Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #111

[Amonet]

The number of people already infected by the mystery virus emerging in China is far greater than official figures suggest, scientists have told the BBC.
There have been 41 laboratory-confirmed cases of the new virus, but UK experts estimate the figure is closer to 1,700.

New virus in China ‘will have infected hundreds'

Up to 4,500 patients in China may have caught the same strain of coronavirus that has killed two people, scientists fear.
Health officials in Wuhan – the city at the heart of the outbreak which started in December – confirmed four new cases today, taking the total to 48.
But Imperial College London researchers say this may be the 'tip of the iceberg' after analysing flights out of the city.

Thread #80 Thread #81 Thread #82 Thread #83 Thread #84 Thread #85 Thread #86 Thread #87 Thread #88 Thread #89 Thread #90 Thread #91 Thread #92 Thread #93 Thread #94 Thread #95 Thread #96 Thread #97 Thread #98 Thread #99 Thread #100 Thread #101 Thread #102 Thread #103 Thread #104 Thread #105 Thread #106 Thread #107 Thread #108 Thread #109 Thread #110

PLEASE NOTE:

Tricia set up the Covid forum for people who are genuinely concerned about Covid-19. It is not for anyone who is here with a view to minimizing its existence or downplaying the severity of it. Please know that MSM, scientists, politicians, government agencies worldwide are not involved in the biggest conspiracy in the history of man to convey the pandemic as more serious than it is.

If you aren't concerned about Covid-19, this Covid forum is not for you. There are lots of other Websleuths threads you can participate in that need your help.

Members whose posts seem designed to downplay the seriousness of the virus or the pandemic may experience a loss of posting privileges, whether a Thread Reply Ban or Time Out of minimum 1 week up to 3 months from the Websleuths forum.

Sillybilly
WS Administrator

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Here is my recent "close call" story. (at least I hope it was only a close call but asymptomatic covid is still very much a thing)

About three weeks ago I went to my local Emergency Room (extremely tiny hospital). I had an infected bug bite that wasn't healing and wanted some antibiotics. It wasn't a life-and-death emergency, so I started at the clinic, but they said the doctor couldn't see me until the end of the day, so I went next door to the hospital ER to "jump the line" because I was getting scared.

There was a patient in the actual ER room but I was put on a bed just outside the ER room. As the doctor went back and forth dealing with the patient (whom I recognized, tiny town etc), he stopped and checked my leg and prescribed the antibiotic. I was there maybe half an hour. (he said it was possibly a tick bite so I'm glad I got the antibiotic and wished I hadn't waited a week-plus to do so)

Now, three weeks later, I have just heard through the rumor grapevine that the patient who in the ER at that time, was found to have covid. I don't think that's what he was there FOR, but apparently they tested him later as a part of admitting him or something.

Of course the hospital never informed me that I had been exposed -- I'm not sure they did that sort of contact tracing even at the beginning of the pandemic.

And I have not felt ill in the time since then so I haven't been tested since then. Luckily, I had gotten a bivalent booster just four days prior. AND I was N95 masked while in the hospital. But here's the thing: I was the ONLY masked person I saw while there. Not the doctor, not the ER patient, not the nurse. Not any of the staff I saw.

The reason the clinic couldn't see me for hours was because they were booked up with appointments all day. We only have the one doctor on duty at any given time. So this unmasked doctor is dealing with a covid-positive patient in the ER, then spends his day seeing one clinic patient after another, plus any other ER patients that came in that day. Plus hanging out with all the staff and a dozen or more elderly/dementia long-term care residents who live in a connected building.

No, I haven't heard of new local covid cases since that day, but since no one talks about it anymore, nor even tests/stays home if they are sick (assuming/pretending they just have a cold), I wouldn't expect to know even if we were having a serious spike in cases. The county public health department doesn't even maintain their covid webpage anymore, where they used to report how many new cases each week (not that most cases these days even get reported to them, but cases identified inside a hospital probably would).

I believe the N95 mask prevented me from being exposed, and if I had been exposed, my vax-boosted immune system might have prevented my becoming infected, or else lessened the severity if I had been infected.

It is socially difficult and awkward to wear a mask in a public situation when no one else does, but this experience has boosted my confidence that I should continue to do so.

