We are living in the middle of the emergency over coronavirus all over the world. The reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on societies and economies around the world cannot be understated. Because an estimated 15% of COVID-19 patients require hospitalization and 5% require intensive care (Z. Wu and McGoogan 2020), the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has the potential of posing a substantial challenge to medical systems around the world (Remuzzi and Remuzzi 2020; Grasselli, Pesenti, and Cecconi 2020).
Necessity is the mother of invention. A need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the problem. This saying appears in the dialogue Republic, by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
“Necessity is the mother of invention” is an English-language proverb. It means, roughly, that the primary driving force for most new inventions is a need. When the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it.
Here are some examples of sort of ingenuity we need now in the middle of pandemia. Already many people contributed those efforts. Check out on those links what is already done if you can find any useful information or can contribute to those efforts you see as good idea. Start your reserach with 7 open hardware projects working to solve COVID-19 article.
I have collected here a list of interesting open hardware project and instructions that can be useful or educational. Hopefully this list I have contributed here will be useful for someone. Keep in mind that many of those ideas are potentially dangerous if the instructions are not entirely correct, implemented exactly right and used by people that know what they are doing. You have been warned: Do not try those at home yourself! We are dealing here with things that can easily injure or kill someone if improperly implemented or used – but at right place the best ideas from those could potentially save lives.
Repairing hospital equipment
The right thing to do in his situation is that medical companies to release service manuals for ALL medical equipment so they can be repaired and maintained where they are most needed.
In the face of ventilator shortages for COVID-19 victims, iFixit is looking to make maintaining and repairing equipment as easy as possible. iFixit Launches Central Repository for Hospital Equipment Repair and Maintenance Manuals
https://www.ifixit.com/News/36354/help-us-crowdsource-repair-information-for-hospital-equipment
Site http://www.frankshospitalworkshop.com offers links many service manuals
Robotics
COVID-19 pandemic prompts more robot usage worldwide article tells that the coronavirus has increased interest in robots, drones, and artificial intelligence, even as some testing of autonomous vehicles pauses on public roads. It is believed that these technologies can help deal with massive staffing shortages in healthcare, manufacturing, and supply chains; the need for “social distancing;” and diagnosis and treatment.
Here are some robotics related links that could be useful:
Medical robotics expert Guang-Zhong Yang calls for a global effort to develop new types of robots for fighting infectious diseases.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/medical-robots/coronavirus-pandemic-call-to-action-robotics-community
Elements of Robotics Open Access Textbook
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-62533-1
Ventilators
A ventilator is a machine designed to provide mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. Ventilators are sometimes colloquially called “respirators”.
A ventilator, also called a respirator, is designed to provide mechanical ventilation by oxygen into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. The machines can be used to help a person breath if they have conditions making it difficult to breathe, such as lung diseases, during and post-surgery. For patients critically ill with coronavirus access to a ventilator could be a matter of life or death.
In its simplest form, a modern positive pressure ventilator consists of a compressible air reservoir or turbine, air and oxygen supplies, a set of valves and tubes, and a disposable or reusable “patient circuit”. Modern ventilators are electronically controlled by a small embedded system to allow exact adaptation of pressure and flow characteristics to an individual patient’s needs.
They work by placing a tube in a person’s mouth, nose or small cut in the throat and connect it to a ventilator machine. The air reservoir is pneumatically compressed several times a minute to deliver room-air, or in most cases, an air/oxygen mixture to the patient.
Because failure may result in death, mechanical ventilation systems are classified as a life-critical system, and precautions must be taken to ensure that they are highly reliable. Modern commercial ventilator is a relatively complex piece of equipment with lots of components and a dedicated supply chain.
Because there is a lack of ventilators on many hospitals in several countries, there has been a lot of creative work done to help this problem.
There has been projects going on to repair old and non-working ventilators to a working conditions. For repairing some older devices, there has been problem to get spare parts from the manufacturer and that those spare parts can be very expensive. Also getting the service information for repairing those equipment seems to be hard to get from manufacturer, Ifixit has started a project Help commit industrial espionage for the greater good! to get the service information on-line at https://www.ifixit.com/News/36354/help-us-crowdsource-repair-information-for-hospital-equipment
In middle of the emergency some people have worked on to make their own spare parts when official parts are not available, thus making more devices available. For example a startup 3D-printed emergency breathing valves for COVID-19 patients at an Italian hospital in less than 6 hours. An Italian hospital that ran out of life-saving equipment for coronavirus patients was saved by a ‘hero’ engineer who used cutting-edge technology to design oxygen valves within a matter of hours. At least 10 lives were saved in this way.
So great thinking for 3d printing of valves. Are they sterilized and suitable? 3D printing has been used in numerous cases for medical parts already. Most 3D printing operates at relatively high temperatures and printed objects are actually naturally sterilized when they are made. Anyway the right kind of plastic needs to be selected and the part needs to be built in exactly right way that is works reliably as designed. If they are used and the individual gets worse, does the fact that equipment not medical certified (environment, storage, shipping, etc) put the hospital in additional jeopardy for a lawsuit? All valid questions each medical liability officer will have to address. But if people are going to literally die if you do nothing, then taking a risk with a part that you 3D print seems like an idea that is worth to try.
Links:
A startup 3D-printed emergency breathing valves for COVID-19 patients at an Italian hospital in less than 6 hours
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-italian-hospital-3d-printed-breathing-valves-covid-19-patients-2020-3?r=US&IR=T
https://it.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-manca-la-valvola-per-uno-strumento-di-rianimazione-e-noi-la-stampiamo-in-3d-accade-nellospedale-di-chiari-brescia/
Firm ‘refuses to give blueprint’ for coronavirus equipment that could save lives
https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/16/firm-refuses-give-blueprint-coronavirus-equipment-save-lives-12403815/
3D printed life-saving valves: already a dozen in operation
https://www.embodi3d.com/blogs/entry/436-3d-printed-life-saving-valves-already-a-dozen-in-operation/
Volunteers produce 3D-printed valves for life-saving coronavirus treatments
Volunteers made the valves for about $1
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/17/21184308/coronavirus-italy-medical-3d-print-valves-treatments
Another tried trick is try to use one ventilator with more than one patient. Daily Mail writes that ventilators can be modified to help FOUR coronavirus patients breathe at the same time if the NHS is still critically short of the machines when the outbreak peaks, scientists say. Here are some links to material on using one ventilator to more than one patient:
https://emcrit.org/pulmcrit/split-ventilators/
SAVING 4 PATIENTS WITH JUST 1 VENTILATOR
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/19/saving-4-patients-with-just-1-ventilator/
Here has been work going on in creating an open source ventilator design project. Here are some links to this project and some other DIY ventilator designs.
There’s A Shortage Of Ventilators For Coronavirus Patients, So This International Group Invented An Open Source Alternative That’s Being Tested Next Week
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2020/03/18/theres-a-shortage-of-ventilators-for-coronavirus-patients-so-this-international-group-invented-an-open-source-alternative-thats-being-tested-next-week/
Open-source Oxygen Concentrator
https://reprapltd.com/open-source-oxygen-concentrator/
https://blog.arduino.cc/2020/03/17/designing-a-low-cost-open-source-ventilator-with-arduino/
https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Pandemic-Ventilator/
Macgyvilator Mk 1 (3-19-2020) – “ventilator” for disasters and/or low resource environments
Macgyvilator Mk 1 is a disaster “ventilator”, a simple apparatus to compress a bag-valve-mask with some control over tidal volume and rate. Constructed quickly and simply using wood, PVC, velcro, common fasteners, and easily sourced and assembled electronic components.
An Arduino based Open Source Ventilator to Fight against COVID-19?
https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/03/21/an-arduino-based-open-source-ventilator-to-fight-against-covid-19/
Low-Cost Open Source Ventilator or PAPR
https://github.com/jcl5m1/ventilator
Low-cost Ventilators
https://procrastineering.blogspot.com/2020/03/low-cost-ventilators.html
Arduino Respirator Prototype (pen source solution from Reesistencia Team, which is undergoing testing)
https://www.facebook.com/official.arduino/videos/2557115014604392/
OxyGEN project
https://oxygen.protofy.xyz
“OxyGEN is an open hardware project to build an emergency mechanism that automates an AMBU type manual ventilator in extreme shortage situations such as the one caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) in some parts of the world.”
NOTE: Take a look at the expression VILI before thinking about trying one of these. It is hard making a ventilator that doesn’t harm the lungs. It is easy to get Ventilator-associated lung injury or die if the ventilator does not work exactly correctly all the time.
Testing for infection
There are many approaches thought to be helpful to finding out if someone is infected or something is contaminated.
Thermal scanners are effective in detecting people who have developed a fever (i.e. have a higher than normal body temperature) because of infection with the new coronavirus. However, they cannot detect people who are infected but are not yet sick with fever (it can take 2-10 days before infected people get the fewer).
Open-Source Collaboration Tackles COVID-19 Testing
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/10/open-source-collaboration-tackles-covid-19-testing/
Low-cost & Open-Source Covid19 Detection kits
https://app.jogl.io/project/118?
This Open Source Device Can Detect Coronavirus on Surfaces
The Chai team has developed a detection test that works with their Open qPCR tool.
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-open-source-device-can-detect-coronavirus-on-surfaces-3da1d7b1c73a
Prevent touching face
It is recommended to stop touching your face to minimize spread of coronavirus and other germs. People touch their faces frequently. They wipe their eyes, scratch their noses, bite their nails and twirl their mustaches.
Not touching your face is a simple way to protect yourself from COVID-19, but it’s not easy. If you can reduce face-touching, you can lower people’s chances of catching COVID-19. Why is it so hard to stop? Face-touching rewards us by relieving momentary discomforts like itches and muscle tension.
