Strong agreement. Minimum safety standards for indoor air are as important as minimum safety standards for water and food.
For those interested: the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate maintains a database of indoor air quality standards worldwide [1]. It lists standards by country, and allows you to filter by pollutant. CO2 is a commonly proxy for ventilation with values <800-1000ppm typically considered to be “good”.
For the US specifically: the recently published ASHRAE 241 standard [2] provides updated guidelines for indoor air quality. This provides stronger guarantees than the weaker ASHRAE 62.1 standard [3], as it specifically focuses on reducing aerosol-based transmission of pathogens such as (but not limited to) Covid-19 and H5N1.
It's even more important if this finding [1] (press release [2]) turns out to be true, namely that the amount of carbon dioxide in the air is not just a proxy for air quality, but that having less of it actually actively destabilizes virus particles.
Also, portable air cleaners seem to work pretty well [3].
To achieve its requests in the US, the article needs more “oomph”. Do some mildly valid math to predict death counts, economic impact, etc and then maybe the government could be interested.
Hunan shut itself down. There was video of hundreds of people in makeshift hospitals. Trucks with some kind of disinfectant spray were roaming the streets.
It was real-world impact. It was not theoretical impact.
It took us until March/April 2020 to start getting serious.
I strongly doubt the current federal leadership is inclined to act in a more risk-adverse way than in March of 2020.
The problem as I see it is that large-scale farming creates an ideal place for viruses to mutate and possibly become dangerous to us. It's pretty much inevitable that we're going to get new virus strains emerging from livestock - it's just a question of when and also how well different countries deal with it.
A global approach is the only sensible way to deal with pathogens that can spread so easily as it's becoming almost impossible for countries to control borders sufficiently (especially if birds are a vector).
Small scale farming creates a different type of ideal place for viruses to mutate and become dangerous to us because there is much more inter-species mixing. Keeping chickens & pigs in the same barn, for instance.
Yes, but there'd be less chance of mutation due to the smaller scale. By having a large concentration of animals in a smaller space (relatively), it's like hitting the fast forward button on evolution/natural selection for viruses. To counter the extra risk, large scale farms should be testing for pathogen/viruses to at least get an early warning for when there's a nasty mutation.
There can be trillions of virus cells in a single body. That's the mutation environment. Whether there are dozens or thousands of bodies makes little difference in comparison.
If you consider a single body, the selection pressure is for the virus to multiply as quickly as possible. It's when you get multiple bodies that the selection pressure is more the ability of the virus to be transmitted and infect a new host. It's by concentrating animals/people into smaller environments that we select for the greater transmission of the virus and possibly for it to be less deadly as that gives the virus more time to spread itself.
Alternatively, think that a virus in a single organism is likely to be extremely well adapted for spreading within that organism already, but it may not be adaptable to other organisms and thus not be very contagious.
H5N1 is already extremely good at spreading between birds, getting better at that is not going to increase its fitness.
It's the amount of contact between livestock & humans that we primarily care about, and that is a lot larger with a large number of small farms than it is with a small number of large farms.
If you really want to split hairs, perhaps I should have wrote “the work of a very stable genius”.
Quotes and sources below:
Trump mused about whether disinfectants could be used to treat the virus in humans – asking whether there is “a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning.” [0]
Trump said that he “would qualify as not smart, but genius .... and a very stable genius at that!”[1]
"Suppose that we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light," Trump said at the White House coronavirus press briefing, adding: "Supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way."
[2]
>After the administrator, William N. Bryan, the head of science at the Department of Homeland Security, told the briefing that the agency had tested how sunlight and disinfectants — including bleach and alcohol — can kill the coronavirus on surfaces in as little as 30 seconds, an excited Mr. Trump returned to the lectern.
>“Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light,” Mr. Trump said. “And I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but we’re going to test it?” he added, turning to Mr. Bryan, who had returned to his seat. “And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, either through the skin or some other way.”
To clarify: The deeply unserious way our current President tackled Covid-19 is why it got so bad in the first place. Once the Democrats took over, the plague was eradicated in short order, with vaccines, organization, and correct information. And NIH and Darpa funding is what allowed that vaccine to be created in the first place. Spare me the BS about operating warp-speed...the pharmas were doing that anyway. It was the critical mRNA research (now banned BTW) that allowed the creation of the vaccine. Facts are funny things.