 

[ilovewings]

Here is my recent "close call" story. (at least I hope it was only a close call but asymptomatic covid is still very much a thing)

About three weeks ago I went to my local Emergency Room (extremely tiny hospital). I had an infected bug bite that wasn't healing and wanted some antibiotics. It wasn't a life-and-death emergency, so I started at the clinic, but they said the doctor couldn't see me until the end of the day, so I went next door to the hospital ER to "jump the line" because I was getting scared.

There was a patient in the actual ER room but I was put on a bed just outside the ER room. As the doctor went back and forth dealing with the patient (whom I recognized, tiny town etc), he stopped and checked my leg and prescribed the antibiotic. I was there maybe half an hour. (he said it was possibly a tick bite so I'm glad I got the antibiotic and wished I hadn't waited a week-plus to do so)

Now, three weeks later, I have just heard through the rumor grapevine that the patient who in the ER at that time, was found to have covid. I don't think that's what he was there FOR, but apparently they tested him later as a part of admitting him or something.

Of course the hospital never informed me that I had been exposed -- I'm not sure they did that sort of contact tracing even at the beginning of the pandemic.

And I have not felt ill in the time since then so I haven't been tested since then. Luckily, I had gotten a bivalent booster just four days prior. AND I was N95 masked while in the hospital. But here's the thing: I was the ONLY masked person I saw while there. Not the doctor, not the ER patient, not the nurse. Not any of the staff I saw.

The reason the clinic couldn't see me for hours was because they were booked up with appointments all day. We only have the one doctor on duty at any given time. So this unmasked doctor is dealing with a covid-positive patient in the ER, then spends his day seeing one clinic patient after another, plus any other ER patients that came in that day. Plus hanging out with all the staff and a dozen or more elderly/dementia long-term care residents who live in a connected building.

No, I haven't heard of new local covid cases since that day, but since no one talks about it anymore, nor even tests/stays home if they are sick (assuming/pretending they just have a cold), I wouldn't expect to know even if we were having a serious spike in cases. The county public health department doesn't even maintain their covid webpage anymore, where they used to report how many new cases each week (not that most cases these days even get reported to them, but cases identified inside a hospital probably would).

I believe the N95 mask prevented me from being exposed, and if I had been exposed, my vax-boosted immune system might have prevented my becoming infected, or else lessened the severity if I had been infected.

It is socially difficult and awkward to wear a mask in a public situation when no one else does, but this experience has boosted my confidence that I should continue to do so.

These days medical personnel are no longer wearing masks in hospitals in most areas of our country--- good thing you had yours and you also got boosted- so sounds like you did all the right things-- When I go to a hospital I wear a mask. When I have a medical appointment in a private physician office I wear a mask in the waiting room but take it off when I meet with the physician.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

These days medical personnel are no longer wearing masks in hospitals in most areas of our country--- good thing you had yours and you also got boosted- so sounds like you did all the right things-- When I go to a hospital I wear a mask. When I have a medical appointment in a private physician office I wear a mask in the waiting room but take it off when I meet with the physician.

I have definitely been tempted to remove my mask when being seen one-on-one in an exam room. But now, after seeing how this doctor was presumably exposed and then most likely continued to see other patients, unmasked, I'm going to resist relaxing that masking. I'm now keeping my ears to the local gossip to hear whether the doctor or any other medical staff became ill after that incident.

 

[anneg]

Here is my recent "close call" story. (at least I hope it was only a close call but asymptomatic covid is still very much a thing)

About three weeks ago I went to my local Emergency Room (extremely tiny hospital). I had an infected bug bite that wasn't healing and wanted some antibiotics. It wasn't a life-and-death emergency, so I started at the clinic, but they said the doctor couldn't see me until the end of the day, so I went next door to the hospital ER to "jump the line" because I was getting scared.

There was a patient in the actual ER room but I was put on a bed just outside the ER room. As the doctor went back and forth dealing with the patient (whom I recognized, tiny town etc), he stopped and checked my leg and prescribed the antibiotic. I was there maybe half an hour. (he said it was possibly a tick bite so I'm glad I got the antibiotic and wished I hadn't waited a week-plus to do so)

Now, three weeks later, I have just heard through the rumor grapevine that the patient who in the ER at that time, was found to have covid. I don't think that's what he was there FOR, but apparently they tested him later as a part of admitting him or something.

Of course the hospital never informed me that I had been exposed -- I'm not sure they did that sort of contact tracing even at the beginning of the pandemic.