If you you want to change, you can try to replace it with a competing response that opposes the muscle movements needed to touch your face. When you feel the urge to touch your face, you can clench your fists, sit on your hands, press your palms onto the tops of your thighs or stretch your arms straight down at your sides. Some sources recommend object manipulation, in which you occupy your hands with something else. You can rub your fingertips, fiddle with a pen or squeeze a stress ball.
Related links:
This pair of Arduino glasses stops you from touching your face
https://blog.arduino.cc/2020/03/10/this-pair-of-arduino-glasses-stops-you-from-touching-your-face/
Don’t Touch Your Face
Don’t touch your face — easy to say, hard to do. This device, worn like a watch, will buzz whenever your hand aims for trouble.
https://www.hackster.io/mike-rigsby/don-t-touch-your-face-e8eac3
Hand sanitizer
Hand sanitizer is a liquid or gel generally used to decrease infectious agents on the hands. It depends on the case if hand washing with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer is preferred. For Covid-19 WHO recommends to wash your hands with soap and water, and dry them thoroughly. Use alcohol-based handrub if you don’t have immediate access to soap and water.
It seems that there are many places where there is shortage of hand sanitizers. This has lead to situation where people have resorted to making their own. Recipes for DIY hand sanitizer are popping all over the internet. A quick search reveals news articles, YouTube how-to’s and step-by-step visual guides. But think twice about joining them — experts are wary and even caution against the idea. The World Health Organization even has an official guide to making hand sanitizer. But it’s intended for populations that do not have clean water or other medical-grade products in place. Don’t try to make your own hand sanitizer just because there’s a shortage from coronavirus.
Can’t get your hands on hand sanitizer? Make your own
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/hand-sanitizer-coronavirus-make-your-own/
Photos show why hand sanitizer doesn’t work as well as soap and water to remove germs
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-photos-why-you-should-wash-hands-with-soap-water-2020-3?amp
Emergency DIY hand sanitizers (read the description)
“Every time a new health incident occurs there’s a rush on hand sanitizers, often causing shops to sell out.
Here’s how to make some simple emergency sanitizers at home, noting that they are not as effective as just washing your hands, and only some viruses can be damaged by simple sanitizers. These options are offered as a last resort when commercial versions are not available.”
“For the alcohol one the higher the percentage of alcohol the better, up to around 70-80%.”
Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer At Home When It’s Sold Out Everywhere
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2020/03/03/make-your-own-hand-sanitizer-at-home-when-its-sold-out-everywhere/
Sanitizing things
With deadly coronavirus spreading worldwide at an alarming speed, personal hygiene has become paramount importance to contain the infection spread further. Mobile phones are known to house several germ, and if you thing they are contaminated, you should maybe disinfect them. The CDC recommends that everyone “clean all “high-touch” surfaces every day” to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
How to Disinfect Your Smartphone article says CDC recommends that for your smartphone you should use 70% rubbing alcohol or alcohol-based disinfectant spray to wipe down the back and sides of your device. For example Apple recently updated its official cleaning advice, so ccording to Apple, it’s now safe to clean your iPhone with disinfecting wipes if you do it correctly. You should not try to spray any liquid to your phone.
The other option is to use a smartphone sanitizer device that cleans using UV rays. Sanitizers that use ultraviolet (UV) rays to kill bacteria and viruses have been around for a while now and they can kill 99% of bacteria in as little as five minutes. However its efficacy hasn’t been tested against nasties like SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Coronavirus effect: Samsung offers UV-C sanitizing service for Galaxy devices. Samsung is using Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) disinfection technology, which uses of uses short-wavelength ultraviolet (UV-C) light to kill or inactivate bacteria, virus, molds and other pathogenic microorganisms on smartphones.
The UV-C light is capable of destroying nucleic acids and DNA. It will kill many things, but you don’t want that hitting your eye or skin. World Health Organization only states: “UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands, or other areas of skin as UV radiation can cause skin irritation.”
Here are some UV C related links:
https://www.light-sources.com/blog/killing-bacteria-with-uv-light/
https://russellsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-gtl3-bulb-simple-and-inexpensive.html?m=1
Good UV versus bad UV. All available on eBay.
Protective masks
The protective mask ratings used by hospitals are typically N95, FFP2 or FFP3. FFP2 protection level is 94%. FFP3 protection level is 99%. N95 protection level is 95%. An N95 FFR is a type of respirator which removes particles from the air that are breathed through it. These respirators filter out at least 95% of very small (0.3 micron) particles. N95 FFRs are capable of filtering out all types of particles, including bacteria and viruses. The N95 mask is mainly for use if you already have the virus to keep it from spreading and many have argued that coronavirus is smaller than the 0.3 micron filter rating of the mask and thus, not that helpful, for people outside of healthcare. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General wants consumers to stop buying masks.
Due to the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, there has been a huge shortage of N95 masks. Promoting simple do-it-yourself masks: an urgent intervention for COVID-19 mitigation claims that widespread use of masks by the general population could be an effective strategy for slowing down the spread of COVID-19: “Since surgical masks might not become available in sufficient numbers quickly enough for general use and sufficient compliance with wearing surgical masks might not be possible everywhere, we argue that simple do-it-yourself designs or commercially available cloth masks could reduce the spread of infection at minimal costs to society”.
With masks sold out during the coronavirus outbreak, many people will have to make do with what some scientists have called “the last resort”: the DIY mask. Many people have been working on designs for a DIY mask that may be able to protect those who haven’t been able to secure their own masks. It seems that cotton homemade masks may be quite effective as alternatives and there are also other ideas. For any DIY ideas, be warned that there is no guarantee that those designs are effective. So I don’t recommend to use them as alternative to proper mask when they are available. Bit of proper marks are not available, they can be better than nothing.
Keep in mind the right filter type to use: Hepa filters do have the ability to filter particles and viruses, but they wont protect you 100% of the time. The real secret is layers. The problem is, more layers, more restriction. Keep in mind that charcoal filters will make your air fresher, but have almost no effect on cleaning the air of viruses. Coronavirus virions (or ‘particles’) are spherical particles with diameters of approximately 125 nm (0.125 microns). The smallest particles are 0.06 microns, and the largest are 0.14 microns. This means coronavirus particles are smaller than PM2.5 particles, but bigger than some dust particles and gases.
General information:
Guide to Dust Mask Ratings
https://www.seton.co.uk/your-guide-to-dust-masks-ratings
Can Masks Protect People from The Coronavirus?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/coronavirus-pollution-masks-n95-surgical-mask/
Hengityksensuojaimet
https://www.tays.fi/fi-FI/Ohjeet/Infektioiden_torjunta/Mikrobikohtaiset_ohjeet/Hengityksensuojaimet(51207)
DIY project links:
Homemade N95 Masks In A Time Of Shortage
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/18/homemade-n95-masks-in-a-time-of-shortage/
“According to a studied performed at Cambridge University during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, while surgical masks perform the best at capturing Bacillus atrophaeus bacteria (0.93-1.25 microns) and Bacteriophage MS virus (0.023 microns), vacuum cleaner bags, tea towels, and cotton T-shirts were not too far behind. The coronavirus is 0.1-0.2 microns, well within the range for the results of the tests.”
What Are The Best Materials for Making DIY Masks?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials-make-diy-face-mask-virus/
“Data shows that DIY and homemade masks are effective at capturing viruses. But if forced to make our own mask, what material is best suited to make a mask? As the coronavirus spread around China, netizens reported making masks with tissue paper, kitchen towels, cotton clothing, and even oranges!”
Can DIY Masks Protect Us from Coronavirus?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/diy-homemade-mask-protect-virus-coronavirus/
“DIY masks to protect against from viruses sounds like a crazy idea. Data shows masks work incredibly well, and they’re also really cheap. Surgical masks cost a few pennies, and they’re capable of filtering out 80% of particles down to 0.007 microns (14 times smaller than the coronavirus).”
“The homemade cotton masks captured 50% of 0.02-1 micron particles, compared with 80% for the surgical mask. Although the surgical masks captured 30% more particles, the cotton masks did surprisingly well. The researchers concluded that homemade masks would be better than nothing.”
“The Cambridge data shows that homemade masks made using cotton t-shirts can filter out some particles that are 0.02–1 microns in size. That’s pretty good, however its only one test.”
Professional and Home-Made Face Masks Reduce Exposure to Respiratory Infections among the General Population
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440799/
Can Masks Protect People from The Coronavirus?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/coronavirus-pollution-masks-n95-surgical-mask/
This old hack doesn’t require any cutting or sewing:
http://how2dostuff.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-to-make-ninja-mask-out-of-t-shirt.html
Copper 3D makes the free N95 mask design to fight COVID-19 pandemic spread
https://3dprintingcenter.net/2020/03/18/copper-3d-makes-the-free-n95-mask-design-to-fight-covid-19-pandemic-spread/?fbclid=IwAR2iXJD5ybU8ReADakvCyDKsfzuRDOBEWxZ3ACCjZoz2dKNwvy07htUhon4
“Copper 3D – A Chilean manufacturer of innovative antibacterial filaments designed the own version of the popular N95 protective mask and prepared it perfectly optimized for 3D printing on desktop 3D printers of the FDM / FFF type. The project is released under an open-source license and has been simultaneously patent pending to prevent other entities from commercializing it.”
“Copper 3D team quickly got to work on developing the patent for a model similar to a standard N95 mask but with some peculiarities (Antiviral, Reusable, Modular, Washable, Recyclable, Low-Cost), which were completely designed in a digital environment so that it could be downloaded anywhere in the world and 3D printed with any FDM/FFF equipment, even a low cost one. The mask was called “NanoHack”.”
#HackThePandemic site offers the technical details of the N95 mask and download set of STL files for printing on own 3D printer
https://copper3d.com/HACKTHEPANDEMIC/
SaltMask
https://robots-everywhere.com/re_wiki/pub/web/Cookbook.SaltMask.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39956
“This is NOT a straight replacement for a N95 mask. In a real emergency it is recommended to combine a full face shield with a filter mask.”
