Watched a great series a number of years back by Steven Hawking about humans and he talked about why we may never meet other advanced races, aka star trek stuff. His comment was that advanced species will eventually kill themselves off before they manage interstellar space travel- bear that in mind while you read this
But we in the western democracies are guilty of ignorance. Our media in Canada was still having Op Ed debate over mask wearing on the first Saturday of July (Globe and Mail). In March I sent this to The Globe, The Post and The Sun . . .
March 23, 2020
Early laboratory tests have proven COVID-19 can become an aerosol. Those tests conducted by The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases were very specific. Very artificial. Very “worst-case” scenario.
Even then, COVID-19 wasn’t anywhere near the league of measles. Half its particles fell out of the air within 2.7 hours. It was almost entirely gone after a day.
. . . In Other words . . . The 50% of the Covid-19 Virus remains in your wake after you have walked in front of me and . . . I will be breathing in - what you exhaled - up to 2.7 hours after you walked - where I am about to go . . .
This is what is causing the unprecedented wide spread infection . . . in spite of SOCIAL DISTANCING . . . !!!! BREATHING WHERE AN INFECTED PERSON WAS !!
Case in point - one young man in South Korea went to 6 bars in 1 night and infected hundreds of other patrons. This could not have been stopped with hand washing . . .
Masks, masks . . . MASKS . . . The only reliable limit to the spread of COVID-19 . . . Until we have the vaccine . . .
If I knew this 14 months ago . . . WHY did our media NOT spread the word ?
Blame the world Governments all day long . . . But we are all guilty of willful ignorance and neglect.
I shall await the results from Biden's investigation team. But, damn, this sounds all too possible. Besides the viruses source, there is much to be learned from this horrid debacle. Funding for our public health system has dropped precipitously over the past 5 decades. In the 70's I could not get a job in my field of community health nursing as funding was cut. So I applied and received a scholarship for the National Health Service Corps for my Masters degree because the Corps required - and provided- 2 years public health experience in Appalachia after graduation. Since then I have worked mostly through grants and as a lobbyist for public health programs during my career. When COVID-19 happened, even before tRump's intentional infection of America, our public health system was, well, not a system. Read Michael Lewis's "Premonition" to get a picture of how far we still have to go (it reads like the deadly thriller the pandemic is).
There are several important concepts growing out of this piece. There is enough information presented here to question the natural-spread hypothesis. Accumulating evidence to support alternative hypotheses is a reasonable effort.
It's easy to lose sight of the importance of oversight and regulation in scientific research. There are many researchers dabbling on the edge of creating genies eager to be let out of the bottle. it only takes a one or a few who place their self interest in success above any level of risk that their research might impose. The level of responsibility of Institutional Review Boards and their equivalents cannot be overestimated. There need to be teeth in regulations that specify that responsibility, and other levels of review when IRB's determine higher levels of risk.
Watched a great series a number of years back by Steven Hawking about humans and he talked about why we may never meet other advanced races, aka star trek stuff. His comment was that advanced species will eventually kill themselves off before they manage interstellar space travel- bear that in mind while you read this
Brilliant analysis Diane, as always !
That said . . . China is guilty . . . OK
But we in the western democracies are guilty of ignorance. Our media in Canada was still having Op Ed debate over mask wearing on the first Saturday of July (Globe and Mail). In March I sent this to The Globe, The Post and The Sun . . .
March 23, 2020
Early laboratory tests have proven COVID-19 can become an aerosol. Those tests conducted by The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases were very specific. Very artificial. Very “worst-case” scenario.
Even then, COVID-19 wasn’t anywhere near the league of measles. Half its particles fell out of the air within 2.7 hours. It was almost entirely gone after a day.
. . . In Other words . . . The 50% of the Covid-19 Virus remains in your wake after you have walked in front of me and . . . I will be breathing in - what you exhaled - up to 2.7 hours after you walked - where I am about to go . . .
This is what is causing the unprecedented wide spread infection . . . in spite of SOCIAL DISTANCING . . . !!!! BREATHING WHERE AN INFECTED PERSON WAS !!
Case in point - one young man in South Korea went to 6 bars in 1 night and infected hundreds of other patrons. This could not have been stopped with hand washing . . .
Masks, masks . . . MASKS . . . The only reliable limit to the spread of COVID-19 . . . Until we have the vaccine . . .
If I knew this 14 months ago . . . WHY did our media NOT spread the word ?
Blame the world Governments all day long . . . But we are all guilty of willful ignorance and neglect.
Jim Le Maistre
Thank you for this, Diane. I think.
I shall await the results from Biden's investigation team. But, damn, this sounds all too possible. Besides the viruses source, there is much to be learned from this horrid debacle. Funding for our public health system has dropped precipitously over the past 5 decades. In the 70's I could not get a job in my field of community health nursing as funding was cut. So I applied and received a scholarship for the National Health Service Corps for my Masters degree because the Corps required - and provided- 2 years public health experience in Appalachia after graduation. Since then I have worked mostly through grants and as a lobbyist for public health programs during my career. When COVID-19 happened, even before tRump's intentional infection of America, our public health system was, well, not a system. Read Michael Lewis's "Premonition" to get a picture of how far we still have to go (it reads like the deadly thriller the pandemic is).
There are several important concepts growing out of this piece. There is enough information presented here to question the natural-spread hypothesis. Accumulating evidence to support alternative hypotheses is a reasonable effort.
It's easy to lose sight of the importance of oversight and regulation in scientific research. There are many researchers dabbling on the edge of creating genies eager to be let out of the bottle. it only takes a one or a few who place their self interest in success above any level of risk that their research might impose. The level of responsibility of Institutional Review Boards and their equivalents cannot be overestimated. There need to be teeth in regulations that specify that responsibility, and other levels of review when IRB's determine higher levels of risk.
Brilliant!!