Attack of the Walkers – The Verge

A small face-covering controversy erupted this week, thanks to a widely misinterpreted paper with masks, lasers and spikes.

The study, which came out in Science Advances on August 7, was pretty simple. It devised a method that other scientists could use to test masks in their own labs. Using a dark box, some lasers, a phone camera and a relatively simple algorithm, they looked for a way to test how effective different types of masks were at capturing spit.

People spit when they talk. They also squirt drops out of their mouths when breathing, kneeling or singing heavily Hamilton tunes. That moist mess can contain viruses, which is one reason why everyone is now encouraged to wear a mask in public – to reduce the chances of passing on the coronavirus that COVID-19 passes to other people.

Wearing a mask creates a barrier between your germ-filled mouth and the world. (Unless you’re buying something crazy, this is a disaster.) But with the exception of heavily tested masks, such as N95s, researchers have no detailed picture of how I’m good those barriers perform, especially considering the great variety of masks that are out there.

Which brings us back to the paper. To show that their experimental setup worked, and could work for other researchers, they tested 14 commonly used face coatings. They “only demonstrated our method on a variety of commonly available masks and mask alternatives with one speaker, and a subset of these masks were tested with four speakers,” the authors write.

Here’s what they did not do: they were net perform extensive tests on the different mask types. But in their paper, they saw that some masks did it better than others. One of those at the lower end of the efficiency pole? Gaiters / buffs / those big cloth chains popular with runners. All of a sudden The Washington Post proclaimed that “Wearing a neck brace can be worse than no mask at all, researchers find,” to the dismay of other science journalists.

Other articles followed quickly, defending the gaiters and pointing out that we need many more reps of these tests to really say once and for all how well different masks compare to each other.

Even the authors of the paper agreed.

‘What we do not want people to take away is:’ This mask will work. It will not. ‘It’s not a manual for masks. It’s a demonstration of a new, simple methodology to visualize the effect of a mask quickly and somewhat roughly, “said one of the authors Wired.

The experiment was adapted in part from another demonstration we conducted in April. That experiment, and others like the one that came out around the same time, also used lasers to mark people’s spikes as they spoke. Like the recent article, her work was also focused on scientific intent, and not on broad conclusions.

“It emphasizes the principle, and then you dig a layer down to get some more information,” said Alex Huffman, an associate professor who studies aerosols at the University of Denver Ferry reporter Nicole Wetsman back in April. “But it does not dissolve everything – just like the mask itself.”

What all these scientific papers do is give us the tools that can help us figure out what masks really are are effective – information that could help us keep our germs to ourselves in this pandemic, and in the future.

Here’s what else is happening this week.

Research

Long after the fire of a Covid-19 infection, mental and neurological effects can still swell
Up to a third of COVID-19 patients may experience neuropsychological problems after recovering from the disease. ‘It’s not just an acute problem. This will be a chronic illness, ”said Wes Ely, a critical care physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. STAT. “The problem for these people is not over when they leave the hospital.” (Elizabeth Cooney /STAT)

Vaping linked to higher risk of COVID-19 in teens and young adults, study finds
Teens and young adults who were vape were between five and seven times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health this week. (Justine Calma /The edge)

Development

Large study suggests convalescent plasma may help treat Covid-19, but experts have doubts
A large, non-peer-reviewed study found some hopeful hints that plasma from patients receiving COVID-19 may be a decent treatment. But it also left researchers incredibly frustrated. “The lack of high-quality trials in making clinical decisions about how to treat patients with coronavirus infection is a national embarrassment. Here we have another non-randomized study, NIH-funded, and uninterpretable, ”said clinical trial subject Steven Nissen STAT. (Damian Garde and Matthew Herper /STAT)

Clinical trials of Coronavirus medicines are taking longer than expected
Experimental antibody treatments continue to hang in clinical trials, as researchers “test delays, staff shortages, space constraints and unwilling patients” according to a report in The New York Times. (Katie Thomas /The New York Times)

Russia withdraws registration of unproven coronavirus vaccine
In a fit of nationalism, Russia decided to send its unproven vaccine into the world, by skipping the essential step of Phase III clinical trials. Russia calls it ‘Sputnik V.’ Virologists call it “out of stupidity.” (Mary Beth Griggs /The edge)

The perspective

I had COVID-19, and these are the things no one is telling you
Sports columnist Bill Plaschke writes vividly about what it was like to catch the virus after months of writing about how the pandemic sport has taken off.

It felt like my head was on fire. One night I was floating through five shirts. I shook so much from the shivers that I thought I had a tooth. My chest felt like LeBron James was sitting on it. My tiredness made it feel like I was sitting in the chains of the ghost of Jacob Marley.

(Bill Plaschke / The Los Angeles Times)

More than numbers

More than 900 health care workers have died in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, according to a new report and interactive database built by The guard en KHN. The database contains images and profiles of 167 medical workers who have died since March.

To the more than 21,240,306 people worldwide who test positive, your path to recovery can be smooth.

To the families and friends of the 766,414 people who died worldwide – 168,458 of those in the US – your loved ones have not been forgotten.

Stay safe, everyone.