1881

Joshk - “Since UV lights have been mentioned, and totally relate to BLF, has anyone found a high power UVC light for disinfecting? I think we need to ignore all handheld/battery operated ones because of the power requirements though.”

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I notice some Chinese sellers are offering Uv-c handheld flashlights, and for what I think are drastically inflated prices. Handheld flashlights in this wavelength may or may not work. I haven’t seen any testing one way or the other, so they should not be trusted until there is good data. I will still use my Uv flashlight, but not to the exclusion of additional methods.

I can tell you something that does work; a homemade light box. Decades ago I was doing contract culture work at home on agar dishes. To create a sterile environment for inoculation a 3’x3’ plywood box was built, with one side being the front door. On top inside was a common two foot twin bulb fluorescent fixture. I was able to purchase two Uv-c bulbs to put into the fixture. To sterilize, filled agar dishes and tools were placed inside the box. After ten minutes nothing lives. Note that the room has a giant sterilization hood and it was turned on for 20 minutes before the Uv box is loaded. This means that the air in the room is now sterile as well. Note that viruses don’t often float around in the air by themselves. They are attached to much larger particles, usually bacteria. That’s good news in that masks and other filters can stop it. Virus particle are only in the 5 micron range and few filters go down that far. Anyway, a homemade Uv-c lightbox could be useful these days. If one is not somewhere in the medical community, it may be hard to purchase medical grade bulbs however. I was an MTV at the time and was able to qualify. Wait, EMT.

Note: The light from these bulbs is seductively beautiful, and dangerous. Be careful if using these bulbs for anything. 10 seconds exposure and you eyes are sunburned. I spent a day in the house with the curtains blacked out after messing up with it. It’s a real Medusa light.

1882

I also thank SKV89 for sharing the info he takes the time to collect.

conspiracies are by definition, NOT proven

if there Was proof, it would no longer be a theory

If the theory is that corona was engineered in a lab, and released at Wuhan games, since there IS No Proof, it is a waste of time to try to prove it did NOT happen.

Burden of proof is on the affirmative.

I appreciate the post by Xtar also, including the part about facemasks.

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I also am encouraged by increasing numbers of reports of successful use of Chloroquine.

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It does seem peaceful outside. Most people seem considerate and use social distancing. Its like the calm before a storm, or waiting for the other shoe to drop. Trying to figure out what to believe, preparing for worse, hoping for the best.

Meanwhile spring is here, the apricot blossoms are bursting into white puffballs. Red Breasted Finches are flicking the flowers like snow petals falling on the ground. I saw a Towhee yesterday.

wishing you all stay safe

1883

Feels like Russian Roulette to me . Will I get it and if I do, will I survive it?

1884

*Yes, you are correct in your interpretation of herd immunity and what will happen until we reach i*t. I have read the figure 60% for the number of people who must have gotten the virus before herd immunity is achieved. That’s a staggering number of people getting sick and the death toll will be awful. The cure we are looking for is to have the number of new people who get infected by a sick individual fall below 1. That is the point where the epidemic begins to abate. The figure right now is many more than one. If you look at cases like the church choir in Washington, it probably didn’t take more than a couple (maybe just one or two) to infect most of the choir in a 2.5 hour choir rehearsal.

If the 1918 flu pandemic is any indication of what can happen, we could be in for a second wave of the virus in the fall. That one started in April with a devastating summer followed by a second peak in the fall as the US prepared to send soldiers to Europe in WWI. There was no cure and no vaccine so it eventually petered out when so many fell ill that there were few left without the immunity acquired from getting the illness. Pretty good case of herd immunity. There was a pretty good 1 hour show on PBS last night on American Experience about the 1918 epidemic. Until we get enough tests to know who has has it, who has had it already, and who is still at risk, we are in a world of hurt.

What is different today from 1918 is we know what causes the illness - a corona virus. In 1918 they were trying to treat for bacteria because they couldn’t see viruses. We will make a vaccine but it may be too late for many people. We also now know how to find treatments that will lessen the severity of the illness. That should happen long before we get a vaccine. It can’t prevent the illness but can make it less likely to kill you.

1885

Basically, yes. Unless testing rates can be massively increased as soon as social distancing/shelter-in-place rules are relaxed there will be another spike.

If anyone is bored at home in the US you could call your representatives and ask why we aren’t working to import Interferon alfa-2b (an antiviral that has seen great efficacy in China and possibly now Europe) from Cuba.

1886

april's fool day

1887

There are currently no examples in the public domain, of ozone sterilization being used to kill the current strain of Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (technical name of the Coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease). However, there are reasons to believe it would be effective:

https://www.oxidationtech.com/blog/does-ozone-sterilization-kill-the-coronavirus-which-causes-covid-19/

1888

:open_mouth: lol

1889

How to strengthen your immunity during the coronavirus pandemic

1890

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1891

Can fasting restore the immune system?

can fasting restore the immune system - Google Search&oq=can+fasting+restore+the+immune+system&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQDDIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBQgAEM0COgQIABBHUNLOyAlY0s7ICWCygskJaABwAXgAgAHXAYgB1wGSAQMyLTGYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwi7oILgk8foAhWEw6YKHWH3Cl4Q4dUDCAs

1892

Yup.

Once social distancing flattens the curve and infections go down and social distancing is relaxed, it is expected that new infections will occur and the curve will rise again.

To prevent this, the goal is to have lots and lots and lots of testing. Preferably everyone would have home-testing like a birth control test. That way if someone gets it they would hopefully know to stay home.

That said, the pandemic isn’t expected to be over until the population achieves herd immunity either through a vaccine, or a very large percentage of the population getting it and recovering (something like 70-80%).

1893

Thats what what I thought. Prospect for July and August look dim then. My area is a big summer camp region. I can’t see that happening this year.

1894

Hey, finally…

1895

:+1:

1896

Funny thing, I noticed someone who had made the effort to wear a N95 type mask, but not enough effort to put on both straps… I just don’t get it. :person_facepalming:

1897

Good, keep making it too. Doesn’t belong in gas.

1898
1899

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1900

Besides disproving those paid conspiracy theory disinformation pieces about the possibility of bio engineered warfare, this last part is quite interesting:

The mutation in surface proteins, according to Garry, could have triggered the outbreak of the pandemic, but it’s also possible that a less severe version of the illness was circulating through the population for years, perhaps even decades, before escalating to this point.

“_We don’t know if those mutations were picked up more recently or a long time ago,” Garry told ABC News. “It’s impossible to say if it actually was a mutation that triggered the pandemic, but either way, it would have been a naturally occurring process._”

And while many believe the virus originated at a fish market in Wuhan, China, Garry said that is also a misconception.

“_Our analyses, and others too, point to an earlier origin than that,” Garry said. “There were definitely cases there, but that wasn’t the origin of the virus_.”

So this supports my theory yesterday that it is not implausible that the virus was brought over to Wuhan during the military olympics which had 9,308 participants from 110 countries and maybe tens or hundreds of thousands of international spectators, which turned Wuhan into a hub for transmitting the disease. First case was found several weeks after this event. But I doubt we will ever be able to trace the origin with that many possibilities.