Officials forecast 400,000 COVID-19 cases in Thailand

[lkn]

2 hours ago, dinsdale said:

It's actually a god idea. You may have the virus and this will help prevent spreading to other people or someone may cough or sneeze on you and although masks will not prevent you getting it it may minimize the amount of contagion your body gets

While not entirely untrue, I think many experts say “don’t bother with the mask” because in vast majority of cases, you do not get the virus from someone sneezing or coughing on you.

 

Rather, someone with the virus touches a doorknob, elevator button, or something else, that you later touch, and now there is a good chance you have it on your fingers, and those fingers will find their way to your face, and the virus will have entered your system.

 

Even if you wear a mask, you may touch the mask with your virus infected fingers, when you take the mask on/off or adjust it.

 

So the far more important thing is to wash your hands! Each time you have been out and touched foreign objects, wash your hans! And wash them good!

 

The mask may actually just give you a false sense of security, because you take it off when you are at home, and if you don’t wash your hands properly when getting home, it has all been for nothing.

 

Caretakers should wear the mask, because they are around patients that may actually cough on them, and it also prevents them from touching their own face.

 

People with the virus should self-quarantine rathe than just wear a mask. If you wear it as a precaution, just incase you do have the virus, well, if you do not yet know if you have it, you are probably not coughing at other people.

[dinsdale]

6 minutes ago, lkn said:

While not entirely untrue, I think many experts say “don’t bother with the mask” because in vast majority of cases, you do not get the virus from someone sneezing or coughing on you.

 

Rather, someone with the virus touches a doorknob, elevator button, or something else, that you later touch, and now there is a good chance you have it on your fingers, and those fingers will find their way to your face, and the virus will have entered your system.

 

Even if you wear a mask, you may touch the mask with your virus infected fingers, when you take the mask on/off or adjust it.

 

So the far more important thing is to wash your hands! Each time you have been out and touched foreign objects, wash your hans! And wash them good!

 

The mask may actually just give you a false sense of security, because you take it off when you are at home, and if you don’t wash your hands properly when getting home, it has all been for nothing.

 

Caretakers should wear the mask, because they are around patients that may actually cough on them, and it also prevents them from touching their own face.

 

People with the virus should self-quarantine rathe than just wear a mask. If you wear it as a precaution, just incase you do have the virus, well, if you do not yet know if you have it, you are probably not coughing at other people.

I think you need to educate youself a bit more. This is a particulate transmition. Yes indeed on surfaces and you should avoid touching your face and you should wash your hands preferably with soap for 20 seconds as this breaks down the fat barrier on the virus and it falls to bits but it is most definetly transmitted through droplets sneezed or coughed. Where do you think the surface droplets come from?

Edited March 22, 2020 by dinsdale

[SantiSuk]

lkn. I think you are assuming that people who wear a mask take no further precautions and port a false sense of security. Can only speak for me; I'm aware of the dangers of touching my mask and only take it off when I can wash my hands immediately after. I'm now pretty well practiced on not touching my face even without a mask, but the mask did make me draw back from touching face or mask. I wear surgical gloves when I go out (to shop) but also wash my hands regularly when inside the house and immediately after I have taken my gloves off.

 

That said, for a broader populace you may be right that to focus on one message - 'wash your hands every 20 minutes and don't wear a mask' - might reduce overall infection rates, might not. My jury is out. Should not stop those who think carefully about their protection from wearing a mask

 

Your penultimate para seems to weaken your argument - if you're around people you know will be coughing on you, wear a mask but if you are around people who only might cough on you then don't? Last para - of course a mask is insufficient if you have the virus; that doesn't add to the discussion of whether you should wear a mask, unless you believe people are stupid enough to continue with one solution no matter what their state of health is.

Edited March 22, 2020 by SantiSuk

[lkn]

58 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

but it is most definetly transmitted through droplets sneezed or coughed. Where do you think the surface droplets come from?

You seem to be missing the “coughing *on* you” that I quoted, and was explicitly referring to.

 

The face mask is a barrier for your mouth and nose, but it’s highly unlikely that someone is coughing directly into your face (i.e. coughing *on* you).

 

What you must protect yourself against is your own fingers finding their way to your face, without having been properly washed first (a far more likely scenario, than someone coughing *on* you).

 

If the primary source of infections were from people coughing *on* each other, we should not be seeing the high infection rate that we are currently witnessing.

