Testing and tracing does NOT decrease the number of cases. The only things which will decrease the number of cases are, a v*****e, everyone live for the next year or two in full hazmat suits with independent air supply, or herd immunity. Quarantine will only work when those infected and anyone who they possibly could have come in contact with are placed in completely controlled isolation. There was no way to do this even before the first case reached our country. Even if China hadn't hidden the outbreak and every single traveler from China, or from any country which may have had any infected travelers from China, were quarantined (which was an impossibility); all it would take was a single infected illegal to get across our southern border undetected. Once this outbreak spread into the large W***n community, it was too late for quarantine to be effective. So the only remaining possibilities would be for a v*****e with a massive worldwide forced v******tion program including of those who are opposed to v*****es, criminals, and i******s; OR herd immunity.

I'm no expert, just a casual reader who tends to respect scientists and much of what doctors say.

No, I am not considering hazmat-level equipment. Depending on what things are touched and when, almost any mask is better than none; but if you touch a lot of things in the environment and then adjust your mask a lot, touching your face in the process, then you yourself might be as well off without the mask.

I was using a handkerchief folded in half, held in place with rubber bands and a hat's chin strap. Since I rarely get within 6 feet of anyone and almost never sneeze nor cough, and don't touch the mask nor face after touching anything in the environment, this mask may be good enough to reduce t***smission of such a v***s from me (if I've got it) to others during the short and rare times they are within 6 feet of me. Recently I read that it's not enough so now I use 2 or 3 times the layers.

In the grocery store I keep it on. When I'm out for a walk and nobody's near sometimes I lower it. At home of course I don't wear it at all.

There exist special masks that have unfiltered exhaust valves and that would change a lot of things (mostly worse, I think), but I don't wear that kind and don't expect others to either; in some circumstances that kind of mask might be appropriate.

Masks are not expected to filter out _all_ the v***s particles. They are expected to filter out _some_ of them -- in both directions, but primarily the ordinary cloth masks are to slow and reduce the outbound particles.

A very small number of v***s particles will not cause a significant infection, or at least is unlikely to do so. A very large number of v***s particles is much more likely to cause a significant infection and then later be t***smitted on from that person to others.

V***s diameter is not the same as particle diameter. According to what I read (casually, no citation) the v***s comes in or attached to or coated with something that makes the whole particle larger.

The fact that a particle diameter is smaller than an opening means it _can_ or _might_ go through; it doesn't mean that it _will_ enter at the right location and angle to make it through. 3 linebackers can't all get through the kitchen door at once even though it is bigger than any one of them. For incoming particles: If the door is moving or not there very long (which might be how it is with a mask-wearer) then even fewer of them are likely to get through.

Masks are not primarily to protect the mask-wearer. The greater benefit of a mask is to the people around the mask-wearer. The typical kinds of masks ordinary people are wearing slow the outgoing v***ses and make a lot fewer of them get very far.

Masks do not substitute for things like "social distancing" (physical distance), shortening the time spent in a place where there are v***s particles in the air, or air circulation (which is much better outside). Masks are to be used in conjunction with such precautions as those. From what I've heard & read thus far, distancing and not being in a room with people for very long are much more effective than wearing a casual homemade mask.

If I were to wear my makeshift, unsealed mask in a two-hour choir rehearsal in a room with 60 people, then me wearing my mask is probably not going to help me at all. It might help the others just a little, by reducing their risk slightly, of catching the v***s from me. Don't be in a room with lots of people for such a long time. Especially if they are singing, talking, or yelling a lot, because those activities tend to propel the v***s more.

Most masks don't cover eyes. I believe that v***ses can get _in_ through eyes, but presumably they don't go _out_ much through eyes. I wear a face shield in addition to the mask; I figure it would stop some things, like a direct sneeze either outbound or inbound. I have a friend who had to work near a lot of strangers and also lives in a densely-populated v***s hotspot, and I mailed him a ski mask in case he wanted to wear it to cover his eyes. That would help a lot more than a face shield, for the eye protection -- so I think -- it does have some seal to it.

I'm no expert, just a casual reader who tends to respect scientists and much of what doctors say.