And I have not felt ill in the time since then so I haven't been tested since then. Luckily, I had gotten a bivalent booster just four days prior. AND I was N95 masked while in the hospital. But here's the thing: I was the ONLY masked person I saw while there. Not the doctor, not the ER patient, not the nurse. Not any of the staff I saw.

The reason the clinic couldn't see me for hours was because they were booked up with appointments all day. We only have the one doctor on duty at any given time. So this unmasked doctor is dealing with a covid-positive patient in the ER, then spends his day seeing one clinic patient after another, plus any other ER patients that came in that day. Plus hanging out with all the staff and a dozen or more elderly/dementia long-term care residents who live in a connected building.

No, I haven't heard of new local covid cases since that day, but since no one talks about it anymore, nor even tests/stays home if they are sick (assuming/pretending they just have a cold), I wouldn't expect to know even if we were having a serious spike in cases. The county public health department doesn't even maintain their covid webpage anymore, where they used to report how many new cases each week (not that most cases these days even get reported to them, but cases identified inside a hospital probably would).

I believe the N95 mask prevented me from being exposed, and if I had been exposed, my vax-boosted immune system might have prevented my becoming infected, or else lessened the severity if I had been infected.

It is socially difficult and awkward to wear a mask in a public situation when no one else does, but this experience has boosted my confidence that I should continue to do so.

I'm glad you were masked and are well! It's good that you'd had the vaccine before your likely exposure. But that doctor and, IMO, all medical staff should be wearing a mask. In my doctor's office (part of UNC Health), all the staff continue to mask.

 

[Warwick1991]

Wondering if anyone on this thread has had or knows someone who has had Covid in the past few months? No one in our circle of friends has had it recently. One couple picked up a cold type virus on a cruise, but it wasn't Covid. (Too lazy to search back in the thread.)

My cousins in Massachusetts had it about 2 weeks ago. They have recovered. I believe they may have contracted it from my elderly aunt, who also tested positive. She may have gotten it from a caregiver. Fortunately, all have recovered.

 

[Mo Thuairim]

I spoke too soon. I found out my uncle has Covid the day after @anneg asked. He was in hospital for something else (fairly serious), then he developed a very high temperature so they tested him and now he's isolated from all visitors. It's worrying and complicates an already worrying situation. He's had all his boosters so fingers crossed he'll be OK.

 

[Gemmie]

I'm in Los Angeles.
Bro and wife flew back from Spain in May and caught it.
It has been circulating around work, mostly in my coworkers with young children. One staff member double masked on the way back from a conference in Chicago and still caught it.
My cleaning lady is down with it right now.

Edit to add: My niece and her boyfriend just returned from a CA road trip. He is down with it now.

I'm curious about the double masking because I know someone that double masks, yet they aren't wearing the mask properly! I also ask because I've found that a lot of people that think they are wearing their masks properly, are not. See my old post at the bottom of this post. You need a snug fit around your face with no gaps at the sides, nose or chin area. Also, N95 are better than (gappy) blue surgical masks, which are better than cloth masks, which are WAY better than a lady I saw once wearing a homemade crocheted "mask" using a large loose crochet so all it was was a face decoration!

Do you know if their double masking was with the highest level of protection (well-fitted N95) with no gaps (or facial hair)?

• Highest level of protection: Well-fitting respirators approved by NIOSH, including N95s
• Less protection than NIOSH-approved respirators: Well-fitting disposable surgical masks and KN95 masks
• Less protection than non-NIOSH respirators and surgical masks: Layered, finely woven products
• Least protection (but still better than not wearing a mask at all): Loosely woven cloth products

Masks and Respirators

Wear a mask with the best fit, protection, and comfort for you.

www.cdc.gov

I had posted way upthread about my "mask watching" and how rarely I saw anyone wearing their masks properly, and very few wearing N95s. Here's that post for anyone interested:

Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #110

I am glad you guys had a great time!!!!! It was so nice to get away after three years without traveling. It was mostly warm, sunny, and we enjoyed sitting on our balcony while we were sailing. The fresh sea air is amazing! I hope you will be able to return to your condo next winter.

www.websleuths.com

 

[Gemmie]

We only have the one doctor on duty at any given time. So this unmasked doctor is dealing with a covid-positive patient in the ER, then spends his day seeing one clinic patient after another, plus any other ER patients that came in that day. Plus hanging out with all the staff and a dozen or more elderly/dementia long-term care residents who live in a connected building.

