[Digitalis]

Not sure why being nude would be a problem, so long as everyone is wearing a mask or otherwise ensuring that there is no possible avenue for infection.

Is that your social distancing measuring stick or are you just happy to see me?

[Racer X 69]

Is there anyone else who saw this and thought, "Turn it ninety degrees and you'd have remote controlled crotchless undies! Perfect for the exhibitionist in your life"


Coronavirus Remote controlled mask invented to allow eating - YouTube

We are required to have a mask on at all times while on company property, on pain of immediate termination for violations.

But they let us remove the mask while on breaks and lunch so we can eat.

Eating is pretty messy, even by our civilized human standards. I can't see a mechanical mask catching on for that reason.

We have officially crossed over from the sublime to the ridiculous in response to the virus.

Try going to a job everyday with 30,000 to 40,000 other people. A very diverse group of people, from nearly every country, culture, religion and race. Although I don't usually shoot people in my photography hobby, if they would let me take my camera to work, portraits of my coworkers would become a large part of my shooting. Even before this virus paranoia it was a daily treat to see all the different people, both normal and extreme.

Add the masks, and the enormous range of things people are using for them, and it kicks things up a notch.

All manner of things printed and drawn on them, and dozens of different takes on what constitutes a mask.

You know those neoprene half face masks with the skull printed on them that bikers wear when riding in the cold weather? A few of the bikers at work wore theirs the first day or two.

It was funny to see them take their masks off at break. Faces looking like prunes, like your skin does when laying in a bathtub too long.

Lots of thematic things, I saw one that looked like the storm troopers in Star Wars.

The Bubba Rednecks are wearing the camo neck sleeve things they wear hunting. Those look hot too.

I stuck with the disposable type, although the company was getting stingy with them and wanted us to use them for 3 or 4 or 5 days. Then they went to reusable cloth ones, 100% cotton, and black, so they don't show dirt. But you only get one a month. I got tow somehow in the first week, and I rotate them every couple of days, and hand wash them.

Still, I'd like a fresh one everyday, so I picked up some on eBay. Two showed up today, one is made from fabric that has flames on it. I like flames. The other has the Rolling Stones lips and tongue. Good times.

Maybe I'll model them later.

[MarkJerling]

Given that even an N95 mask loses it's effectiveness pretty quickly and an ordinary surgical mask within mere minutes, that all seems rather silly.

[aslyfox]

. . . that all seems rather silly.

similar to taking a person's temperature with one of these touchless thermal scanners -

. . . Companies and communities eager to get back to work have touched off a nationwide gold rush for thermal scanners, which measure the heat on a person’s skin and can be used to estimate whether someone is feverish — a potential sign of the disease caused by the virus, covid-19. . . .

While the systems can sense elevated skin temperatures, they aren’t precise enough to tell whether someone has a fever or something else: The warmth of a person’s skin is often quite different from their core body heat. People with heavier builds, health conditions or hot flashes can trigger the system’s alarms; so, too, can anyone just walking in from a hot car or parking lot . . .

The world’s largest maker of such equipment, Oregon-based FLIR Systems, strongly cautions buyers to understand how the systems are meant to be used. The company has posted online disclaimers that its cameras are not “for medical purposes” and can’t be used “to diagnose the coronavirus” or “find individuals experiencing coronavirus symptoms.” . . .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/11/thermal-scanners-are-la...t-really-work/

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Last edited by aslyfox; 05-21-2020 at 06:40 PM.

[swanlefitte]

similar to taking a person's temperature with one of these touchless thermal scanners -

So if it says you have a temperture from 90-110f or 35-45c you are in the expected range and good to go. If it is higher then that you are dead baking on the asphalt.

[ChrisPlatt]

...one is made from fabric that has flames on it. I like flames. The other has the Rolling Stones lips and tongue. Good times.

Maybe I'll model them later.

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/21/860475618/face-masks-provide-a-new-frontier-for-retailers-during-coronavirus-crisis

Chris

[Digitalis]

one is made from fabric that has flames on it. I like flames.

Depending on what the mask is made of, one errant spark is all it would take to make the flames get a little too close for comfort.

[Racer X 69]

Depending on what the mask is made of, one errant spark is all it would take to make the flames get a little too close for comfort.