You can wear safety glasses if you wear prescription glasses this company( Saftey Gear Pro) has a se******n of safety glasses (to protect your eyes from the floating v***s droplets) that they can do with a prescription from your DR. even with bifocals there are masks out there with filters I've been making masks with hempa charcoal activated filters and giving them to the nursing home, friends. Look around see if someone in your community is making masks. They are now saying this v***s will be seasonal like flu so as of now as winter approaches the flu AND this v***s will be there to greet us so this is what we have to deal with every year. This year will be hard because we are approaching this being one year if this v***s is going to be a winter v***s now we all will have to be very careful I understand how you feel THIS is not the retirement I envisioned hiding in my house due to already existing health issues I can't afford to get this v***s. So now I come to opp to for entertainment and get news updates. Stay safe

Pro-Trump Pollsters Keep Bringing The President Bad News
Andrew Solender

TOPLINE While President Trump took to Twitter on Saturday to complain about “f**e suppression polls” and laud “real polls,” it seems even pro-Trump pollsters are finding him locked in a difficult race with former Vice President Joe Biden, largely in line with what more mainstream pollsters have found.

But that’s not what Rasmussen Reports, a pollster that Trump has cited at least 16 times due to its tendency to give him friendlier numbers than other pollsters, seemed to indicate in a poll released Friday.

The poll of 1,500 likely v**ers showed Biden leading by 10 points, with 50% support to Trump’s 40%, while Trump’s approval rating was also 10 points underwater, down from 52% in February.

Politics
Trump’s drop in polls has confident Democrats sensing ‘a tsunami coming’ in November

By
Philip Rucker,
Rachael Bade and
Seung Min Kim
July 12, 2020 at 3:00 a.m. MST
Add to list
President Trump’s management of this summer’s crises has triggered what Democrats detect as a tectonic shift in the political landscape, with party leaders suddenly bullish about not only taking back the White House but also wresting control of the Senate, as well as expanding their House majority.

Trump’s incumbent advantages have steadily eroded since the spring, with the president now trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in virtually every public poll nationally and in battleground states, as well as lagging behind the former vice president in fundraising for May and June.

Trump and his advisers insist that their campaign’s internal data show the race as more competitive — “In the real polls, we are doing very well,” the president claimed Friday — and that he can gain momentum in the weeks ahead with a disciplined message and a brutal, sustained assault on Biden’s character, ideology and mental acuity.

Yet Trump has never shown much discipline, and time and again this year he has stymied his campaign’s best efforts with bouts of seeming self-sabotage. On Friday night, Trump provoked critics anew with his decision to commute the prison sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone, an act Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called “unprecedented, historic corruption.”

JUL. 9, 2020, AT 5:59 AM

Biden’s Polling Lead Is Big — And Steady
By Geoffrey Skelley

POLLING-UPDATE-0709-4×3
ILLUSTRATION BY FIVETHIRTYEIGHT
The race between President Trump and Joe Biden is verging on a landslide. That’s not a word we use lightly.

Over the past month, Biden’s lead over Trump has been both incredibly stable and unusually large. Amidst Trump’s unpopular handling of the protests that followed the police k*****g of G****e F***d, Biden’s lead has hovered within a tight band of 8.9 to 9.6 percentage points since mid-June, according to FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average.

This is a sizable enough lead that Trump’s ree******n chances are in a precarious position. Take what CNN analyst and FiveThirtyEight alum Harry Enten found earlier this month when he looked back at p**********l e******ns where an incumbent was running since 1940. He calculated, on average, a 7-point difference between the final national popular v**e margin and the polls conducted four months out. That might sound like a lot of movement — and it is — but the problem for Trump is even if the polls swung toward him by 7 points, he would still trail Biden by about 2 to 3 points nationally. The median difference Enten found, 4.5 points, would leave Trump in even worse shape.

Canuckus Deploracus,

how are you faring over there in the C*******t China, everything OK?

Y'all Chinese citizens are involuntary volunteers, I understand that, but the v*****e is far away yet, no?

Can we steal it from Astra Zeneca or J&J, it would be very interesting.

You have a plenty of time to monitor the OPP, but so sparse are your responses, how come?

I guess you spend a lot of time on your "wechat" acct. where your identity is somewhat different than the one on the the OPP.