Prusa Protective Face Shield – RC2
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/25857-prusa-protective-face-shield-rc1
“In a real emergency it is recommended to combine a full face shield with a filter mask.”
Promoting simple do-it-yourself masks: an urgent intervention for COVID-19 mitigation
https://medium.com/@matthiassamwald/promoting-simple-do-it-yourself-masks-an-urgent-intervention-for-covid-19-mitigation-14da4100f429
“Since surgical masks might not become available in sufficient numbers quickly enough for general use and sufficient compliance with wearing surgical masks might not be possible everywhere, we argue that simple do-it-yourself designs or commercially available cloth masks could reduce the spread of infection at minimal costs to society”
“Potentially, simply wrapping a suitable, large cloth around the face is easy to implement (Fig. 2), would arguably be more socially acceptable than surgical masks, and would be superior to a complete lack of face mask use.”
1,350 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Koronarokotteet uhkaavat suistaa hait perikatoon – jopa puoli miljoonaa petokalaa tapettava
https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/b3acb44f-ab38-44c0-b7f4-146b7c06643b
Lääketieteellisesti hait ovat tietenkin turvassa SARS-CoV-2-virukselta. Koronavirus ei tartu niiden elimistöön
Mutta välillisesti koronavirus saattaa todellakin käydä haiden kohtaloksi. Syynä on petokalojen maksasta löytyvä skvaleeni.
Skvaleenia käytetään jo nyt useissa rokotteissa, joissa pyritään vahvistamaan potilaan immuunijärjestelmän vastinetta. Mutta jos tavoitteena on rokottaa kaikki planeetan kahdeksan miljardia ihmistä, nousee skvaleenin tarve moninkertaiseksi.
Tutkijoiden mukaan kattavan rokotemäärän synnyttämiseen tarvitaan noin puoli miljoonaa hain maksaa.
– Mutta haiden kalastaminen on kielletty ainakin EU:n alueella
Myös kasveissa
Skvaleenia löytyy toki myös kasveista. Nähtäväksi jääkin, kehittävätkö lääketehtaat erillisen vegaaniversion piikille vai joutuvatko myös kasvisruokavaliota käyttävät tyytymään hain maksasta valmistettuun rokotteeseen.
Vähäisissä määrin skvaleenia on myös rotan maksassa sekä eri hiivoissa, ja sitä käytetään lääketieteen lisäksi myös kosmetiikassa sekä eri moottoriöljyissä.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/10/06/making-a-halloween-costume-fit-for-2020/
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is not the first time education has been disrupted in the U.S. – nor the first time that educators have harnessed remote learning. In 1937, the Chicago school system used radio to teach children during a polio outbreak, demonstrating how technology can be used in a time of crisis.
Remote learning isn’t new: Radio instruction in the 1937 polio epidemic
https://theconversation.com/remote-learning-isnt-new-radio-instruction-in-the-1937-polio-epidemic-143797
This isn’t the first time America’s schoolchildren have studied remotely – and Chicago’s 1937 ‘radio school’ experiment shows how technology can fill the gap during a crisis.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Näin kaupan muovipleksi suojaa koronalta – testaa helposti itse
Läpinäkyvä pleksi tai visiiri suojaa vain näkyviltä roiskeilta.
https://www.iltalehti.fi/terveysuutiset/a/8006ec14-2947-4a52-bb88-d407aa3e996c
Aerosolit ovat hyvin keveitä hiukkasia, joissa voi olla mukana myös esimerkiksi koronavirusta.
Koronavirus voi tarttua myös pienten aerosolien muodossa, mutta tämä tartuntatapa ei näyttäisi olevan se yleisin.
Aerosolina virus voi periaatteessa kiertää pleksin ja päätyä siten ihmiseltä toiselle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Runic’s Chip Solution in the Fight Against Covid-19
https://www.eetimes.com/runics-chip-solution-in-the-fight-against-covid-19/
Covid-19 popped up and spread too quickly for humans to respond effectively. Its impact has swept the world and its damage will be remembered for years to come. Several months after its outbreak, the pandemic is still not under control and continues to spread widely.
In this battle against the virus, IC chips have become an important component providing technical support for epidemic surveillance, virus testing, and medical treatment. The development and implementation of these chips requires the cooperation between different corporations and could see a significant increase in China’s chip industry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
While technology provided the possibility for us to work, study, or shop remotely during the quarantine, this fast digital leap also had human rights implications.
COVID-19 tracing: technology is not the savior. Or is it?
https://cybernews.com/privacy/covid-19-tracing-technology-is-not-the-savior-or-is-it/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=rm&utm_content=covid_19_tracing
Some governments used the health crisis to cement their power and limit human rights both online and offline, argue human rights watchdogs. Meanwhile, companies, such as Google, brag about helping combat the pandemic while protecting people’s privacy.
“Past 6-7 months have proven that people don’t have any reason to trust most governments, that at (…) worst have used the crisis to centralize and cement their power, and limit human rights online and offline,” European Policy Manager at Access Now Fanny Hidvégi said in a United Nations discussion about protecting human rights during the pandemic.
technologies opened various opportunities for people during the quarantine. Children were able to study, while their parents could work remotely.
“Technologies facilitated access to culture at a time when all the cultural establishments were closed,” he said.
Tracing apps have been at the heart of a very heated debate around the world. Concerns regarding the potential misuse and potential data privacy breaches emerged,
Silvio Gonzato said.
Countries like France, Finland, or Germany, developed contact tracing apps, and the European Union developed a toolbox and continues to update technical guidance.
“Tracing apps must be voluntary, secure, and interoperable, and respect privacy. Apps should avoid the identification of users and should not use the geolocation. All the applications must be temporary only, and will have to be dismantled as soon as the pandemic is over, and should retain data only for the minimum period of time,” he explained.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IEEE experts are looking at societal aspects of tech solutions to be used against future pandemics
IEEE Experts Weigh Social Implications of Emerging Technologies in Future Pandemics
https://spectrum.ieee.org/news-from-around-ieee/the-institute/ieee-member-news/ieee-experts-weigh-social-implications-of-emerging-technologies-in-future-pandemics
There is little doubt that emerging technologies will help societies anticipate, manage, and mitigate the negative impacts of future global pandemics. But the use of such technologies must be guided with regard for citizens’ privacy, security, and well-being, and concern for its deployment and implementation.
Drawing on lessons learned from COVID-19, several IEEE experts with a variety of technological backgrounds are considering the societal aspects of technological solutions to securing health and economic systems against future pandemics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump Is Demanding China Pay ‘Big Price’ For Covid-19
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2020/10/08/trump-is-demanding-china-pay-big-price-for-covid-19/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised this week that China will “pay a big price” for its role in the coronavirus pandemic, a vague but aggressive threat from a president who has frequently blamed China for spreading the disease after launching a trade war that has badly strained relations between the two countries.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tech’s role in the COVID-19 response: Assist, don’t reinvent
https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/08/techs-role-in-the-covid-19-response-assist-dont-reinvent/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
While technology provided the possibility for us to work, study, or shop remotely during the quarantine, this fast digital leap also had human rights implications.
COVID-19 tracing: technology is not the savior. Or is it?
https://cybernews.com/privacy/covid-19-tracing-technology-is-not-the-savior-or-is-it/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=rm&utm_content=covid_19_tracing&fbclid=IwAR3ufgG_uit_69sPshpMTzHxlHgsBlGPm4qAUty-aT5WTtPBjOyEnFsLB6s
Some governments used the health crisis to cement their power and limit human rights both online and offline, argue human rights watchdogs. Meanwhile, companies, such as Google, brag about helping combat the pandemic while protecting people’s privacy.
While technology provided the possibility for us to work, study, or shop remotely during the quarantine, this fast digital leap also had human rights implications.
“Past 6-7 months have proven that people don’t have any reason to trust most governments, that at (…) worst have used the crisis to centralize and cement their power, and limit human rights online and offline,” European Policy Manager at Access Now Fanny Hidvégi said in a United Nations discussion about protecting human rights during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, some countries, such as Finland, and companies, such as Google, point out the success stories of harnessing the technology to mitigate the pandemic.
Silvio Gonzato, Ambassador, Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, said that technologies opened various opportunities for people during the quarantine. Children were able to study, while their parents could work remotely.
“Technologies facilitated access to culture at a time when all the cultural establishments were closed,” he said.
It also allowed researchers to share information on the findings, and to trace the spread of the virus.
“On the other hand, tracing apps have been at the heart of a very heated debate around the world. Concerns regarding the potential misuse and potential data privacy breaches emerged,” Silvio Gonzato said.
Countries like France, Finland, or Germany, developed contact tracing apps, and the European Union developed a toolbox and continues to update technical guidance.
“Tracing apps must be voluntary, secure, and interoperable, and respect privacy. Apps should avoid the identification of users and should not use the geolocation. All the applications must be temporary only, and will have to be dismantled as soon as the pandemic is over, and should retain data only for the minimum period of time,” he explained.
Finland’s contact tracing app has been rather successful as 2.2 million people out of 5.5 million citizens have downloaded the app.
“We heard from public health officials that anonymized aggregated data would be helpful for them to make critical decisions around COVID-19. The officials that we spoke to said that these types of insights on how populations were moving would be useful in understanding how to make changes based on those changing trends,” said Alexandria Walden, Global Policy Lead for Human Rights and Free Expression at Google.
roughly two-thirds of Americans are worried that the tracking measures used to contain the spread of the virus could lead to greater government surveillance.
