From: slider@anashram.com

Wearing a face mask can protect you from the coronavirus as well as
stopping you spreading it to others, according to scientists.

Officials in Britain insist the main benefit of wearing face coverings is
that they catch coughs and sneezes of the wearer, preventing them from spreading the virus to people around them.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8543869/Face-masks-help-protect-wearer-infectious-disease-experts-claim.html

But researchers argue the wearer may also benefit because they could
inhale smaller quantities of coronavirus if they are exposed to it.

By reducing the amount of virus inhaled, it will make illness milder — and could even prevent deaths, according to a team at the University of
California.

Rules on compulsory mask wearing differ across the world as governments
weigh up the science on whether or not they are actually useful.

Evidence that was not available at the start of the pandemic is starting
to show they are effective at controlling the spread of the virus.

Dr Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at San Francisco
General Hospital, was a co-author of the research which is due to be
published in the Journal of Internal Medicine.

She told The Times: 'You will get in a lower dose of virus if you wear a
mask and are exposed to Covid-19 and are very likely to have mild or no symptoms.'

The latest work by the team based in San Francisco explains the 'theory of viral inoculum'.

The inoculum is the amount or 'dose' of virus someone is exposed to. The
higher it is, the more likely it will lead to infection in the recipient.

A lower initial dose of the coronavirus gives the immune system a better
chance of fighting the disease. It may cause only mild symptoms or none at
all.

The paper, seen by The Times, draws on various bits of research to base
their argument that masks help to reduce the inoculum.

A study on hamsters which showed those who were in a cage cloaked and
protected by a mask material had mild disease compared to those who did
not.

The researchers in Hong Kong said although it's completely different to
how humans interact, it showed 'very clearly' that covering the nose and
mouth is hugely effective to mitigate spread.

The study was released by the department of microbiology at the University
of Hong Kong but has not been peer-reviewed or published in a journal yet.

Outbreaks on cruise ships where passengers wore face coverings resulted in milder cases of the coronavirus, the University of California paper also
said.

It has previously been reported that crew members who wore masks while on
a coronavirus ridden US warship were protected from the virus.

Scientists closely monitored what happened on the USS Theodore Roosevelt
when coronavirus broke out among military personnel on it in March.

Only 55.8 per cent of people who regularly wore a face covering caught the disease, compared to 80.8 per cent of those who didn't.

Masks actually appeared to be more effective at stopping the spread of the disease than social distancing.

Weighing up the evidence, the team at University of California said:
'Exposing society to SARS-CoV-2 without the consequences of severe illness
with public masking could lead to greater community-level immunity and
slower spread as we await a vaccine.'

In England, masks are currently only compulsory on public transport, but
they are to become mandatory in shops from July 24.

Official guidance now also states people are also encouraged to wear face coverings 'in enclosed public spaces where there are people they do not normally meet'.

Therefore, face coverings are advised in a place of worship but not
necessarily the pub, where people would meet family and friends.

The complex guidelines, which have been further confused by ministers
taking varying stances on the rules, do not apply to restaurants either.

It comes after months of conflicting information from world health bodies concerning masks and if the public should wear them.

The British government had previously feared that the advice would leave a shortage of surgical masks for healthcare workers.

But it came round to the idea of a nationwide rule on the basis that face coverings can stop contagious people spreading the virus.

Coverings catch droplets which are expelled from someone's nose and mouth
when they breathe, talk, cough or sneeze, and which carry the coronavirus inside them.

If these droplets cannot escape the mask and circulate in the air, they
cannot be inhaled by other people or settle on surfaces where others might touch them.

But Dr Gandhi believes governments should expand their recommendations for
the wearing of face coverings based on studies that say they may also
prevent someone from catching a huge dose of the virus.

'The research suggests that we should go towards universal
population-level masking to control infections and to limit the severity
of disease,' Dr Gandhi said.

In a interview with radio NPR yesterday, Dr Gandhi said countries who had adopted stringent face covering rules had seen fewer Covid-19 deaths.

She said: 'It really looks like any country that has adopted universal
mask wearing - and many, many countries have - even as they open up and
they're seeing each other more and there's more cases, it has led to much,
much fewer deaths or severe illness.'

### - so isn't this 'likely' to be the truth compared to what people are
being encouraged to believe? right-wing american voters in particular?

i.e., humans may politicise such things as wearing a mask or not for
whatever purposes, but the virus apparently doesn't pay any attention to
such biased human whims, the result will thus be less of the right-wing in
the world because of it and imho that's not necessarily such a bad thing...

boris getting the virus and very nearly dying, perhaps drove the message
home a little clearer to everyone here about the actual seriousness of the whole matter, it not being at all about left or right-wing politics so
much as survival, and anyone who tells you otherwise prolly doesn't really
have your best interests at heart...

i mean, if ya 'wanna' politicise this virus - if ya's really wanna go that
far - then just have red & blue masks and do it that way, and then at
least people's lives wont be put at risk simply for twisted political purposes?? duh!

personally, i thought that huntington beach video was hilarious! we don't
want no stinkin' masks coz that's what the president wants! hey honey,
what time's gladiators on? quick we're missing it!

so perhaps what we're 'actually' witnessing is just evolution at-work?

covidiots we call them here!

LOL ! :)))))

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)