Hey wait a minute… is that turtle flipping me off?? xD
And according to this news flash turtles are enjoying more than the barnacles nowadays.
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Terpitudinous Tommy was the only one who could not perceive his “degenerative viral encephalitis”:
Source
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On the other hand, in the case of one particular bozo erectus, somebody finally, actually hired him:
Source: https://media.giphy.com/media/eXo5eC1tK7cas/giphy.gif
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So you’re saying we can’t blame it on Dunning-Kruger…ok. 
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I was referring to Terpitudinous Tommy. 
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Aha ! Yes, Tommy’s tortuous tale was one of ostentatious over-indulgence, all while “denying science”.
He made the very grave social faux pas of gifting an “I’m With Stupid” T-Shirt to the Shell Sister Twins:
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(STAT, May 21, 2020):
“‘It’s something I have never seen’: How the Covid-19 virus hijacks cells”
A deep dive into how the new coronavirus infects cells has found that it orchestrates a hostile takeover of their genes unlike any other known viruses do, producing what one leading scientist calls “unique” and “aberrant” changes. Recent studies show that in seizing control of genes in the human cells it invades, the virus changes how segments of DNA are read, doing so in a way that might explain why the elderly are more likely to die of Covid-19 and why antiviral drugs might not only save sick patients’ lives but also prevent severe disease if taken before infection. …
… The result is essentially no brakes on the virus’s replication, but a storm of inflammatory molecules in the lungs, which is what tenOever calls an “unique” and “aberrant” consequence of how SARS-CoV-2 manipulates the genome of its target. …
… the Icahn School team found no interferons in the lung cells of Covid-19 patients. Without interferons, tenOever said, “there is nothing to stop the virus from replicating and festering in the lungs forever.” That causes lung cells to emit even more “call-for-reinforcement” genes, summoning more and more immune cells. Now the lungs have macrophages and neutrophils and other immune cells “everywhere,” tenOever said, causing such runaway inflammation “that you start having inflammation that induces more inflammation.” At the same time, unchecked viral replication kills lung cells involved in oxygen exchange. “And suddenly you’re in the hospital in severe respiratory distress,” he said. …
… Ending the pandemic and preventing its return is assumed to require an effective vaccine to prevent infection and antiviral drugs such as remdesivir to treat the very sick, but the genetic studies suggest a third strategy: preventive drugs. It’s possible that treatment with so-called type-1 interferon “could stop the virus before it could get established,” Menachery said. Giving drugs to healthy people is always a dicey proposition, since all drugs have side effects - something considered less acceptable than when a drug is used to treat an illness. “Interferon treatment is rife with complications,” Menachery warned. The various interferons, which are prescribed for hepatitis, cancers, and many other diseases, can cause flu-like symptoms. But the risk-benefit equation might shift, both for individuals and for society, if interferons or antivirals or other medications are shown to reduce the risk of developing serious Covid-19 or even make any infection nearly asymptomatic.
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(The Lancet, May 8, 2020):
“Interferon beta-1b for COVID-19”
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(WebMD, May 15, 2020):
.
(Reuters, May 20, 2020):
“Interferon therapy may speed recovery from COVID-19”
In a paper in Frontiers of Immunology, Dr. Fish and colleagues report the clinical course of 77 adults with confirmed COVID-19 who were treated with inhaled IFN-a2b (5 mU b.i.d), arbidol (200 mg t.i.d) or the combination of both broad-spectrum antivirals. All patients had only moderate illness; none required intensive care or oxygen supplementation or intubation. …
… With IFN-a2b, “we achieved accelerated viral clearance by about seven days, which is faster than with remdesivir, and we showed a reduction in circulating levels of inflammatory markers, which really exacerbate disease,” Dr. Fish told Reuters Health. Age, co-morbidities and sex did not negate the effects of IFN treatment on viral clearance times or on the reduction in the inflammatory markers.
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Today is day 7th of “phase 1” OF the CIVID-19 back to work in Virginia.
Just some thoughts and personal experiences during that day…Back to work…
I’m lucky to have proper PPE for these 1-3 hour repair jobs. It takes extra time to put it on, and the attention to detail is rough when you’re “on the clock”. But it puts people at risk (or me) if I don’t (and followed preparing to the letter. All air gaps taped up with cloth tape).
I did a simple swap out of a cash register yesterday. Simple task turned into a long task as I had to stand around to hit the restart button for the person working remotely to set it up for the store. Some things I realized:
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It doesn’t matter how well a dry mask fits, within 15 minutes of exertion, all 3 of the mask types I have, I found out though the mask gets hot and damp quickly (no choice though, it’s what I had available. I had to swap out masks every 45 minutes in my truck to allow one to dry.
