I just receovered from covid and have a question?

Does science dictate that I should wear a mask from now on?

What does the science say about that?

Reply to
Brent Locher
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Yes, you should. Only to encourage others to do the same.

Reply to
Ed Lee

The position at present is that you can probably catch it again as little as three months after recovering from your first infection. So yes you should still wear a mask to avoid catching it again or if you have caught it and remain asymptomatic giving it to someone else.

There are well documented cases of medics having it more than once and the second time with more of the symptoms rather than fewer.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

Your chances of actually getting it again is parts-per-million, or more like parts-per-billion. You are more likely to trip over a cat and die.

But science dictate? There's still debate about whether cloth masks help at all.

--
John Larkin      Highland Technology, Inc 

The best designs are necessarily accidental.
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Reply to
jlarkin

TL;DR: it's best if you continue wearing a mask, at least for now.

As I understand it, there is not yet sufficient scientific data about post-recovery COVID to say that you should be exempted from the normal advice/recommendations about mask wearing.

You _may_ be effectively immune to reinfection for some period of time, or you might not be. Whatever post-recovery immunity you do have _may_ be effective against the newer/mutated strains of COVID-19, or it might not. [There have been a few cases recorded where people who have recovered from COVID-19 have been reinfected months later. Not many such, but it does happen.]

After recovery, your body _may_ have cleared itself of live virus effectively enough to ensure that you are not capable of spreading the infection to other people and making them sick. Or, your body might not have done this effectively, and you might still be contagious to some extent. [There have been some cases where people who have recovered, have still had detectable virus RNA in PCR tests quite a while after their main recovery was complete. It is not yet known whether they were actually infectious with live virus, as far as I know.]

To sum it up - from what I've seen of the data (and I'm not a domain expert in this) you are probably at less risk of [re]acquiring COVID-19 than a person who has never been infected, and you may retain this at-least-partial immunity for some time (months?). Nobody can tell for sure. You are probably _not_ at zero risk.

Similarly, you may still be capable of spreading an active infection to others, although (from what I've read) you're probably less dangerous to other people than someone who has just been infected for the first time and is pre- or asymptomatic.

Wearing a mask helps protect other people from being infected by you. For the sake of other peoples' health, it's probably best that you continue to wear a mask while not socially isolated - that is, stick with the standard set of mask-wearing recommendations.

Wearing a mask may also provide you with some protection against re-infection (possibly with a different strain of the virus).

At the very least, you (and everyone) should certainly wear a mask when in the presence of any "elevated risk" people - in particular, those over 65 or so, and those who are immunocompromised for any reason.

Reply to
Dave Platt

There's a possibility that you can be re-infected (and therefore again dangerous) in a few months, so any reprieve is not permanent unless the virus has been eliminated from your local population by then.

On the other hand wearing a mask is a sign of solidarity against the virus. So by wearing a mask even if it directly benefits noone medically, it may still help the rest of your society to stay the course and, thus, eventually prevail.

--
  Jasen.
Reply to
Jasen Betts

On what basis do you claim to so accurately predict the future?

There is still debate over the moon landings, is any of the mask debate worth heeding?

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  Jasen.
Reply to
Jasen Betts

if nothing else it prevents being harassed by self appointed mask police or being mistaken for one of the flat-earther anti-vax nutters

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

Does that actually happen? Where?

--
John Larkin      Highland Technology, Inc 

The best designs are necessarily accidental.
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Reply to
jlarkin

There has just been a clear case in Norway of someone getting it for a second time. And we've had some 50,000 cases in total.

The risk of getting it a second time will depend on many factors, including how badly you got it the first time, how strong your antibody response was (if any), how long it has gone since you recovered, and of course what the infection rates are like in the area around you.

No, there is debate about how /much/ they help. And there is debate about the extent to which people use them correctly. People like you, who are totally thoughtless and ignorant about the whole matter, are unlikely to use them in the most effective manner. I hope you are not quite as bad as the people who claim to be wearing their mask despite having their nose sticking out.

(A tip for masks and glasses - wash your glasses with cheap shaving foam, and it leaves a film that reduces fogging.)

Reply to
David Brown

I see too many of those :(

Dr Phil Hammond ("MD" in Private Eye and a good comedian) likens it to wearing a swimming costume with your dangly bits hanging out.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

10 seconds work instead of half a second, makes it 20 times harder, but the difference is not very sifgnificant, (unless you are mass producing them, but then you wouldn't cut by hand anyway.)

Assuming the metal is formed to not break out of the mask , just drop the whole thing in a mesh bag.

--
  Jasen.
Reply to
Jasen Betts

Debate, though, is not part of science. Observation of a whole normal life while wearing or not wearing a mask would be scientific data that could answer a few questions, but that's NOT possible (what IS a 'normal life' during a pandemic?).

So, the science is mainly about simpler questions (particles emitted or inhaled) than real disease-passage. Inferences about particle types and sizes mean that a cloth mask against large wet particles is effective at blocking intake and less effective at exhalation filtering, and the smallest particles... are unlikely to have a large charge of the virus.

Reply to
whit3rd

Has there been a definitive verdict on fomite transmission? (recall China was burning currency at one point?)

I suspect lack of mask usage is what is contributing to our (AZ) surge. As it's still 70F outdoors, we see many people NOW having "small gatherings" in their yards -- where they sit, unmasked ("Hey, we're outside... it's safe, right?") and chat for 3 or 4 hours at a time. Likewise, outdoor eating/drinking (how do you wear a mask when involved with those activities?)

And, of course, the college kids who are great at observing these sorts of precautions (NOT!).

Folks who make a nominal attempt at "face covering" include folks with masks that expose their nose and/or mouth ("It gets in the way when I talk"), gaiters, vented N95s and even lexan face shields (without a cloth covering beneath).

Medical facilities have very different rules. E.g., you'd not be allowed into the office with any of these "coverings" -- though the grocery store will likely let you in even if you're completely maskless (cuz no one is watching the entrance!)

Reply to
Don Y

"Science", or whatever you call it is not a dictator. Lay that dictator blame on the politicols, where it belongs.

Reply to
Robert Baer

That seems a bit OTT. Leaving it for a week is probably good enough.

That was the policy my local library was taking for all book returns. Drop it in the return skip and walk away please.

Even when it was a rare book with paperwork that said it had to be handed in person to the chief librarian. I got it out the day before the first lockdown and they closed. The librarian rang me up and said come and get it now if you want it because I don't know when we will be open after tonight.

Depends how close together they are.

That was one of the UK's undoings last September. Send the students back to university and then lock them up in their accommodation 24/7 to study entirely online = "party time!". What could possibly go wrong?

If I felt seriously threatened I would be wearing my full face respirator - with the right filter that protects me from the environment perfectly but it doesn't protect the environment from *me* at all.

It is intended to be used in places where there is enough oxygen but something else as well that is very unpleasant or even lethal.

It varies a lot in the UK. Where I am compliance is almost complete. I can only recall seeing two people in a store not wearing a mask since it became compulsory and one of those was probably a medical exemption.

About 40% of people were wearing masks on the high street too. It didn't make a jot of difference when the new improved strain arrived cases rocketed up exponentially. There are not 3x as many ICU patients in our local hospital as there were at the peak of the first wave. Not good!

However, supermarkets in other areas are reporting lots of problems.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

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