BC SOCIETY
Saved by @ThomassRichards

A short thread on how face masks work, why we wear masks *to protect other people from ourselves* and not the other way around, & why wearing face-shields without a mask, masks with valves, or masks that hang open on the bottom or sides IS ACTUALLY DANGEROUS FOR EVERYONE ELSE...

 I am going to start off by citing from a great paper by @trishgreenhalgh about the benefits of mask wearing, which you can read in full here: https://t.co/l0NfuU85cZ
Masks can work in 2 ways: protecting the wearer, & protecting other people from exhalations emitted by the wearer. Surgical grade masks are supposed to do both. They block out small particles emitted by the source, AND they filter those particles out from other emissions
For cloth masks, however, they are not so good at filtering out tiny particles which can contain viruses. But what they are good at doing is limiting the large droplets people give off when they breathe or cough – before they become aerosolised.
This means when you wear a cloth mask, the most important role that it plays is not protecting you from other people's exhalations but *protecting them from yours*. @trishgreenhalgh calls this 'source control' i.e. 'protects other people from droplets emitted by the wearer'
Unfortunately most people seem to think they are wearing a mask to protect *themselves* from everyone else. Which, unless you are wearing a fancy medical mask with a fancy rating, is not only selfish but also incorrect.
What cloth masks are supposed to do is filter the air you breath out, right at the source. This blocks large droplets as they are emitted, before they can become smaller aerosols (which are harder to block & can more easily make their way through another person's cloth mask)
Early on, when people were (mentally) struggling to breath with a mask on, lots of people bought & sold masks with vents. This meant what the wearer breathed in was filtered, but what they breathed out (via the vent) was not. So, no source control.
The same goes for these terrible 'half face shields' now on sale, that cover the nose & lower part of the face with clear plastic but are *open at the bottom*. This actually means both inhalations AND exhalations are not filtered by anything. You might as well not wear anything.
the same applies if you have a mask – even a medical grade one – that does not fit or is not properly tied, and has gaping holes under the chin, above the cheeks, or on the side of the face. If there are gaps where air can get in or out, your mask is pointless and even dangerous.
Masks made using only one layer of fabric – like buffs – are also not great at doing anything except making it look like you are wearing a face cover. Which is why most medical centres etc won't accept them. They are ok-ish for exercising outdoors, and can be worn by kids.
Face shields by the way have similar flaws *as masks* (which they are not, which is why they *must be worn together with a mask* and are not sufficient on their own). Shields are barriers not filters, and may protect the eyes, eg.
Bottom line:
The reason you wear a mask because *you* could be a source of SARS-CoV-2.
If you wear masks that allow your breath to leave unfiltered by layers of cloth, you may as well not even wear one.
Please, for all of our health, wear a proper mask and wear it properly
Also, thank you to @trishgreenhalgh who has been sharing and publishing this knowledge for nearly a year, and for all the other medical professionals who have been doing everything they can to teach us about *why* and *how* masks work to protect other people.

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Every time someone in the press refers to me as a “twitter celebrity” (actual phrase that I don’t fully understand or subscribe to but this is what people say) it means that my presence and voice are adding social cachet to a company that I find to be quite terrible.

People tell me that they learn a lot from what I have to say here, and sometimes that it’s their first or only exposure to certain ideas, histories, perspectives, etc. and I have to weigh that too. But I could post that stuff elsewhere.

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Abir Ballan \U0001f60a
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I have just received information about a family that has locked up their child at home in isolation because she complained of some aches in her body. They suspected the child as having C19. She was tested and after a couple of days, the test came out negative. 1/n

The girl has already been in isolation for 4 days. Now they are waiting to do another PCR test today to check again because they fear that the first test was done too early and it didn't detect covid. So this little girl will remain in isolation for at least another 24 hrs. 2/n

This is idiocy. Insanity. Ignorance. Cruelty. Simply a crime against children.
The stupid fear and the stupid policies are driving parents to abuse their children. 3/n

Children are not the main source of C19 transmission.

"transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from children under 14 years of age was minimal in primary schools"
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1 of 16: WE ARE ALL JEWS HERE: THE STORY OF RODDIE EDMONDS

One of the most moving and relevant stories of the Battle of the Bulge, or any American Soldier in any war, is that of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, a Knoxville, Tennessee native, who served with the 106th Infantry.


2 of 16:

Roddie was captured early on in the Battle of the Bulge, on December 19th, when Panzer forces plowed through his unit.

He, along with almost his entire regiment, was forced to surrender.


3 of 16:

The men were transported to the Stalag IX-A POW camp in Ziegenhain, Germany.

Roddie was the senior enlisted American Soldier at the site. As such, he was the conduit between all American Soldiers and their German captors.


4 of 16:

In late January, the camp’s commandant, Major Siegmann [pictured here], ordered Roddie, a Christian, to identify all Jewish Soldiers and order them to stand in formation by themselves the next day.

[Jewish Soldiers were a minority within American units]


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Throughout WWII, captured Jewish Soldiers were often tortured and then killed by their German captors.

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Thread: This is a long thread about my wife's grand-father: Vinayak Apte.
Born, brought up & lived in Pune. Aptewada, Sadashiv Peth. Qualified as an engineer in 1920s or so. Married around same time.
I promise you this is worth reading, so settle down with your cup of tea....1/n

Around 1921, young Vinayak writes to Mahatma Gandhi expressing his desire to join Bapu & work for freedom struggle.
Bapu writes back saying sending money for the ticket (₹5) & get your backside up here (not exactly these words, but you know what I mean!).
Bapu adds a PS...2/n

"If you change your mind, please return the ₹5 by money order to Sabarmati Ashram" Typical Bapu, you might say! Careful with money.
Vinayak quits his job & decides to go to Sabarmati. Entire extended Apte clan is horrified. Joining that fakir? Giving up your job? Ostracised.

Vinayak goes to Sabarmati with young wife & 2-3 yr old daughter. Wifey not impressed at all, bcoz on arriving there they are assigned to separate living quarters (men & women), celibacy & every1 (incl her, a Brahmin woman) was expected to clean toilets! Horror of horrors..3/n

Wife never forgave Vinayak & Bapu. She had married a engineer & was looking forward to a prosperous life. Life on other hand, was full of austerity. Everyone had to work & was paid a pittance. 5 am wake up.Cook. Clean. Khadi sarees (which btw weigh a ton!) & evening prayers...4/n
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The reason that so many conservative evangelicals these days appear to be moral relativists is that they *are* moral relativists.

They would deny this, of course. But that doesn’t make it any less true. Here's why.

They’ve bought into the premise that all statements are either fact or opinion: facts are objective and verifiable; and everything else is opinion—subjective and unverifiable. In other words, they've bought into full-fledged modernism.

From there, the secular path to moral relativism places all moral statements in the “opinion” category. On this view, morality is subjective—dependent on cultural context, historical background and the like.

Conservative evangelicals recoil from this approach, as they should.

So instead, they place morality in the “fact” category, claiming that moral truth is objective and empirically verifiable.

And how is moral truth empirically verified? The Bible, of course. Problem solved.

This is tempting, for two reasons. First, Scripture is entirely true; and much of that truth pertains to morality.

Second, apart from special revelation, it’s difficult to imagine where we might go to find empirical verification of moral truth—you can't *see* moral properties.
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