In addition, the vast majority of survey respondents (~79%) were either somewhat worried or very worried that intrusive tracking measures enacted by the government would continue long after the COVID-19 pandemic has been defeated, with only ~9% not being worried at all.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Graphene Used to Develop Face Masks That Kill Viruses, Bacteria
https://www.designnews.com/materials/graphene-used-develop-face-masks-kill-viruses-bacteria?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=14657&elq_cid=876648
Researchers in China hope the masks can be used to fight the novel coronavirus in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 Hot Trends in Wearable Medical Devices
https://www.designnews.com/industry/5-hot-trends-wearable-medical-devices?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=14657&elq_cid=876648
Tomi Engdahl says:
Elizabeth Culliford / Reuters:
YouTube says it will now ban any content with claims about COVID-19 vaccines that contradict consensus from local health authorities or the WHO — (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s YouTube said on Wednesday it would remove videos from YouTube that promote misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines …
YouTube bans coronavirus vaccine misinformation
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-youtube-idUSKBN26Z1VD
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Build Your Own $10 Ionizing Air Cleaner
https://www.hackster.io/news/how-to-build-your-own-10-ionizing-air-cleaner-b3472b9cceb0
There is no substitute for an air filter, but you can also make your own ionizing air cleaner to help remove particulates from your home.
There is no substitute for a good air filter, but you can also build your own $10 ionizing air cleaner to help remove small particulates from your home.
An ionizer is an electric device which imparts a negative charge onto air molecules. Because they are negatively charged, the air molecules, along with the particulates they carry, will be attracted to positively charged surfaces. This lets you remove particulates from the air that are missed by your HVAC system’s air filter, or that are produced in your home by yourself and your pets. While there are many “ionizing air purifiers” on the market, they can get pretty expensive. Amaldev was able to build an ionizer for about $10, and thoroughly explains how you can, too.
A quick word of warning: ionizers require high voltages that can be potentially dangerous, and this device connects directly to mains voltage. Some people have also pointed out that this device may produce ozone, though it’s unclear whether that is actually true or not.
http://amaldev.blog/build-ioniser-in-under-10-dollars/
Tomi Engdahl says:
222 nm UV seems to be less harmful than 254 nm.
“far-UVC light (207–222 nm) efficiently kills pathogens potentially without harm to exposed human tissues”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67211-2#:~:text=Germicidal%20ultraviolet%20light%2C%20typically%20at,harm%20to%20exposed%20human%20tissues.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Japan supercomputer shows humidity affects aerosol spread of coronavirus
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-japan-supercompute-idUSKBN26Z0PI
TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese supercomputer showed that humidity can have a large effect on the dispersion of virus particles, pointing to heightened coronavirus contagion risks in dry, indoor conditions during the winter months.
The finding suggests that the use of humidifiers may help limit infections during times when window ventilation is not possible, according to a study released on Tuesday by research giant Riken and Kobe University.
Air humidity of lower than 30% resulted in more than double the amount of aerosolised particles compared to levels of 60% or higher, the simulations showed.
The study also indicated that clear face shields are not as effective as masks in preventing the spread of aerosols. Other findings showed that diners are more at risk from people to their side compared to across the table, and the number of singers in choruses should be limited and spaced out.
There has been a growing consensus among health experts that the COVID-19 virus can be spread through the air. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its guidance this month to say the pathogen can linger in the air for hours.
Notably, the simulations showed that opening windows on commuter trains can increase the ventilation by two to three times, lowering the concentration of ambient microbes.
“People’s blind fear or unfounded confidence against the infection of COVID-19 is simply because it is invisible,” Tsubokura said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
COVID-19 increases risks for cancer patients; common cold antibodies no help vs coronavirus
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-science-idUSKBN26Z30B
(Reuters) – The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
COVID-19 increases risks for cancer patients
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Long-Covid” appears to be affecting people in at least four different ways.
“Long-Covid” May Be At Least Four Different Syndromes, Says New Review
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/longcovid-may-be-at-least-four-different-syndromes-says-new-review/
“Long-Covid,” the lingering impact of the coronavirus infection that can sometimes lurk for months, appears to be affecting people in at least four different ways.
long-Covid may not be one syndrome but possibly up to four different syndromes:
permanent organ damage
post-intensive-care syndrome
post-viral fatigue syndrome
continuing Covid-19 symptoms
It’s possible that people may be experiencing at least two of these syndromes at the same time, the report says.
Tens of thousands of people worldwide have already joined online forums on social media to share their experience of long-Covid.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The study also showed the impact of temperature on how long live SARS-CoV2 lasted on common surfaces such as glass, stainless steel, and money.
Study: Covid-19 Coronavirus May Survive For 28 Days On These Surfaces
http://on.forbes.com/6184G4IeK
On the surface, this doesn’t look good. A study just published in the Virology Journal found that the Covid-19 coronavirus can survive on common surfaces such as glass, stainless steel, and money for up to 28 days. That’s almost three Scaramuccis and enough time for the Kate Hudson character to lose three guys. And the survival of the virus may increase with colder temperatures, which sounds like great news heading into the Fall and Winter. But before you resolve to touch absolutely nothing during the rest of the pandemic, except for perhaps your BTS shrine, there are caveats to the study.
The experiments at 20 °C (which corresponds roughly to room temperature or 68 °F) found infectious SARS-CoV-2 to be still detectable after 28 days post on all non-porous surfaces used, that is glass, stainless steel, vinyl, and both paper and polymer bank notes. The researchers couldn’t detect the virus on porous material, the cotton cloth, beyond 14 days, though. The majority of virus reduction on cotton occurred very soon after application of virus, suggesting an immediate adsorption effect. The amount of time it took for detectable live virus levels to drop by 90% ranged from a low of about 5.5 days for cotton to 9.1 days for paper bank notes. In other words, after 5.5 days, only 10 percent of the original live virus amounts remained in the cotton sample.
The hottest experiments ratcheted temperatures up to 40 °C, which corresponds to 104 °F, which would be room temperature if you lived in a hot yoga studio. When it was this hot, no infectious SARS-CoV-2 seemed to remain beyond 24 hours on cotton cloth and beyond 48 h for all other surfaces tested. The heat also brought the time it took for live levels to drop by 90% down to a range of 5 hours for polymer notes to 10.5 hours for vinyl.
Don’t let this latest study cause any panic. Panic is never good, even when you run out of chocolate. Instead, it should be a reminder that precautions shouldn’t just focus on one possibility. Just because people are wearing face masks and social distancing, doesn’t mean that you, a school, or a business should skimp on disinfecting surfaces or washing hands. There’s never just one thing you should do to prevent the spread of an infectious disease. Infectious disease prevention measures are like a bologna cake. There needs to be many well coordinated layers on top of each other and each layer has to be meaty as the picture accompanying this tweet shows:
Tomi Engdahl says:
Poll: Most Republicans Say Covid Threat Overblown, U.S. Handled Outbreak Well
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2020/10/19/poll-most-republicans-say-covid-threat-overblown-us-handled-outbreak-well/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
A large majority of Republicans believe the United States has dealt with the coronavirus pandemic as well as it could have, but almost all Democrats disagree, according to a new Pew Research Center poll released Monday that offers details on the deep partisan divide on a public health crisis that has dominated the runup to next month’s presidential election.
Just 38% of American adults say the United States has handled the coronavirus outbreak about as well as it could have, but 71% of Republicans are satisfied with the country’s response compared to 10% of Democrats.
Among Republicans who say they get most of their coronavirus news from President Donald Trump and his task force, confidence in the U.S. response jumps to 90%.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yleisesti käytetty verenpainelääke voi ehkäistä koronaan sairastumista – ylilääkäri: ”Hyvältä näyttää!”
https://www.iltalehti.fi/sydan/a/962ed1ea-0557-458d-9a56-3dcdc4d8761e
Verenpainelääkkeiden koronalta suojeleva vaikutus näyttää yhä varmemmalta.
Verenpainelääkkeenä yleisimmin käytetyt ACE-estäjät ja ATR-salpaajat voivat jopa ehkäistä COVID-19-tautiin sairastumista.
Koronaepidemian alussa pelättiin, että tilanne olisi päinvastoin.
Verenpainelääkkeiden ja koronan väliseen yhteyteen voi vaikuttaa myös se, mihin etniseen ryhmään ihminen kuuluu.
Risk of severe COVID-19 disease with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers: cohort study including 8.3 million people
https://heart.bmj.com/content/106/19/1503
Background There is uncertainty about the associations of angiotensive enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) drugs with COVID-19 disease. We studied whether patients prescribed these drugs had altered risks of contracting severe COVID-19 disease and receiving associated intensive care unit (ICU) admission.
Key messages
What is already known on this subject?
There is uncertainty about the interaction of ACE inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) drugs with COVID-19 disease susceptibility and disease severity.
What might this study add?
In this very large population-based study, treatment with ACE inhibitor and ARB prescriptions is associated with a reduced risk of COVID-19 RT-PCR positive disease after adjusting for a wide range of variables.
Neither ACE inhibitors nor ARBs are associated with increased risks of receiving ICU care for COVID-19 disease.
There are significant interactions with ethnicity for ACE inhibitors and ARBs for COVID-19 disease with higher risks among the non-white ethnic groups particularly Black African patients compared with the white group, although the confidence intervals for some analyses are wide; this finding is important and adds to existing knowledge.
How might this impact on clinical practice?
Neither ACE inhibitors nor ARBs are associated with increased risks of COVID-19 RT-PCR positive disease or of receiving ICU care for COVID-19 disease.
Variations between different ethnic groups raise the possibility of ethnic-specific effects of ACE inhibitors/ARBs on COVID-19 disease susceptibility and severity which deserves further study.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hungarian restaurant ‘reinvents the wheel’ for social distancing
https://nypost.com/2020/10/19/hungarian-restaurant-reinvents-the-wheel-for-social-distancing/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site+buttons&utm_campaign=site+buttons
BUDAPEST- Hit by a plunge in turnover after foreign tourists vanished, Michelin-starred Hungarian restaurant Costes has staged a skyline dining event on the Budapest Eye ferris wheel to generate sales in a coronavirus-proof environment.