ABSOLUTLY unreal. That Dr is likely spreading Covid. I get i6t though... no one likes wearing masks, especially not all day long. But still.

No, I haven't heard of new local covid cases since that day, but since no one talks about it anymore, nor even tests/stays home if they are sick (assuming/pretending they just have a cold), I wouldn't expect to know even if we were having a serious spike in cases. The county public health department doesn't even maintain their covid webpage anymore, where they used to report how many new cases each week (not that most cases these days even get reported to them, but cases identified inside a hospital probably would).

I REALLY miss the daily reporting. I used to track the data in a spreadsheet.

I believe the N95 mask prevented me from being exposed, and if I had been exposed, my vax-boosted immune system might have prevented my becoming infected, or else lessened the severity if I had been infected.

It is socially difficult and awkward to wear a mask in a public situation when no one else does, but this experience has boosted my confidence that I should continue to do so.

Good on you for doing not only the smart thing, but the RIGHT thing!!! May you be blessed and never contract covid.

 

[Gemmie]

These days medical personnel are no longer wearing masks in hospitals in most areas of our country--- good thing you had yours and you also got boosted- so sounds like you did all the right things-- When I go to a hospital I wear a mask. When I have a medical appointment in a private physician office I wear a mask in the waiting room but take it off when I meet with the physician.

I never take mine off unless I'm in my house. No one has stepped foot in my house since March 2020 so it's a safe place.

I have a walking path next to my house and if I'm out there and hear people coming, I'll put my mask on and leave it on until they've been long gone and airflow likely has moved any particulates (if any) away.

Most of you are likely thinking.. Wow, that's pretty extreme, and weird, but here's my reasoning (I'm an analytical and analyze everything I do. And I do mean everything. lol I can't shut that part of my brain off).

So here's why.... One day early on in the pandemic I was out on the deck reading and heard someone cough out on the path. There is a wood fence between the path and where I was, with the path being ~15-20' away. Far enough, you'd think.

Mere seconds after hearing the cough I smelled pot. I don't care about pot smoking, but my analytical brain kicked into gear.

Brain: That pot was just expelled from that person's lungs, along with his breath and potentially any covid particulates should he be infected, and YOU just inhaled it.

So.... ever since then I have my mask with me when out back and put it on if I hear people coming. LOL

Also, China was telling their residents on the border with North Korea (back when N Korea had millions of "fever cases") to close their windows. AND that distance was a LOT further than the walking path to my deck.

Authorities in the Chinese city of Dandong, which sits on the border with North Korea, have indicated that they suspect winds have swept COVID-19 into their city from their ailing neighbor.

One potential answer they've reached is that the wind may be blowing the virus into residents' homes from epidemic-stricken North Korea.

In an online notice published on May 31, Dandong authorities urged residents to keep their windows open for ventilation and close them if one lives along the Yalu border river and there are southerly winds blowing.

Chinese authorities are warning that wind might be blowing COVID-19 into the country from North Korea

Dandong city officials told residents living along the Yalu border river to close their windows whenever "southerly winds" are blowing.

www.insider.com

 

[Gemmie]

I have definitely been tempted to remove my mask when being seen one-on-one in an exam room. But now, after seeing how this doctor was presumably exposed and then most likely continued to see other patients, unmasked, I'm going to resist relaxing that masking. I'm now keeping my ears to the local gossip to hear whether the doctor or any other medical staff became ill after that incident.

Here's my analytical brain answering your post (lol)... just because you are one-on-one in the room at that time does not negate all the people that had been in that same room prior to you.

Transmission of COVID-19 from inhalation of virus in the air can occur at distances greater than six feet. Particles from an infected person can move throughout an entire room or indoor space. The particles can also linger in the air after a person has left the room – they can remain airborne for hours in some cases.

Indoor Air and Coronavirus (COVID-19) | US EPA

EPA recommends precautions to reduce the potential airborne transmission of the virus, such as ventilation and air filtration as a part of a larger strategy that includes minimizing close contact, surface cleaning, handwashing, and other precautions.

www.epa.gov

I wouldn't do it if it were me, but I'm playing this "game" to win.