[lkn]

47 minutes ago, SantiSuk said:

lkn. I think you are assuming that people who wear a mask take no further precautions and port a false sense of security

I do, yes. Not because people are stupid, but simply just lack of information and herd mentality, and that is probably why many health experts are downplaying the effect of the mask, because washing hands is much more important.

 

Furthermore, there have been shortages of masks for those who actually need them, because people are hoarding them.

[SantiSuk]

Para 1, fair enough.

Agree with the second and I think it's possibly the main driver as my post implied

I think we are done on this!

[monkfish]

1 hour ago, lkn said:

While not entirely untrue, I think many experts say “don’t bother with the mask” because in vast majority of cases, you do not get the virus from someone sneezing or coughing on you.

 

Rather, someone with the virus touches a doorknob, elevator button, or something else, that you later touch, and now there is a good chance you have it on your fingers, and those fingers will find their way to your face, and the virus will have entered your system.

 

Even if you wear a mask, you may touch the mask with your virus infected fingers, when you take the mask on/off or adjust it.

 

So the far more important thing is to wash your hands! Each time you have been out and touched foreign objects, wash your hans! And wash them good!

 

The mask may actually just give you a false sense of security, because you take it off when you are at home, and if you don’t wash your hands properly when getting home, it has all been for nothing.

 

Caretakers should wear the mask, because they are around patients that may actually cough on them, and it also prevents them from touching their own face.

 

People with the virus should self-quarantine rathe than just wear a mask. If you wear it as a precaution, just incase you do have the virus, well, if you do not yet know if you have it, you are probably not coughing at other people.

That's why I also spray 1% Iodine solution on my mask it last longer than Alcohol and any Virus that gets on it is terminated.
I also spray my mask with Alcohol before and after use.

[rvaviator]

On 3/18/2020 at 5:13 PM, Mikeasq60 said:

Do people realize China has resumed normal activities while the rest of the world is suffering? Whats going on here.

NO they have NOT ...

[dinsdale]

59 minutes ago, lkn said:

You seem to be missing the “coughing *on* you” that I quoted, and was explicitly referring to.

 

The face mask is a barrier for your mouth and nose, but it’s highly unlikely that someone is coughing directly into your face (i.e. coughing *on* you).

 

What you must protect yourself against is your own fingers finding their way to your face, without having been properly washed first (a far more likely scenario, than someone coughing *on* you).

 

If the primary source of infections were from people coughing *on* each other, we should not be seeing the high infection rate that we are currently witnessing.

Please be safe and make youself aware of social distancing and the scientific and medical reasons for this.

[Fred white]

8 hours ago, ianezy0 said:

Hi Dinsdale, I wholly agree with you. I also constantly wear a mask when out my condo. The sarcastic comment was because of the differing advice to wear or not to wear one and the pics of the minister not wearing a mask, half wearing a mask or wearing a mask ???? 

I also believe it is respectful to the Thais to wear one.

If you can find one 3 different stores this morning no one had masks or hand sanitizer 

[4MyEgo]

On 3/21/2020 at 10:28 PM, CGW said:

My insurer sent a note stating that all expenses are covered. If its less than 24 hour hospitalisation there would be no cover as I never took that option, is how I understand it.

Yes, you probably have emergency and elective surgery cover which stipulated that one must be admitted for over 24 hours to be deemed an emergency, or notify them in the event of you requiring surgery or hospitalisation for something like Covid-19 which I would think falls under an emergency, if not, either way the bill would be squared up as long as you let them know.

 

I also don't have outpatient cover as it's cheap enough to go to the hospital and pay out your pocket, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 baht including meds, that said, you can always tell them your friend owns a chemist and you will get the drugs there as we do, they just get a nurse into witness what we said and they sign off on it so the big guns don't get peed off.

[CGW]

11 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

I also don't have outpatient cover as it's cheap enough to go to the hospital and pay out your pocket, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 baht including meds, that said, you can always tell them your friend owns a chemist and you will get the drugs there as we do, they just get a nurse into witness what we said and they sign off on it so the big guns don't get peed off.

I just hope I don't have to use it! so far in the 7 years I have had this policy, managed to avoid ????

[4MyEgo]

40 minutes ago, CGW said:

I just hope I don't have to use it! so far in the 7 years I have had this policy, managed to avoid ????

Absolutely, and for those that can get and or afford cover, at least we feel a little (lot) in my experience that going to a private hospital, we will get better care than from the usual cattle hospitals, albeit it I have heard some are good in fairness, but each to their own comforts.