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Other people won’t keep their masks on!!! I get it, other people are working 8 hours a day and they only get 1 mask a day from their company… They get hot and wet too so they pull them down exposing their mouth and nose. BAD IDEA!!! “Just wear masks” is such a soundbyte [ 1] idea to say to someone. In reality, only much more expensive masks work for long periods of time. These cheap masks that are available could have been better build (which wouldn’t make them cheap) however, if they do this at “drive thru’s”, why bother???
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WASH YOUR HANDS OR HAND SANITIZER!!! I wear nitrile gloves. A small dab of hand sanitizer goes a long way on a non porous surface. I can coat the gloves with 1/8th of one pump from a hand sanitizer bottle quite well. It’s non porous material. Money is filthy and porous. No studies have been done to see if the virus stays on money. All it takes is 1 person to pay in cash and be sick (an not know it). The restaurant employ handles the money, then “next customer please”. All it takes if for the next customer or the customer after that to pull the fries out or the doughnut and eat it…I told the kid at the drive through to was his hands or put sanitizer on them or I wanted to speak to the manager. he complained, said it was making his hands dry and cracked but he did it. When he came back to the window, I handed him 2 pair of 5 mil nitrile gloves. I then told him a website he could get them at and to wash the gloves like he would his hands AFTER he put them on in front of me.
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DRIVING!!! PEOPLE FORGOT HOW TO DRIVE IN TRAFFIC!!! 2 months without being behind the wheel and they all act like they have their learners permits again…
[ 1] My definition of a soundbyte: A short 2-5 word phrase that is cold, indifferent, and is poorly thought out.
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Show a picture of your mask, Doug.
Most masks have a pocket filter system.
It’s not sounding like yours is like that… aslo with the study I found… not many masks are safe and can prevent…
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-1342
typical face mask with pocket filters look like this.
You do not reuse disposables.
I know that. I am lucky enough to have a UVC light box in my SUV. its rechargeable. I only take them off to let them dry. Its not high power and I only use once. Then I trash them. 1 use reduces an N95 by 1.25%. That makes it. 93.75% down to 3 microns. if you do it twice it takes it down below what I would use.
Abstract:
The ability to disinfect and reuse disposable N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) may be needed during a pandemic of an infectious respiratory disease such as influenza. Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is one possible method for respirator disinfection. However, UV radiation degrades polymers, which presents the possibility that UVGI exposure could degrade the ability of a disposable respirator to protect the worker. To study this, we exposed both sides of material coupons and respirator straps from four models of N95 FFRs to UVGI doses from 120-950 J/cm(2). We then tested the particle penetration, flow resistance, and bursting strengths of the individual respirator coupon layers, and the breaking strength of the respirator straps. We found that UVGI exposure led to a small increase in particle penetration (up to 1.25%) and had little effect on the flow resistance. UVGI exposure had a more pronounced effect on the strengths of the respirator materials. At the higher UVGI doses, the strength of the layers of respirator material was substantially reduced (in some cases, by >90%). The changes in the strengths of the respirator materials varied considerably among the different models of respirators. UVGI had less of an effect on the respirator straps; a dose of 2360 J/cm(2) reduced the breaking strength of the straps by 20-51%. Our results suggest that UVGI could be used to effectively disinfect disposable respirators for reuse, but the maximum number of disinfection cycles will be limited by the respirator model and the UVGI dose required to inactivate the pathogen. [web article]
UVC works on COVID-19. I also have lysol spray. If I have 4 masks, that will last for 4 hrs. In cooler places I don’t have an issue.
The unit has a timer on it. I use it if the mask has been worn for 1hr. After that I have to dispose of it. I usually have more masks in the truck but I only bring a limited supply.
[web article]
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Call me “old fashioned”, if you will - but I’m still hangin’ ten on the leading edge of the gathering wave:
Source: https://www.ocregister.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/nukes2.jpg
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With reopenings, seems the public has a new appetite for risk. The bison aren’t having it.
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(NPR, May 20, 2020):
“Researchers: Nearly Half Of Accounts Tweeting About Coronavirus Are Likely Bots”
"
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I wish I knew what this picture meant… Dave…
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A high quality recent article about Vitamins D in relation to immune-system functionality and health.
(BMJ, April 30, 2020):
“Vitamin D and SARS-CoV-2 virus/COVID-19 disease”
… we recommend appropriate vitamin D RCTs to evaluate the effects of vitamin D supplementation on COVID-19 infections. Until there is more robust scientific evidence for vitamin D, we … caution against the use of high vitamin D supplementation (greater than the upper limit of 4000 IU/day (100 µg/day)).
Note: For older adults, a maximum of 2000 IU/day is generally thought to be sufficient as well as safe.
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