Due to what I said in the first sentence, I will only grocery shop as soon as the store opens, and not after dozens and dozens of people (or more) have been shopping in it that day. Why? Because I feel my best chance is to let all the particles settle overnight and are no longer suspended in the air. *shrug*

Like I said... I can't shut off the analytical part of my brain. LOL

 

[Gemmie]

My cousins in Massachusetts had it about 2 weeks ago. They have recovered. I believe they may have contracted it from my elderly aunt, who also tested positive. She may have gotten it from a caregiver. Fortunately, all have recovered.

I won't even go around my mother without my mask, much to her chagrin. Just because they are family doesn't mean you can't catch it from them! Last time I went over she said "Do you have to wear that thing?". That was not a good way to start our visit. I hadn't even stepped foot into the house yet.

 

[Sundog]

I never take mine off unless I'm in my house. No one has stepped foot in my house since March 2020 so it's a safe place.

I have a walking path next to my house and if I'm out there and hear people coming, I'll put my mask on and leave it on until they've been long gone and airflow likely has moved any particulates (if any) away.

Most of you are likely thinking.. Wow, that's pretty extreme, and weird, but here's my reasoning (I'm an analytical and analyze everything I do. And I do mean everything. lol I can't shut that part of my brain off).

So here's why.... One day early on in the pandemic I was out on the deck reading and heard someone cough out on the path. There is a wood fence between the path and where I was, with the path being ~15-20' away. Far enough, you'd think.

Mere seconds after hearing the cough I smelled pot. I don't care about pot smoking, but my analytical brain kicked into gear.

Brain: That pot was just expelled from that person's lungs, along with his breath and potentially any covid particulates should he be infected, and YOU just inhaled it.

So.... ever since then I have my mask with me when out back and put it on if I hear people coming. LOL

Also, China was telling their residents on the border with North Korea (back when N Korea had millions of "fever cases") to close their windows. AND that distance was a LOT further than the walking path to my deck.

Authorities in the Chinese city of Dandong, which sits on the border with North Korea, have indicated that they suspect winds have swept COVID-19 into their city from their ailing neighbor.

One potential answer they've reached is that the wind may be blowing the virus into residents' homes from epidemic-stricken North Korea.

In an online notice published on May 31, Dandong authorities urged residents to keep their windows open for ventilation and close them if one lives along the Yalu border river and there are southerly winds blowing.

Chinese authorities are warning that wind might be blowing COVID-19 into the country from North Korea

Dandong city officials told residents living along the Yalu border river to close their windows whenever "southerly winds" are blowing.

www.insider.com

Interesting to read, as we have a niece who lives in Dandong. Glad to say that their region was less hit by Covid than the larger cities like Beijing. She was a piano teacher in Beijing, but left when Covid started to spread in the larger cities and things were closing down, she went to Dandong where there was less Covid spread and where she could still do her work.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Here's my analytical brain answering your post (lol)... just because you are one-on-one in the room at that time does not negate all the people that had been in that same room prior to you.

Transmission of COVID-19 from inhalation of virus in the air can occur at distances greater than six feet. Particles from an infected person can move throughout an entire room or indoor space. The particles can also linger in the air after a person has left the room – they can remain airborne for hours in some cases.

Indoor Air and Coronavirus (COVID-19) | US EPA

EPA recommends precautions to reduce the potential airborne transmission of the virus, such as ventilation and air filtration as a part of a larger strategy that includes minimizing close contact, surface cleaning, handwashing, and other precautions.

www.epa.gov

I wouldn't do it if it were me, but I'm playing this "game" to win.

Due to what I said in the first sentence, I will only grocery shop as soon as the store opens, and not after dozens and dozens of people (or more) have been shopping in it that day. Why? Because I feel my best chance is to let all the particles settle overnight and are no longer suspended in the air. *shrug*

Like I said... I can't shut off the analytical part of my brain. LOL

I agree with everything you say here, although I'm not quite as extreme as you in terms of mask wearing.

Although that may be because I live in an extremely low population density area. I used to try to be the first person in the store in the morning, but I find I'm comfortable with going in when there are only 1-2 other customers, during the day. I have parked and waited for other cars to leave before going in. I have parked and waited and then decided I didn't need the items that badly and turned around and left without going in. I try to get in/out within just a few minutes. I haven't masked in the store in months, but I would if I needed to go in when more than a handful of people are there.