Costes owner Karoly Gerendai said that turnover at one of his reopened restaurants is down to about a tenth of pre-lockdown levels, forcing him to look for new ways to do business.
“Now that there are not many people either on the wheel or in the restaurant because there are no tourists, the opportunity arose that we could do this,” he said of the event at the landmark attraction in central Budapest.
“It is now especially important for people to be able to be separate from other guests to be safe, and the ferris wheel is ideal with its separate cabins.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
So, how does it sound? As devastating as Covid-19 has been for the world, the genetic code of the coronavirus creates a surprisingly upbeat piece of music.
Making Music From The Genome Of SARS-CoV-2
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/making-music-from-the-genome-of-sars-cov-2/
It might sound like the jaunty beeps of Brian Eno playing with a Gameboy, but these are the sounds of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. In an ambitious “lockdown project”, a scientist has created music from the genome of SARS-CoV-2 by representing the genetic code as musical notes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
If anybody needs me, I’ll be in an isolation chamber gluing several masks to my face.
Covid-19 Cough Clouds And How They Travel In Closed Spaces Mapped
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/covid19-cough-clouds-and-how-they-travel-in-closed-spaces-mapped/
The more we learn about Covid-19, the more the importance of transmission through airborne respiratory droplets, particularly in confined spaces without adequate ventilation, becomes apparent.
Most research has focused on how far droplets from coughs can travel, usually with an accompanying video or image that will make you feel quite ill.
They found coughing without a mask creates a cloud volume roughly seven times higher than a surgical mask, and 23 times higher than an N95 mask. “The presence of a mask drastically reduces this volume and, consequently, significantly cuts down the risk of the infection to the other persons present in the room,” the team wrote.
“Similarly, actions which drastically cut the distance traveled by the cloud, such as coughing into the elbow and the use of a handkerchief, can reduce the volume of a cough cloud and, therefore, the chances of dispersion of the virus.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
There are fresh warnings from scientists and public health experts that this idea isn’t just unscientific, it’s brutally unethical.
Why Herd Immunity Is Scientifically Problematic And Unethical
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/why-herd-immunity-is-scientifically-problematic-and-unethical/
The battle against Covid-19 has seen the concept of herd immunity become widely misunderstood, misrepresented, and turned into a deeply dangerous idea. Now, with the White House starting to toy with the idea of achieving herd immunity in the US through infections rather than a vaccine, there are fresh warnings from scientists and public health experts that this idea isn’t just unscientific, it’s brutally unethical.
In its purest sense, herd immunity is used in the context of vaccinations. When the vast majority of a population are immune against a disease, such as after receiving a vaccine, the remaining minority of the population will also have a reduced risk of catching the infection. This is because immune individuals are unlikely to contribute to the transmission of disease and chains of infection are cut. For example, if a high proportion of a population gets a flu vaccine, the chances of non-immunized people catching the illness also fall.
However, in the story of Covid-19, it’s taken on a slightly different meaning. Since the world does not yet have a viable vaccine, the aim is to allow the controlled spread of the virus through the population. While protection might be provided to the most vulnerable, such as people with weak immune systems, the majority of people are expected to carry on as normal and catch the disease. So the theory goes, many people will be infected but only experience a mild illness. This will allow them to develop antibodies and thereby gain immunity to the disease, eventually meaning much of the population will be immune to the disease, halting its spread.
A handful of European countries have used this approach with varying degrees of severity, but Sweden is the country that’s become most closely tied to the idea
Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Sweden – the poster child of this approach – has seen significantly higher rates of Covid-19 infection, hospitalization, and death compared with neighboring countries. The health authorities in Sweden predicted that just under half of the people in Stockholm would have the disease and acquire antibodies by May 2020. However, the real figure was 15 percent.
The situation is likely to be even worse in the US, with scientists estimating that less than 10 percent of the US population have been infected and gained antibodies. Worst still, researchers are not certain how long a person’s antibodies last for Covid-19, meaning there’s no guarantee of long-term immunity after being infected.
Furthermore, defining who is vulnerable and should be protected is complicated. What about young people with diabetes? Obese people? Or smokers? One study estimated that around 30 percent of people in some areas of the world may have some underlying health conditions that would make them vulnerable to Covid-19, so should all of these people be protected or subject to the spread?
Dozens of leading medical and public health experts have recently written a letter in the Lancet medical journal describing this form of herd immunity as a “fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence.”
Even beyond the scientific doubt, it’s a notoriously nasty approach to tackling a disease outbreak. As we’ve seen from Covid-19, it isn’t just the elderly and ill that can fall severely ill with this disease. If the virus is allowed to spread through the population, a considerable number of presumed healthy people will become casualties and fatalities.
Off the back of renewed interest in the idea, the World Health Organization has also recently come to described attempts to reach herd immunity through exposing people to a virus as “scientifically problematic and unethical.”
“Letting Covid-19 spread through populations, of any age or health status will lead to unnecessary infections, suffering, and death,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists have made an important discovery that could explain why SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, is so fiendishly.
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/protein-identified-that-may-explain-why-sarscov2-is-so-infectious/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The findings could help officials respond to outbreaks earlier and much more effectively.
Google Searches Can Help Predict Covid-19 Hot Spots
http://on.forbes.com/6186GAUXG
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have have found a link between Google searches and Covid-19 cases that could help experts predict and respond to Covid-19 outbreaks sooner — this link was evident up to 16 days before the first cases were reported, which could give officials an edge when allocating resources to areas in need.
There was a strong relationship between some keywords — including “Lysol,” “Face mask,” “loss of smell,” and “coronavirus testing center” — and outbreaks in an area, sometimes up to 16 days before cases were first reported.
The data, which is publicly available, could be used by officials to respond more quickly to outbreaks — “any delay in information could lead to missed opportunities to improve preparedness,” says Dr. Bydon, the study’s senior author.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Your regular reminder that misinformation can kill.
This Covid-19 Conspiracy Theory Has Killed 800 People And Blinded 60 So Far
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/this-covid19-conspiracy-theory-has-killed-800-people-and-blinded-60-so-far/
A study looking at rumors and conspiracy theories surrounding Covid-19 has identified over 2,000 cases of dangerous misinformation spread on social media and other websites in at least 87 countries, some of which led to harm, including one that caused an estimated 800 deaths.
Of the three, rumors – defined in the study as any unverified claims centering on Covid-19 circulated on online platforms – were by far the most prevalent, making up 89 percent of the 2,311 reports they analyzed. These included “miracle cure” claims, some of which you’ve probably come across online, like drinking bleach can make you immune, or consuming cow dung and urine is a cure, and a few you may not have, such as consuming camel pee with lime as a cure.
Conspiracy theories were defined as statements, claims, and discussion of various theories related to the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and its malicious goals, and made up 7.8 percent of reports. They included everything from the idea that Bill Gates released the virus as a bio-weapon to increase vaccine sales to Donald Trump sending the virus into Iranian cities to “damage its culture and honor in Iran”.
The third type of misinformation was stigma surrounding Covid-19 (which made up 3.5 percent of the reports), defined as “a socially constructed phenomenon through which a person is directly or indirectly labeled by their illness, exposures, travel history, and ethnic descents that further led to negative actions and discrimination”. The study found that in several countries, people of Asian origin – including but not limited to healthcare workers – had been bullied or physically assaulted as a result of discrimination following “high-profile people” referring to the virus as the “Chinese” or “Wuhan” virus.
While some rumors and conspiracies can be mostly harmless, there were a few with obvious dangers, such as “spraying chlorine all over your body can prevent coronavirus infection”. One rumor that spread in South Korea in early March, for instance, said that rinsing your mouth with salt water can prevent infection, which it cannot. One church believed it, however, and sprayed salt water into the mouths of churchgoers. This resulted in more than 100 infections, according to the study, because they were spraying contaminated water directly into their mouths.
The most harmful of the misinformation in the study by far was a false cure.
“A popular myth that consumption of highly concentrated alcohol could disinfect the body and kill the virus was circulating in different parts of the world,” the authors wrote in the study. “Following this misinformation, approximately 800 people have died, whereas 5,876 have been hospitalized and 60 have developed complete blindness after drinking methanol as a cure of coronavirus.”
The researchers say that to tackle the dangerous messages out there, it isn’t enough for governments to merely debunk dangerous rumors, they must now engage social media companies to spread correct information.
“Misinformation fueled by rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories can have potentially severe implications on public health if prioritized over scientific guidelines,” the team wrote.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gilead to get the first FDA approval for Covid
https://pubplus.wordpress.com/2020/10/23/gilead-to-get-the-first-fda-approval-for-covid/
The US pharma company Gilead Sciences (GILD) has got the first approval for its Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday evening. According to the company press release, Veklury (remdesivir) is the first and only approved Covid-19 treatment in the US so far.
-As an antiviral drug, Veklury works to stop replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Previously authorized by the FDA for emergency use to treat COVID-19, Veklury is now the first and only approved COVID-19 treatment in the United States. The drug is now widely available in hospitals across the country, following early investments to rapidly expand manufacturing capacity to increase supply, the company stated.
Tomi Engdahl says:
These Are The Best (And Worst) Face Masks To Help Prevent The Spread Of Covid-19
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/these-are-the-best-and-worst-face-masks-to-help-prevent-the-spread-of-covid-19/
Not all face masks are created equal. Scientists have recently devised a simple experiment to see which type of face mask — ranging from homemade cotton masks and bandanas to N95 masks worn by medical workers — did the best job of stopping droplets from spewing out of people’s mouths and noses. While most proved to be effective at reducing some droplets of saliva from flying into the surrounding environment, a few of the face masks actually seem to make things worse by causing droplets to spray out more.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the best face coverings were N95 masks (without valves), the hospital-grade type of masks used by frontline medical workers, followed by surgical masks, polypropylene masks, and cotton-polypropylene masks.
