@dietz199 So thousands of people are permitted to be in the streets not social distancing at all but the beaches are closed even if people are 100 feet apart. Yes, that makes sense.
The suay masks do not protect you, per their website:
https://suayla.com/collections/masks/products/suay-mask-surgical-wrap?variant=31985258856548
The Suay people are saying the same thing about their masks that all other cloth mask vendors are saying.
Watching thousands elbow to elbow in the streets again. This is a gigantic dangerous experiment on the spread of COVID 19. If in two weeks, the cases are still level or down, then all mass gatherings, sports, movies and all the rest could be resumed.
However, if in two weeks cases are way up, then the previous months of businesses failing and people losing their jobs will all be for naught.
They are saying that the masks have not been tested, not that they don’t offer any protection. No mask, even an N95, is a 100% guarantee a person won’t get sick. There is a range of how well masks protect people. I believe these protect much better than the average mask. A good mask needs to have a good seal and also be made of material that can filter well down to fine particles. This one appears to have both in my on opinion. I’d take this one the loser fitting Etsy one I got any day. I have a small number of N95s and I can’t reasonably wear those every day when I teach. I wore one once for 3 1/2 hours when cleaning my classroom and that was more than enough time in it. My supply isn’t big enough to get me through the whole school year. I need other masks that are as protective as I can get. My judgement based on other articles about their masks is that while they feel their masks are better many other homemade masks and from the information they put out and that was written about them in articles, I agree.
Suay Sew Shop articles, ‘Heather Pavlu, a co-owner of Suay Sew Shop, became obsessed with finding a less permeable fabric for masks.’
'They bought a $1,400 particulate-counter device from Grainger that measures filtration ability down to 0.3 microns and spent another 10 sleepless days testing all the fabrics they could find.
They wanted a material they could buy as easily as cotton but that balanced filtration with breathability’
https://www.businessinsider.com/homemade-mask-using-hydro-knit-shop-towel-filters-better-2020-4
Most cotton mask vendors are not saying they bought a machine to actually test filtration and that they are in the process of trying to get their masks tested for even small fine particles. That’s unique and what got my attention.
They also made their own design, “if you aren’t getting a tight fit, it won’t protect you.”
Pavlu said she sewed “at least 15 types of the patterns that were being spread on the internet” before the team realized they were going to have to design a new mask themselves.’
They also rented a ‘PortaCount Respirator Fit Tester 8040 machine’. I don’t think that is a common thing, either.
‘During their tests, they discovered another material that filtered exceptionally well: cleaning towels made from a plastic called polypropylene, used to clean industrial machines.’
Interesting. Elbow to elbow is exactly what I haven’t seen when I’ve watched video of protests, or seen pictures of protests.
I’ve seen different scenes. Watching downtown now. You could hardly slide a piece of paper between people. The virus doesn’t care why people are not socially distancing.
And not to point out the obvious, but the same people who want barbers and hairstylists arrested for trying to open their shops seem to have no problem excusing the “protesters” from looting them.
To point out the even more obvious,
- Nobody here is excusing looters.
- A criminal who loots a hair salon is incompetent. What are you going to steal, a comb? A chair? I know the hair product can be expensive, but come on, pick a better target.
Really? Google image search floyd protest and I see dozens of images where people appear close enough to be touching. If they’re not elbow-to-elbow, they’re definitely violating the CDC’s guidelines on social distancing. There’s no way those protesters are staying anywhere close to 6 feet apart.
OK, some are close, some are not.
When you are yelling, shouting, or chanting, 6 feet away is no longer a safe distance because those activities increase the risk of transmitting droplets.
Come on, the shoulder to shoulder photos are everywhere.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/george-floyd-protests-photos.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2020/jun/02/peaceful-protests-in-pictures-america
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/27/us/gallery/george-floyd-demonstrations/index.html
@“Cardinal Fang” - while I agree with you that hair product isn’t what one thinks of being stolen by looters, salons haven’t been safe from damage and theft. In the city near us a downtown salon’s windows and doors were smashed and security video showed looters stealing computer monitors and tablets from the front desk. The owner had barely hung on through the shut down and was hoping to recoup some of his losses this month. It’s likely he will close instead.
The videos I’ve seen from local news plus social media have shown people mainly intent on destruction. There hasn’t been a lot of stealing, but there have been fires set and windows smashed. Most of the stores hurt have been minority owned. Banks, museums, bars and a downtown gym were hit, too.
The worrisome exception has been the rash of break ins at gun shops. People taking advantage of law enforcement’s attention focused elsewhere have broken into shops and ranges well away from downtown, using chains on trucks to rip out doors.
Sadly, the vandalism has distracted from the message of the peaceful protests.
I think we can all agree COVID-19 is yet another risk society is facing because of the protests. May peace and justice come to our nation.
Yes. We’ll find out next week or the week after that what the effects on the pandemic will be.
Of course there are going to be new cases and more deaths because of the protests. And because of all the other things reopening and people in many places not wearing masks and social distancing because…the virus hasn’t gone away. The virus is still everywhere. The virus doesn’t care what activity you are engaged in.
And cases in many states have never fallen, they have either remained flat and/or are still going up. Every day. Since before any protests.
The only states on the other side of the curve now are the states which were hardest hit in the beginning - mostly the Northeast states and Michigan. The ones which went all in on SAH/SD and now masks. And if people in those states begin to loosen up - cases and deaths will increase again there, too.
Anyone who believes we are out of the woods is a fool and has not been paying attention to what public health officials are saying. Protests or no protests because we opened up way too soon in many, many states and with lax guidelines.
Washington Post is reporting that a protester in Columbus, Ohio tested positive for Covid 19. He was experiencing symptoms before he attended the protest.
Judging from the pictures of protests in NYC and DC, opening up too early really wont be a factor in future virus spread. 50 thousand protestors together might be, but what is done is done. The colleges’ plans for social distancing will seem quaint by the end of summer.