sycasey said:
Anyway, I recently listened to a podcast with Zeynep Tufecki, who I thought had some good ideas about how we should be handling this disease, based on the data:
1. Beaches and parks should be left open. Some Democratic governors and/or mayors are wrong on this. The data shows that COVID spread rarely happens outdoors, but the media coverage overplays things with pictures of crowded-looking beaches. In reality, almost all COVID transmission is happening in indoor spaces. People are going to want to socialize, so we should encourage the safest way to do it, in open-air spaces.
2. We need to focus a lot more on improving ventilation and air filtering for indoor spaces, as that's the only real way to start making workplaces and schools safe again. Most buildings don't have the kind of filters necessary to screen out COVID and viruses like it. Perhaps the government could help subsidize the improvements.
3. Shaming people about not wearing masks generally doesn't work. Best to acknowledge the early mistakes in communication (like originally telling people not to wear masks) and move ahead with what we know now, that mask-wearing really does help protect everyone. We should also be clear that masks are really most necessary when you're with other people in an indoor space. Outside is not a big deal. Positive reinforcement works best.
Makes sense to me.
The masks worn by the public do not do much of anything for the wearer. People who refuse to wear a mask have little concern for the other. Period.
Spring brake. Open beaches were not the problem in the southland, it was the typically drunken bacchanalian culture, which led too way too much close conduct even for open spaces. Six feet, without mask wearing, is insufficient in windless outdoor spaces. Backyard parties are a serious cause of virus spread. Spacing. Masks.
Many buildings in the Bay Area have almost no ventilation systems, and those that do would be extremely expensive and time consuming to bring to desired levels of effectiveness.