This is not optimal. We get one if these every 10 years or so. We should be always prepared, not "prepare now!" boom/bust cycling this stuff. This is new, but it is really not new. Waves of panic followed by apathy is not the way to do public health, but it is how we fund it.
Buy some soup and vegetables and fruit in a can. If you are sick for 2 or 4 weeks, you are self-sufficient. Instead of relying on family at your door, potentially making them sick as well.
44 comments
[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 25.2 ms ] threadFor those interested: the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate maintains a database of indoor air quality standards worldwide [1]. It lists standards by country, and allows you to filter by pollutant. CO2 is a commonly proxy for ventilation with values <800-1000ppm typically considered to be “good”.
For the US specifically: the recently published ASHRAE 241 standard [2] provides updated guidelines for indoor air quality. This provides stronger guarantees than the weaker ASHRAE 62.1 standard [3], as it specifically focuses on reducing aerosol-based transmission of pathogens such as (but not limited to) Covid-19 and H5N1.
[1]: https://ieqguidelines.org/table?factor=iaq
[2]: https://www.ashrae.org/about/news/2023/ashrae-publishes-stan...
[3]: https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/bookstore/standar...
Also, portable air cleaners seem to work pretty well [3].
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47777-5
[2] https://www.bristol.ac.uk/cabot/news/2024/virus.html
[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S295036202...
Hunan shut itself down. There was video of hundreds of people in makeshift hospitals. Trucks with some kind of disinfectant spray were roaming the streets.
It was real-world impact. It was not theoretical impact.
It took us until March/April 2020 to start getting serious.
I strongly doubt the current federal leadership is inclined to act in a more risk-adverse way than in March of 2020.
A global approach is the only sensible way to deal with pathogens that can spread so easily as it's becoming almost impossible for countries to control borders sufficiently (especially if birds are a vector).
Alternatively, think that a virus in a single organism is likely to be extremely well adapted for spreading within that organism already, but it may not be adaptable to other organisms and thus not be very contagious.
It's the amount of contact between livestock & humans that we primarily care about, and that is a lot larger with a large number of small farms than it is with a small number of large farms.
Obviously the work of a real genius who understands the power of using very bright lights inside the body to fight COVID.
Remember: COVID spared babies. H1N5 won’t.
100% Reichstag fire.
When you increase the odds of catastrophe, you are also increasing the need for more authoritarian responses.
Saying there are still terrorists attacks, so we should gut the FBI is like saying the flu is still a thing so we should gut the CDC.
Sure, the comment is a bit pointed, but isn’t the GOP the party of “F%#k Your Feelings”?
What part of my comment was false?
If you really want to split hairs, perhaps I should have wrote “the work of a very stable genius”.
Quotes and sources below:
Trump mused about whether disinfectants could be used to treat the virus in humans – asking whether there is “a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning.” [0]
Trump said that he “would qualify as not smart, but genius .... and a very stable genius at that!”[1]
"Suppose that we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light," Trump said at the White House coronavirus press briefing, adding: "Supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way." [2]
[0]https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/politics/fact-check-coronavir...
[1] https://apnews.com/article/2bb960fda0264c488d454632628cb193
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-wants-bring-light-insi...
>After the administrator, William N. Bryan, the head of science at the Department of Homeland Security, told the briefing that the agency had tested how sunlight and disinfectants — including bleach and alcohol — can kill the coronavirus on surfaces in as little as 30 seconds, an excited Mr. Trump returned to the lectern.
>“Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light,” Mr. Trump said. “And I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but we’re going to test it?” he added, turning to Mr. Bryan, who had returned to his seat. “And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, either through the skin or some other way.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/health/sunlight-coronavir...
* Ensure I have a stock of masks, disposable and washable.
* Re-organize and upgrade my home office / workspace.
* Proactively prepare myself mentally by strengthening social bonds, self-care routines, and overall mental health.
* Decide if I'm going to continue baking bread or explore a new hobby.
* have a written will
* collect all login information for your important accounts
* collect any important paperwork
* make sure you have a good idea of the best medical facilities in your area and how to get to them