100% cotton.

[Rondec]

My cousin is a pediatric ophthalmologist who has a background in public health. He did a study breaking down differences in countries with regard to COVID. They found that the things that worsened mortality were colder temperatures, higher percent of population over 60, and urbanization. The thing that reduced mortality the most was the wide spread and consistent use of masks. This had a p < 0.001. Interestingly, lock downs didn't seem to have as much of an impact on mortality. (PDF) Association of country-wide coronavirus mortality with demographics, testing, lockdowns, and public wearing of masks.

The pursuit of herd immunity is really hard. Sweden is the hardest hit Scandinavian country and they have been doing antibody testing and have found that between 7 and 8 percent of Stockholm residents have antibodies to COVID. Sweden is still nowhere near 'herd immunity,' even though it didn't go into lockdown Indiana has been doing some antibody testing (a lot of states are) and has found that slightly under 3 percent of their residents are testing positive for them. IU, ISDH release preliminary findings about impact of COVID-19 in Indiana: News at IU: Indiana University This is disheartening to imagine what levels of infections, hospitalizations and deaths it would take to get the level of herd immunity -- say on the low end, where 60 percent of the population has antibodies to the virus.

[Serkevan]

The region in Spain I come from has estimated about 1-2% of antibody presence. Even if New York City is at about ~15%-20% like some optimistic sources reported, what did it cost? Now imagine triple the cases to get in the neighbourhood of that fabled 60%...

[Digitalis]

This is disheartening to imagine what levels of infections, hospitalizations and deaths it would take to get the level of herd immunity -- say on the low end, where 60 percent of the population has antibodies to the virus.

Even if New York City is at about ~15%-20% like some optimistic sources reported, what did it cost? Now imagine triple the cases to get in the neighbourhood of that fabled 60%

The Human cost would be too high. I suspect that CoViD-19, in a similar fashion to the Black Death will leave its marks on humanity. The number of people who survived the black death was incredibly low..but those who did enjoyed a better diet and more resources as the plague happened to kill off those who were old or already ill.

Scholars debate over the exact percentage that were killed by the Black Death, but we can all agree it killed a gargantuan* swath of Europe's population, I don't think the two world wars combined killed so many people.

*we are afforded so few opportunities to use that word in a sentence.

[Rondec]

The region in Spain I come from has estimated about 1-2% of antibody presence. Even if New York City is at about ~15%-20% like some optimistic sources reported, what did it cost? Now imagine triple the cases to get in the neighbourhood of that fabled 60%...

My guess is that even with a doing nothing approach, it would take two to three years and multiple passes of COVID through the population before we got there. Hopefully a vaccine would be ready before we have to experience like that. The beauty of vaccines has been the ability to build herd immunity without the cost involved with actually catching diseases.

[gaweidert]

Scholars debate over the exact percentage that were killed by the Black Death, but we can all agree it killed a gargantuan* swath of Europe's population, I don't think the two world wars combined killed so many people.

The Black Death was much more deadly that covid-19. Most people today simply have no experience with death, even on as small a scale as covid-19. I have experienced the death of a child. That is rare today. Yet only 100 years ago it was the norm.


The today person seems to think that everything that is happening to them is a first in human history. Today we think that no one has ever had to take care of elderly parents before while holding down a job and raising their own children. That is the norm of human history. We are the rarity. Quite frankly as a civilization we are pretty dumb. Because of this we are going to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. There will be no "new normal" after all this is over.

[aslyfox]

the rush of almost all the US states to " open up " now reminds me so much for the rush to reopen the beaches In the movie " Jaws " in time for the holiday

remember how well that turned out

boy I hope I am wrong

[Dartmoor Dave]

Scholars debate over the exact percentage that were killed by the Black Death, but we can all agree it killed a gargantuan* swath of Europe's population, I don't think the two world wars combined killed so many people.

Here in Ye Olde England the Black Death also played a major role in ending the feudal system. Workers were suddenly in short supply, so feudal lords were forced to offer better wages and conditions to entice people to go and work for them. Workers suddenly found that they had an opportunity to go wherever the pay was better, and they got this crazy idea that they might actually be human beings who were entitled to demand some free rights. Of course the government of the time did everything it could to reduce them back to serfdom, but by then it was too late.