Cloth face masks were shown to be fairly effective at blocking the droplets. However, bandanas and neck fleeces didn’t block the droplets much at all and barely performed better than no mask. In fact, the neck fleece seemed to disperse the largest droplets into a multitude of smaller droplets, which arguably means it’s worse than wearing no mask at all.
“We confirmed that when people speak, small droplets get expelled, so disease can be spread by talking, without coughing or sneezing,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Reaching Zero COVID-19 Possible?
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/is-reaching-zero-covid-possible/
Most scientists agree that stringent control measures, involving efficient contact tracing, testing and isolation, together with social distancing and mask wearing, are required to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2. South Korea, Taiwan, China and New Zealand have all successfully used these approaches to suppress the virus.
A few have even called for a zero COVID-19 approach, attempting to eliminate the virus rather than contain its spread. New Zealand almost succeeded but, after 100 days without a case, new infections emerged from international travel and other unknown sources. While it’s possible to flatten the curve using these control measures, getting to zero COVID-19 with them is more difficult.
It might be possible for some island countries, but New Zealand’s example shows that it’s then necessary to prevent the virus from being re-imported. This would probably require prolonged and severe travel restrictions and rigorous testing of passengers pre and post travel.
Given there’s little appetite for prolonged closure of borders, and community control measures alone aren’t enough to eliminate the virus, getting to zero isn’t currently possible. But it could be in the future if we use different approaches.
Recovering from a viral infection is usually associated with the development of immunity. Whether infection with SARS-CoV-2 protects against reinfection is not yet known, but there are very few examples of people getting reinfected.
Most infected people develop antibodies against the virus, and while those who don’t develop symptoms may not generate antibodies, infection can still activate the immune system’s T cells, which provide an alternative defence. So it seems infection generates immunity in the majority of people, at least in the short term.
Knowing this, some scientists have recently suggested the virus should be allowed to spread though the population – while protecting the old and vulnerable – to allow herd immunity to develop.
The threshold for this happening is as high as 90-95% for a highly transmissible virus like measles. Some have suggested it may be as low as 50% for SARS-CoV-2. The consensus is that it will be around 60-70%.
But the percentage of people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and recovered is currently nowhere near this. Studies that test for antibodies suggest that about 3% of people in Dublin have had the virus. In New York City, that figure is much higher: 23%. But the high rate of infection in New York has resulted in many more people there dying, even taking into account its larger population. And Sweden, which adopted a liberal policy on containing the pandemic that resulted in a high number of cases, has had ten times as many deaths per million people as neighbouring Finland and Norway.
The impact of a second wave will likely be lower in places like these, where many people have already been infected, but if the threshold for herd immunity hasn’t been reached, the population as a whole still won’t be protected. And the consequence of attempting to reach that threshold through natural infection will be many more deaths in at-risk groups: older people, people with obesity and those with underlying medical conditions. On top of this, some who are infected go on to develop long-term health complications, even if their initial infection isn’t too severe.
So for most, the associated risks of pursuing herd immunity make it an unacceptable strategy for suppressing the virus, let alone eliminating it.
Vaccines won’t be a quick fix
However, achieving herd immunity through vaccination has, in theory, the potential of getting us to the elusive zero COVID-19. Vaccines have reduced the incidence of diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella and haemophilus influenzae type B to close to zero in many developed countries.
There are more than 200 vaccines in development against SARS-CoV-2. But to have one eliminate COVID-19 is a high bar.
The vaccines currently furthest along in development, however, have set their sights on a much lower target: of being at least 50% effective, which is the threshold needed for them to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Creating a highly effective vaccine at the first attempt might be over-optimistic. Vaccines will also need to be effective across all age groups and safe to administer to the whole population. Safety is key, as any concerns in any age group will reduce confidence and uptake.
The vaccine will also need to be produced in sufficient quantities to vaccinate over 7 billion people, which will take time. For example, AstraZeneca – which is developing one of the leading vaccines – has deals in place to produce 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. Making enough for the whole world could take years.
The impact won’t be instantaneous either. The last natural smallpox case was in 1977, ten years after the World Health Organization launched a global eradication programme for that disease, and nearly 200 years after the first smallpox vaccine was developed. And it’s taken more than 30 years since the launch of Global Polio Eradication Initiative to eliminate polio everywhere except Pakistan and Afghanistan
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Trump Right That Fauci Discouraged Wearing Masks? Yes—But Early On And Not For Long
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/10/20/is-trump-right-that-fauci-discouraged-wearing-masks/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
As he continues his criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Trump continually suggests the government’s leading expert on infectious diseases once said “masks are not good”—but that’s a misleading characterization of Fauci’s statements on masks early on in the pandemic before public health experts understood how the disease spreads:
February 27One day after the Centers for Disease Control confirmed the first possible instance of Covid-19 “community spread,” CDC Director Robert Redfield is asked at a hearing on Capitol Hill whether healthy people should wear a face covering and responds, “No.”
March 29Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb publishes a paper outlining a “roadmap” to reopening the country that calls for widespread mask use: “Face masks will be most effective at slowing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 if they are widely used, because they may help prevent people who are asymptomatically infected from transmitting the disease unknowingly.”
March 31Fauci says he is in “very active discussion” with health officials about reversing guidance on mask use when the U.S. gets in a “situation” where it has a sufficient mask supply, and explains that experts were beginning to believe that Covid-19 spreads in the air among asymptomatic people who do not cough or sneeze.
April 3The CDC updates its guidance on facial coverings recommending Americans wear facial coverings “in public settings when around people outside their household, especially when social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://insinoori-lehti.fi/tasta-on-kysymys/onnistuneen-illan-salaisuus/?fbclid=IwAR2YVbdpywol_vS0kT3vegzFePE5E5lqxi_Ei3v6_WXs9M5_b_wm8jDtIuQ
Kotimaasta oli hankittu lähinnä kolme asiaa: loistavat esiintyjät, nurkassa hiljaa nököttänyt laite sekä tiskille ja pöydille levitetty näkymätön pinnoite.
Nurkassa seissyt laite oli puhdistin, joka tappaa ilmasta viruksia. Näkymätön pinnoite puolestaan oli valokatalyysiin reagoivaa ainetta, joka desinfioi kosketettavia tasoja. Kumpikin teknologia lievensi poikkeusajan tuomaa jännitystä ja ilahdutti, koska ne oli kehitetty Suomessa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Accelerate your electric mask design
https://e2e.ti.com/blogs_/b/industrial_strength/archive/2020/07/01/accelerate-your-electric-mask-design?elqTrackId=31ddfd01d3b44cb38b20e01b54c03ad1?HQS=sys-ind-med-medical20_covid19-exah-ta-ElectroPages-eu&DCM=yes&dclid=CMn8lJfZyuwCFQSRmgodDZEIqQ
Wearing an electric mask, also known as an E-mask or digital mask, can increase your comfort level compared to disposable or N95 masks. An electric mask is similar to a central ventilation system: a fan inside the mask allows users to inhale the outside air, which enters the mask after being filtered through a filter element. This design helps combat breathing difficulties that come from wearing masks for a long time. At the same time, its circulation ventilation function helps reduce the amount of fogging that occurs when wearing a pair of glasses with a mask.
Tomi Engdahl says:
No more nose swabs—doctors can now test your sputum for COVID-19
Researchers at the University of Tehran Devise New Sputum Test for COVID-19
https://spectrum.ieee.org/news-from-around-ieee/the-institute/ieee-member-news/researchers-at-the-university-of-tehran-devise-new-sputum-test-for-covid19
Nasopharyngeal swabs are the most common way to collect a sample from a person in order to test her for COVID-19. Retrieving the specimen requires a medical professional to insert a long shaft into a person’s nasal cavity. The procedure is often uncomfortable for people and requires medical professionals to break social distancing parameters.
IEEE Member Mohammad Abdolahad led a team of undergraduate students and post-doctoral candidates at the University of Tehran that developed a non-invasive, electrochemical diagnostic system. Called the ROS [reactive oxygen species] Detector in Sputum Sample (RDSS), the test screens for respiratory inflammation in real-time and doesn’t require a medical professional to swab for the specimen.
What problem are you trying to solve?
Since controlling the spread of the virus [largely] depends on screening suspected cases, it is important to have widely available, reliable, and fast [testing] methods. Unfortunately, the current screening methods, such as Polymerase chain reaction, do not satisfy these requirements. [PCR checks for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19]
Consequently, we have developed a fast method to screen for respiratory inflammation [in] real-time. The test can also help inform doctors if the patient has an increased chance of contracting COVID-19. Respiratory diseases can make a patient immunoresistant and by being diagnosed, the patient now knows that she needs to take additional steps in order to protect herself against coronavirus.
Explain how the system works.
The ROS test is done by taking a sample of the patient’s sputum. [The patient takes a deep breath and holds it in for five seconds. She then slowly breathes out and repeats these steps until she coughs up sputum.] The patient then spits the sputum into a falcon tube [a plastic cup].
Each individual sample is tested using the RDSS probe. The doctor [puts] the probe into the sample and the results are [displayed] on the monitor after 30 seconds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
You clearly don’t want to have enough 254 nm that disinfects on your skin and eyes.
222-nm UVC inactivates a wide spectrum of microbial pathogens but is claimed to be much safer for eyes and skin.
“far-UVC region, from around 200–222 nm, which is significantly harmful to bacteria, but without damaging cells in tissues.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5552051/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ozone Therapy as a Possible Option in COVID-19 Management
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00417/full
Tomi Engdahl says:
Opinion
The COVIDSafe app is a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes
A censored university panel discussion illustrates how the COVIDSafe app came to be seen as another government tech-wreck.
https://www.afr.com/technology/the-truth-emerges-covidsafe-is-a-case-of-the-emperor-s-new-clothes-20201023-p5683s
In an analysis published by The Sydney Morning Herald in May, I argued that COVIDSafe is a digital placebo because it won’t work effectively on iPhones, rendering it useless to 50 per cent of us. After a link to the article was circulated among panel members, I was removed as moderator of an Australian National University panel discussing the app.