I'm a pretty solitary person but I do have a few friends and some aspects of life do continue -- for example a friend of mine recently had hip surgery and I had offered to drive her (and her non-driving partner) to the hospital. They knew I might opt to wear a mask while in the car (2.5 hours roughly) but since we were able to keep the windows open and air moving, I didn't wear a mask. If she had asked for a ride home instead, after she had been inside a hospital for a few days, I would probably have masked under the assumption she'd likely been exposed while there. (her sister drove them home and is visiting for a while as friend recuperates).

I just went to see them this morning and brought a cobbler I made. Four of us in the house, unmasked, eating. I know them to be mostly isolating. I mostly don't go inside other people's homes or have others into my own, but I can't say I've never since covid started -- I've needed an electrician and a plumber in that time, plus a very few friends for short visits.

I do believe covid is far more airborne than most folks recognize, which means I know I'm taking some chances given what I just described myself doing. It's a tough balance. I just ordered one of those room ventilation monitors which I can use to help understand the degree of risk. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YY7BH2W?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Long Covid is turning out to be WAY more harmful than most realize, so it's worth a lot of inconvenience, but somehow I'm unable to refuse to have any social connection at all, such as not offering to drive my friend who needed a ride. I need a colonoscopy sometime in the next year, and then I will be the one looking for a friend to drive me and who will understand my wish for precautions.

I also have hope that within a few more years better vaccines will be available, that fend off the virus more successfully and for longer timeframes than the current ones.

 

[Gemmie]

SBMMF

I agree with everything you say here, although I'm not quite as extreme as you in terms of mask wearing.

Although that may be because I live in an extremely low population density area. I used to try to be the first person in the store in the morning, but I find I'm comfortable with going in when there are only 1-2 other customers, during the day. I have parked and waited for other cars to leave before going in. I have parked and waited and then decided I didn't need the items that badly and turned around and left without going in. I try to get in/out within just a few minutes. I haven't masked in the store in months, but I would if I needed to go in when more than a handful of people are there.

That sounds a lot like me. I even write my grocery list in the order in which things are in the store. I have the produce department memorized so the next thing on my list is the next thing in the store. That way I'm not having to stand there, checking my list to figure out what is near, or backtrack. I'm in and out in the blink of an eye.

I just went to see them this morning and brought a cobbler I made.

Thank you for the reminder! I need to make a blueberry cobbler due to all the berries my bushes had.

I do believe covid is far more airborne than most folks recognize,

Yep, it is.

Long Covid is turning out to be WAY more harmful than most realize,

Long CV scares me. I need my wits about me and my strength to do day to day things that need doing. I don't even want to think what would happen if I ever got Long CV.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

I will add that there is one more precaution I take -- not sure if I've already mentioned this -- any day that I have been among lots of people, whether masked or not, at the end of the day I have a little gargle with hydrogen peroxide after I've brushed my teeth before bed.

My thinking is, I put H2O2 on a cut to prevent infection, might it not equally prevent infection from any nasties I may have breathed in which have lodged against the back of my throat?

I don't think it's harmful (I don't swallow it, so only ingest maybe a drop each time) so I figure "it can't hurt".

 

[charminglane]

I'm curious about the double masking because I know someone that double masks, yet they aren't wearing the mask properly! I also ask because I've found that a lot of people that think they are wearing their masks properly, are not. See my old post at the bottom of this post. You need a snug fit around your face with no gaps at the sides, nose or chin area. Also, N95 are better than (gappy) blue surgical masks, which are better than cloth masks, which are WAY better than a lady I saw once wearing a homemade crocheted "mask" using a large loose crochet so all it was was a face decoration!

Do you know if their double masking was with the highest level of protection (well-fitted N95) with no gaps (or facial hair)?

