I’ve been blogging about personal responsibility, particularly understanding the risks of emerging into an uncertain world and taking effective action to protect ourselves.
All that will improve if more people understand how mask-wearing is NOT just about you the mask-wearer; it helps stop the spread, even when everyone in the room has no symptoms. This new graphic shown here, published yesterday in the journal Science, makes this clear. (Hat tip to “Doc John” Grohol of PsychCentral, and to Eric Topol MD, for being the first posts I saw about it.)
Print the graphic and cut it out to carry with you, if you want. If it changes just one mind, I’ll be thrilled.
Takeaways at a glance
- Remember: the droplets are visible in the picture but invisible in life.
- You won’t see a person spewing on you – they’re just breathing toward you.
- It makes clear why you should avoid getting breathed on by bare-faced people. Steer clear of them, the same as you would with a dangerous driver.
- It makes clear how sensible the advice is to avoid prolonged close contact.
- Remember too that the “sprayer” may not be coughing or fevery – they may have no symptoms.
- That’s how the huge infection happened in a restaurant in China that I posted about last week. The guy with no symptoms was under the AC at right for more than an hour, as his ordinary breathing (with invisible droplets) got carried far away and infected nine unmasked diners. Prolonged close contact.
Be careful out there. And when you get home, wash your hands! Every time! If you got any virus on your hands and it’s not yet inside you, the soap disables it. Magic!
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