The fact of its lack of function on iPhones, substantiated by the Singaporean white paper on which COVIDSafe is based, has been ignored by our government which insists that updates will fix the problem.
Workarounds have been implemented, however in the absence of evidence, COVIDSafe’s iPhone compatibility remains a mystery. Even if updates can be proven effective, Apple’s philosophy has been to impede apps that compromise privacy. Thus, any workarounds to fix the COVIDSafe app would likely be closed down by Apple.
This is why Google and Apple, working together in a collaboration commonly referred to as “Gapple”, developed a framework to facilitate digital contact tracing. Today more than 20 countries from Canada to Kazakhstan have adopted this framework.
switching to privacy-aware Gapple would not replace contact tracers, it would better aid them.
Instant, automatic COVID-19 exposure notifications will notify at-risk people faster than human contact tracers.
Britain tested both solutions, a COVIDSafe-style app like ours, and a Gapple app. It abandoned the COVIDSafe-style app to use the Gapple solution.
Ongoing claims that COVIDSafe works has cost Australians dearly in lives, time and money. The app failed to help contain the devastating outbreak in Victoria.
In the COVIDSafe tech-wreck, the government became infatuated by the data collected via the app rather than in thwarting outbreaks.
Of 20,000 coronavirus-infected Victorians, 1703 had downloaded the app and not a single positive case was identified. While in NSW (and nationally), the app has so far found only 14 cases that had been missed by humans.
These low success rates followed a $60 million marketing campaign that included likening COVIDSafe to sunscreen, a scientifically proven prophylactic. But COVIDSafe is not a digital deterrent that prevents viral transmission.
With little evidence the app accurately detects close contacts, our government misled citizens into a nationwide public health experiment, with little regard to COVIDSafe’s purpose, efficacy, limitations and risks.
These risks included the potential misuse of data. Unlike the Gapple solution, COVIDSafe relies on a centralised database that is used to unmask the social circles of infected app users.
Government advisers view the database as riskless, dismissing concerns of privacy advocates.
The government incorrectly believes that the centralised COVIDSafe database is necessary to contain outbreaks.
Other solutions that could achieve the outcome were overlooked, including the solution recommended by smartphone manufacturers Google and Apple. It was also noted by the consultant that, “If you have lower adoption, the whole purpose of the app falls apart.”
But the reality is that adoption is futile if the app does not work. This is the fundamental truth, and the moral of this tale is that people are likely to ignore evidence when money or pride is at stake.
In the COVIDSafe tech-wreck, the government became infatuated by the data collected via the app rather than in thwarting outbreaks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hämmentävä tutkimus koronaviruskonkareista: vampyyrilepakot tunnistavat turvavälin merkityksen
Tänään klo 10:33
Koronaviruksen kanssa jo vuosia eläneet lepakot ovat ymmärtäneet sosiaalisen etäisyyden merkityksen
https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/324552c6-90bb-4105-affd-b5a3f37ae65c
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sijainti
Etusivu > Esitykset > Video: Kännyköiden näytöt puhtaaksi uv-c-tekniikalla
Video: Kännyköiden näytöt puhtaaksi uv-c-tekniikalla
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2020/10/27/video-kannykoiden-naytot-puhtaaksi-uv-c-tekniikalla/
Terveystoimija Terveystalo on muuttanut Helsingin ja Turun kauppakeskusten valomainoksensa kännykkänäyttöjen desinfiointipisteiksi. Puhdistukseen käytetään sairaalatason UV-C-valoa ja se kestää vain 15 sekuntia kun vastaavilla kuluttajalaitteilla puhdistusprosessi kestää jopa 15 minuuttia. Katso videolta puhdistuspisteem toimintaa.
Terveystalon tuoreen tutkimuksen mukaan 10 sekunnin altistus UV-C-valolle puhdistaa älypuhelimen näytön lähes täydellisesti.
https://vimeo.com/472477932/c03ca66091
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensor Rapidly Detects COVID-19 Infection Status, Severity, Immunity
https://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/component/content/article/mdb/stories/insider/37952?utm_source=TB_Medical_News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20201026&oly_enc_id=2460E0071134A8V
Tomi Engdahl says:
What bats can teach us about fighting off viral infections and ageing
Five things you need to know about bats, disease and coronavirus
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/five-things-you-need-know-about-bats-disease-and-coronavirus.html#utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=bats
Tomi Engdahl says:
Over 80% of coronavirus patients had vitamin D deficiency in one Spanish hospital
https://www.insider.com/80-percent-of-hospitalized-coronavirus-patients-had-vitamin-d-deficiency-2020-10
More than 80% of coronavirus patients in a Spanish hospital were deficient in vitamin D, compared to about 47% of healthy people with similar demographics.
Patients with lower levels of vitamin D weren’t necessarily at higher risk for more severe illness, though, but other factors could be at play.
The findings build on past research suggesting vitamin D, which particularly benefits the immune and musculoskeletal systems, may support the body in fighting COVID-19.
Evidence continues to build that vitamin D may influence your risk for COVID-19 and severity of illness if you do fall ill.
82.2% of hospitalized patients were vitamin D deficient, while only 47.2% of healthy people were
Excluding coronavirus patients who were taking vitamin D supplements, the researchers found 82.2% of COVID-19 patients were deficient in vitamin D, compared to only 47.2% of people in the comparison group. In general, male COVID-19 patients’ vitamin D levels were lower than women’s.
Interestingly, though, they didn’t find a relationship between vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 severity, with no significantly higher rates of ICU admission, ventilator use, or death among those who were especially low in vitamin D.
Also intriguing was that the 19 coronavirus patients who were taking vitamin D supplements had slightly less favorable outcomes, including more ICU admissions, than those who weren’t on the pills.
However, that finding may be at least somewhat explained by the fact that people who may most need vitamin D supplementation, like older folks at risk for fractures, are also those at high risk for severe COVID-19. Six of those 19 had also taken corticosteroids or immunosuppressants in the prior three months, which could have influenced their COVID-19 severity.
Vitamin D supports the immune system, but still isn’t a cure or bulletproof defense mechanism for COVID-19
Another study done in Italy in August found that after 10 days of hospitalization, about half of the 42 patients with severe vitamin D deficiencies died, while only 5% of patients with sufficient vitamin D levels died.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Monitoring COVID-19 via an Unlikely Source: Wastewater
https://www.sealevel.com/2020/10/15/monitoring-covid-19-via-an-unlikely-source-wastewater/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Design considerations for #germicidal products in healthcare, air filtration #COVID19 #lighting Intertek
Basic design considerations for germicidal products in healthcare, air filtration
https://www.edn.com/basic-design-considerations-for-germicidal-products-in-healthcare-air-filtration/?utm_content=buffer2e14d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=edn_facebook&utm_campaign=buffer
Germicidal electrical equipment typically incorporates light to inactivate germs and viruses. It’s accomplished by producing light output in a range that may render microbes non-infectious at a molecular level. They are used in healthcare facilities and air filtration systems, and the technology is now being increasingly integrated into products used in homes, schools, offices, and other public spaces.
Germicidal products are not necessarily lighting products. Sometimes they are straightforward lighting products, an ultraviolet (UV) lamp, for example. Other times, they serve another purpose and integrate light output to target bacteria and viruses. Appliances like dishwashers have integrated the technology to kill bacteria.
Some products’ sole purpose is sanitizing places and devices like cell phones, keyboards, and clothing, using light to accomplish this goal. As such, these products are quite complex, often serving multiple purposes and having several considerations for their design and manufacture.
Germicidal products typically rely on UV light sources such as mercury lamps, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), excimer, and high-intensity discharge (HID) technology. The lighting source is defined as a specific nanometer region to inactivate harmful organisms like germs and bacteria.
When it comes to lighting, manufacturers should consider the type of radiation emitted; for example, if the product uses the UV light or it’s UVA, UVB, or UVC light. Moreover, it’s important to consider whether the radiation presents a health hazard that either needs to be mitigated or addressed through labeling, marking, and instructions.
Another crucial factor is light distribution. It’s important to ensure that the proper area receives the light, the light is of correct intensity, and that it’s not focused elsewhere in a way that might harm people. These concerns can be addressed during product design to ensure optimal use of the light. They can be evaluated to acceptable industry standards for safety, performance, and manufacturers’ specifications and design goals.
How to ensure safety
All electrical products need to be designed and produced with safety in mind. Ensuring the safety of electrical products is important to meet regulatory requirements and standards. It also helps build a reputation and ensure customer satisfaction and product success.
Currently, germicidal products can be certified using the best applicable global standards, based on the specific application and installation method. That includes:
UL 1598/CSA C22.2 No. 250.0 for fixed luminaires
UL 153/CSA C22.2 No. 250.4 for portable luminaires
UL 507/CSA 113 for fans and air cleaners
UL 867/CSA 187 for electrostatic air cleaners
UL 61010-1/ CSA C22.2 61010-1 for laboratory equipment
UL 1993/CSA C22.2 No. 1993 for self-ballasted lamps
For each of the standards identified above, it is necessary to perform a photobiological test according to the IEC 62471 and IES RP-27 standards to identify the applicable UV risk group.
These standards and their requirements should be on top of engineers’ minds during the design phase to ensure that the products comply and won’t have to be redesigned or remade. It can save both time and money during the development process and get products to market quickly and efficiently.
Performance considerations
Performance considerations of germicidal products are also critical. First and foremost, manufacturers need to ensure that they can support product claims. In this case, throughout the design process, it is vital to ensure that the product does, in fact, target and kill the organisms. It might mean producing and assessing a product to industry specifications, or creating your own criteria and requirement to apply to your product.