• Highest level of protection: Well-fitting respirators approved by NIOSH, including N95s
• Less protection than NIOSH-approved respirators: Well-fitting disposable surgical masks and KN95 masks
• Less protection than non-NIOSH respirators and surgical masks: Layered, finely woven products
• Least protection (but still better than not wearing a mask at all): Loosely woven cloth products

Masks and Respirators

Wear a mask with the best fit, protection, and comfort for you.

www.cdc.gov

I had posted way upthread about my "mask watching" and how rarely I saw anyone wearing their masks properly, and very few wearing N95s. Here's that post for anyone interested:

Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #110

I am glad you guys had a great time!!!!! It was so nice to get away after three years without traveling. It was mostly warm, sunny, and we enjoyed sitting on our balcony while we were sailing. The fresh sea air is amazing! I hope you will be able to return to your condo next winter.

www.websleuths.com

I applaud your diligence!
Their masks were N95 and properly worn. They were attending the American Library Association conference unmasked which is probably where it came from.
I would say about 1/3 of patrons at my work all wear masks, all ages. Staff mask up if we are not feeling well, too.
We have hand sanitizer out, and antiseptic wipes for anyone that wants to wipe a surface/keyboard, mouse, pen, etc.

 

[Gemmie]

I will add that there is one more precaution I take -- not sure if I've already mentioned this -- any day that I have been among lots of people, whether masked or not, at the end of the day I have a little gargle with hydrogen peroxide after I've brushed my teeth before bed.

My thinking is, I put H2O2 on a cut to prevent infection, might it not equally prevent infection from any nasties I may have breathed in which have lodged against the back of my throat?

I don't think it's harmful (I don't swallow it, so only ingest maybe a drop each time) so I figure "it can't hurt".

If it were me I'd time the gargling with any risks that had just been taken. IOW... immediately after, not hours later that evening before bed. Like as soon as I returned from shopping the day someone sneezed on my back as an example. You don't want to give it a foothold, the goal is to knock it out ASAP.

I'm trying to see if that even works. Google hasn't given me great results for years now (changed algorhythm). I found this about how certain mouthwashes might stop the virus, but that's about transmission. IE - you already caught Covid and making it less likely for you to transmit it, which I don't believe was your goal (but I could be wrong).

Certain Mouthwashes Might Stop COVID-19 Virus Transmission

www.rutgers.edu

This is saying you should dilute the peroxide before gargling with it:

It is safe to gargle with hydrogen peroxide if it’s been diluted with water

A VERIFY viewer asked if it’s safe to gargle with hydrogen peroxide. Health experts say you should dilute it with water first, and be careful not to swallow it.

www.verifythis.com

Lastly, I remember hearing about not using peroxide on wound anymore. It's also brought up in the link above saying:

"health experts now warn against using it to clean wounds because it can irritate the skin and kill healthy cells."

If you're not diluting it I'd definitely consider doing that.

Further trying to find anything about gargling with peroxide (I'm not finding much of anything) I did find this that I think you'll find of interest:

researchers found hydrogen peroxide rinses and neti pot rinses did very little to inactivate the virus.

“It’s important to realize that there is a difference between research conducted in a controlled laboratory setting and the dynamic microbial environment that exists inside your mouth,” says Robert Glatter, MD, a physician in the department of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

“If we can test this in people, we can get the actual data that may show that if people do this, they can actually lower their viral load, which would mean that it has the potential to lower the virus’s ability to spread,”

But again, the article is talking about reducing the viral load in regards to transmission, not preventing you from catching.

What Is COVID-19? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention

Learn about coronavirus symptoms, risk factors, variants, testing, treatments, vaccines, and complications.

www.everydayhealth.com

 

[Auntie Cipation]

@Gemmie you're right that I'm interested in not catching it. Won't transmit it if I don't have it in the first place!

I started out diluting it but then got lazy -- will go back to diluting, thanks.

One time I gargled mid-day because something, can't recall what, had me worried, like your back-sneezing guy. But during the day I'm drinking water often, plus eating, so it would be "disturbed" before long, whereas right before bed it would sit on my throat and have a chance to do its thing without disturbance for a few hours.

Masks are obviously much more important, this just became a precautionary habit, like the silly hat-adjusting and crotch-scratching routine a baseball pitcher goes through before a throw. (I know you're not in the USA but believe me, this is a thing! Probably google-able!)

The "I haven't caught it yet, therefore everything I've done so far has worked and I need to continue it" mentality.

 

[Warwick1991]

Right now I'm concerned about politics interfering with science again, especially here in Florida. A local political party has voted to send out a letter to the governor and others that Covid-19 vaccines themselves are bioweapons. They are asking to ban the vaccines. Right now there is a state grand jury, convened by the governor, investigating the vaccine producers and the vaccines, so it is a possible outcome. County GOP: COVID-19 vaccine is a bioweapon