's over, it means the virus can no longer replicate itself as it's run out of Human hosts so it goes into a pig, bird or bat and comes back mutated next flu season. This is a biological warfare agent and the mutations are only making it more virulent. Covid will also be a power grab, masks indefinitely and booster shots yearly.
 

SUPAMAN

Not here for the bear hunting
I know of several people who went into charted waters, i.e., death — happens to everyone eventually, from the virus.
What I really don't understand is why people who have had Covid and fully recovered then go and get vaccinated despite having the antibodies.
 
Right, herd immunity doesn't mean it's over, it means the virus can no longer replicate itself as it's run out of Human hosts so it goes into a pig, bird or bat and comes back mutated next flu season. This is a biological warfare agent and the mutations are only making it more virulent. Covid will also be a power grab, masks indefinitely and booster shots yearly.
Life is so much better today than last year this time.
 
The people who check you out at the grocery store or any frontline person working indoors will appreciate you wearing a mask. I'm on the team to help others, and I do not view it as much of a burden regarding putting on a mask. I do not wear one when walking outside, unless the streets are crowded.
I see grocery store, Lowes and home Depot employees not wearing masks.
 

billyS

Reign of Terror
What I really don't understand is why people who have had Covid and fully recovered then go and get vaccinated despite having the antibodies.
Great question!
One possible answer is that you are not rewarded with the same privileges as a vaccinated person.

No going maskless by saying you have Antibodies.

So why not issue a card and/or a phone download for people who have suffered thru and recovered from covid-19 and now have Antibodies?
 
I keep my mask on and am as respectful as possible in terms of peoples personal space. Like others have said, I don't want to get the poo face looks if I am not wearing one. In truth, it doesn't bother me that much, covers my triple chin, and makes me look more attractive from the eyes up.

I don't give a shit if someone has had a VAX or not. I worry about my own protection and do what I think works for me.
 
What I really don't understand is why people who have had Covid and fully recovered then go and get vaccinated despite having the antibodies.
With natural immunity, your body makes, as you put it, "the antibodies" against a variety of features of the virus. The Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are designed to trigger antibodies that hone in on a certain molecular target — the coronavirus spike protein. For example it doesn't matter if the antibodies that your body generates are effective for preventing the virus from replicating when it gets into your cells if the spike protein is disabled and the virus prevented from entering the cell in the 1st place.

Also, milder cases generate antibodies but it is not known if they generate enough (or any for that matter) specialized immune system cells — T cells and B cells. These cells have longer memories, perhaps a lifetime, than antibodies, and they are what prevent the virus from infecting in the future. The 2 part shot system generate these cells, as I understand it, from the 2nd shot.

disclaimer: genius is not a medical type but at the 1st opportunity to get the Moderna vaccine got it (both shots in March) got them. 2 weeks after the 2nd shot started mongering again with a vengeance.
 
The people who check you out at the grocery store or any frontline person working indoors will appreciate you wearing a mask. I'm on the team to help others, and I do not view it as much of a burden regarding putting on a mask. I do not wear one when walking outside, unless the streets are crowded.
You post is brilliant and an indication that you are a mentsh. Prior to your post, if the store didn't require a mask I didn't wear a mask. However, the checkout clerk is working perhaps an 8 hour shift, for low wages, and facing perhaps hundreds of customers a day during the workweek.

It seems only considerate and not a big imposition on me, to slide on my mask when I check out and then take it off as I leave.

Outside and in the gym, I don't wear a mask as those people have the opportunity to easily distance from me if they are concerned.

Note: although genius is not Jewish there are a few words he uses that from other languages, especially Yiddish, that have no single English word equivalent but perfectly express much meaning; another example from the German is schadenfreude. So be a mentsh and not a schmuck and give the working person a break.
 

SUPAMAN

Not here for the bear hunting
With natural immunity, your body makes, as you put it, "the antibodies" against a variety of features of the virus. The Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are designed to trigger antibodies that hone in on a certain molecular target — the coronavirus spike protein. For example it doesn't matter if the antibodies that your body generates are effective for preventing the virus from replicating when it gets into your cells if the spike protein is disabled and the virus prevented from entering the cell in the 1st place.

Also, milder cases generate antibodies but it is not known if they generate enough (or any for that matter) specialized immune system cells — T cells and B cells. These cells have longer memories, perhaps a lifetime, than antibodies, and they are what prevent the virus from infecting in the future. The 2 part shot system generate these cells, as I understand it, from the 2nd shot.

disclaimer: genius is not a medical type but at the 1st opportunity to get the Moderna vaccine got it (both shots in March) got them. 2 weeks after the 2nd shot started mongering again with a vengeance.
I'll go to my grave without a Covid shot, never stopped mongering or communal marijuana use, going to spectator events, brawling.... Already been at deaths door from booze and drugs, I'm so polluted I doubt the Covid virus could survive in my body.
 

SUPAMAN

Not here for the bear hunting
I had an emergency appendectomy at Saint Francis in April 2020, close to the apex of the first wave of Covid. They had a overflow tent set up in the parking lot when I got there, I sat in the waiting room with people with Covid symptoms. I was within 10 feet of Covid patients in the emergency room, doctors in full surgical coverings going from bedside to bedside. Most of the hospital was dedicated to Covid patients with 1 floor reserved for other medical issues. I was there for 2 days, had major surgery and passed by Covid patients very closely when I had to leave the floor I was on for tests. Besides my appendix rupturing I never got sick from Covid and I was in fairly close quarters at times with a lot of people who did.
 
I had an emergency appendectomy at Saint Francis in April 2020, close to the apex of the first wave of Covid. They had a overflow tent set up in the parking lot when I got there, I sat in the waiting room with people with Covid symptoms. I was within 10 feet of Covid patients in the emergency room, doctors in full surgical coverings going from bedside to bedside. Most of the hospital was dedicated to Covid patients with 1 floor reserved for other medical issues. I was there for 2 days, had major surgery and passed by Covid patients very closely when I had to leave the floor I was on for tests. Besides my appendix rupturing I never got sick from Covid and I was in fairly close quarters at times with a lot of people who did.
Nice testament, my friend. It definitely won't win any approval here. And, why not get a simple shot, especially since you already subjected yourself to invasive surgery, a vaccine shot is a piece of cake? So, better safe than sorry and just to put your mind at ease, if nothing else.

But, I definitely have to admire your fearlessness and conviction. And, if no vaccine was available, employing that powerful attitude would be highly beneficial.

But, in the USA, you are all very lucky. The vaccine is available for free. People from other countries are flying in to take advantage of the extreme generosity of the American government. I am outside of the country right now and even if I was willing to pay big bucks out of my own pocket to get the vaccine, it is just not available to me in any way. I am so far down on the totem pole, and the American Embassy does not offer it.

But with an avatar like "Supaman," I get where you are coming from, "MAN OF STEEL." Live a long and happy life with or without it.
 
Top