Furthermore, it’s important to consider other performance factors sought after by end-users, such as energy efficiency, usability, durability, environmental sustainability, material use, and usability.
Once manufacturers identify what they want their products to do and what criteria they want them to fit into when it comes to performance, they need to use them to develop the product. As with safety, these factors should be used from the start of a product’s development and baked into the design, production, and certification processes.
Ozone emissions
Some germicidal products create ozone; one of their traditional uses is to generate ozone for water disinfection. However, while their intended use is for air purification or surface disinfection, ozone creation can still be undesirable and problematic and strict regulations are in place related to ozone emissions.
While ozone is a naturally occurring substance, if inhaled beyond acceptable limits, ozone can be detrimental to a person’s health. Ozone exposure most severely impacts people with respiratory conditions such as asthma. However, healthy individuals may also have effects such as shortness of breath, irritated lungs, and chest pains.
Have your products tested and consider certification illustrating low ozone emission, which signals to the industry and customers that the mitigation measures are in place for the product.
to sanitize, disinfect, and fight illnesses like COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, germicidal products play an essential role and offer great potential to any manufacturer willing and able to navigate the design, testing, and certification needs for these products.
It’s important to educate the industry about these products’ needs and align with an expert who understands the space and requirements. Keeping these factors in mind from the start will help ensure a smooth process bringing products to market from concept to market launch and beyond.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Monitoring COVID-19 via an Unlikely Source: Wastewater
https://www.sealevel.com/2020/10/15/monitoring-covid-19-via-an-unlikely-source-wastewater/
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, wastewater has garnered attention as a testing source for monitoring the virus. Wastewater management is also undergoing rapid changes for remote operations.
Wastewater Testing for COVID-19
When someone is infected with COVID-19, some of the RNA from the virus’s cells passes through their body and is excreted. IoT devices uses electrochemical and optical sensors to detect RNA in wastewater. An automatic sampler may also collect wastewater for further lab analysis. The collected data helps scientists determine if a community infection is present and estimate the number of people infected.
This method of detection is faster and more comprehensive than clinical testing as it may be weeks before COVID-19 symptoms present themselves and an individual is tested for the disease. Tests can also take up to a week to produce results. Someone with mild symptoms or who is asymptomatic might not get tested at all, and some communities may have limited testing available. Sensors can detect the virus in wastewater quickly and reliably. This allows city officials to control the spread in specific areas without shutting down entire communities.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The pandemic has largely been driven by superspreader events, which could be even more of a problem during the winter.
How To Prevent COVID-19 ‘Superspreader’ Events Indoors This Winter
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/how-to-prevent-covid19-superspreader-events-indoors-this-winter/
The second wave of COVID-19 has arrived. Cases are spiking in most European countries, Canada is seeing the number of daily cases exceed the first peak in April/May and the United States is facing a potential third wave.
Some countries like Brazil, India and Argentina are still in the first wave. Others like New Zealand, Vietnam and Singapore have contained the virus. But the second wave has arrived in the northern hemisphere, as we confront the upcoming winter.
In most countries, the number of deaths is lower than in the first wave; we have learned more about the virus and know that the second wave is driven by younger people, which have a lower death rate. Nevertheless, the long-term effects of this wave are yet to be seen.
Mathematical modelling is used to predict the spread of diseases like COVID-19. These models must now take into consideration people’s changing behaviours and the approaching winter.
The second wave might have been triggered by lockdown fatigue and feelings of invincibility of young population. But coping mechanisms like denial and rationalism, combined with conflicting public health messages, can lead to population disobedience and trigger a large number of cases.
Superspreader events
We have learned important aspects about the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic has largely been driven by superspreader events, in which a single individual directly infects several contacts.
The reproductive number — known as R0 — of SARS-CoV-2 is between two and three, meaning that, on average, an individual infects between two and three individuals. The variation in the distribution — known as k — has showed that some individuals generate a large number of secondary cases: less than 20 percent of individuals produce over 80 percent of infections.
The role of aerosols
We also know that the disease is driven by aerosols, which are small particles made of saliva or respiratory fluid whose size is a few microns. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the disease mainly spreads through close contact. They also state that touching contaminated surfaces (known as fomites) is not thought to be a common way that COVID-19 spreads.
Since April, we’ve learned that aerosols and indoor transmission are the main sources of infection. There is evidence that the virus can remain in the air from 15 minutes up to three hours and transmission indoors may be around 20 times higher than outdoors.
Numerous studies show that transmission is due to indoor spreading via aerosols. A recent study of 1,200 outbreaks, shows that with the exception of two incidents, most outbreaks were indoor and driven by homes and family contacts.
Paying attention to ventilation
To help reduce the probability of superspreading events indoors, we need to pay attention to ventilation. Ideally, we should conduct most activities outdoors, but when not possible, air quality should be guaranteed.
Ventilation standards like ASHRAE and MERV-13 should be mandatory, and when these are not possible, portable air purifiers with HEPA filters can reduce the probability of infection.
We can also use carbon dioxide detectors to check the quality of air indoors. And with the cold weather approaching, controlling the level of carbon dioxide and humidity indoors can reduce the probability of contagion.
These simulations can help to assess the risk of crowded and confined spaces, as well as close contacts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Northwestern University weigh in.
Study Finds Which Homemade Face Masks Are The Most Effective And Breathable
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/study-finds-which-homemade-face-masks-are-the-most-effective-and-breathable/
Among all the many different things we didn’t expect to happen this year, shopping for a mask in order to enter banks and other shops is way up there as one of the oddest.
The next challenge of knowing which face covering to use is a whole other minefield. As well as some masks being in short supply due to the need to reserve them for healthcare professionals, not all masks are equally effective. Fortunately, scientists are hard at work to determine which masks are best at filtering out ultrafine particles when we cough.
In a new study, researchers from the University of Cambridge and Northwestern University examined the effectiveness of a wide range of masks and fabrics at containing virus particles between 0.02 and 0.1 micrometres at the velocity of an adult coughing. On top of this, they evaluated the breathing resistance of each material to see which material is most suitable for becoming a face mask.
“The current coronavirus pandemic has left many communities without access to N95 face masks,” the team conclude in their paper published in the journal BMJ Open. “Our findings suggest that face masks made from layered common fabric can help filter ultrafine particles and provide some protection for the wearer when commercial face masks are unavailable”.
Unsurprisingly, the much sought after N95 masks were found to be highly effective at filtering out ultrafine particles expelled at the velocity of a human cough. However, vacuum bags were found to be even more effective, while other available materials were also comparable, with a few caveats.
“A mask which blocks particles really well but restricts your breathing isn’t an effective mask,” O’Kelly explained. “Denim, for example, was quite effective at blocking particles, but it’s difficult to breathe through, so it’s probably not a good idea to make a mask out of an old pair of jeans. N95 masks are much easier to breathe through than any fabric combinations with similar levels of filtration.”
“Our data suggest that, in times of severe supply shortage, common fabrics can be layered to create face masks which protect wearers and others from a significant percentage of ultrafine particles,” the team wrote in the study. “It should not be inferred that these layered fabrics can protect wearers from more viral particles than N95 masks or surgical masks as our study did not discriminate between viral particles and other ultrafine particles. Many viruses are carried on droplets or other particles significantly larger than those tested here.”
The team stress that though they studied the effectiveness of masks under damp conditions – shown in the table above – previous studies have found that masks lose their effectiveness after repeated washing, and warn that masks should not be used indefinitely.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top Four Technologies Guiding Pandemic Containment Efforts
https://www.eetimes.com/top-four-technologies-guiding-pandemic-containment-efforts/
Still without an effective vaccine or therapy to administer, the COVID-19 pandemic continues globally. Lacking tools to treat the population and create herd immunity to the virus, governments must rely on other methods of containment and mitigation. Just as the digital revolution has transformed most aspects of everyday life, so too does it provide tools for coordinating these efforts. The public health response has incorporated a large network of interconnected digital devices for everything, from data visualization to screening and contact tracing. Here are the top four technologies governments, healthcare organizations, and employers are using to guide their pandemic response, as well as some proposed solutions to increase safety as the pandemic continues.
Artificial intelligence system proposed for rapid detection
Bluetooth contact tracing networks extend from smartphones to wearables
Telehealth tools enable safer patient care and access to essential health services
AI and big data facilitate transmission forecasting
ENSs also feed into migration maps, which use phones, mobile payment apps, and social media to collect real-time data on people. These maps, utilized in China’s response, allowed authorities to track the movement of people who had visited the Wuhan market. This data also fed into machine learning models developed to forecast regional transmission dynamics and guide border checks. This technique has rippled out into the data dashboards utilized in several regions. Of course, AI is not without limitations and requires training on COVID-19 datasets — most models to date are based on Chinese samples, which might not be generalizable.
This isn’t limited to personal devices. Everything from security cameras, bank card records, GPS data, and facial recognition technology can be used as data sources to form a comprehensive map of potential points of spread. After all, this is how South Korea was able to flatten the curve so quickly. In a report on Automated Decision-Making Systems in the COVID-19 Pandemic, AlgorithmWatch examines the use of technology in pandemic responses from a European perspective. As with any tech utilizing big data, the question of how technology and rights intersect is important to ask. However, in this case, countries such as Singapore and South Korea, who have utilized aggressive contract tracing techniques via all available technologies, maintain the lowest per-capita mortality rates in the world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.designnews.com/industry/tech-scares-away-covid-during-halloween?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=14835&elq_cid=876648
Many states are uncertain how to handle trick-or-treat activities amid COVID this Halloween. But DIY-ers have plenty of good ideas!
The season of spookiness is almost here. But even after this year’s COVID-19 ridden Halloween activities are gone, these clever projects will still be around.
For now, though, all of these mostly do-it-yourself (DIY) projects are designed to either reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus or even destroy it. They will help ensure that this year’s October 31st activities do not become a super spreader event.