One piece of that evidence:

bsky.app/profile/emil...

Yeah, suggesting hand washing for a respiratorily-transmitted vascular disease is as unhelpful as suggesting that hand washing helps avoid STDs - or that holding a pill between your knees helps avoid pregnancy!

12/12

Yeah, not likely to happen, especially under this administration - but if we could get @sanders.senate.gov on board, and @mcuban.bsky.social, @markhamillofficial.bsky.social, @georgetakei.bsky.social, & @gtconway.bsky.social to join him, we could prove to everyone that #BetterMasksWorkBetter

11/🧵

We could frame that semi-RCT of (K)N95 masking as a vital test of whether good masks will help if we are attacked with bio-weapons - and perhaps try it nationwide, with everyone willing to participate (for a week-ish) wearing a good mask around other people, etc., monitoring wastewater levels

10/🧵

And maybe proposing a semi-RCT of masking:

For one(?) week, have people in two nearby communities compare results, using wastewater levels of COVID:

One as a control, with the usual little masking

The other, masking as much as practical (not forcing anyone, just asking)

9/🧵

Tying that all in with a brief history of mask development might be good, along with a history of why we were told to use cloth masks (to preserve the ones that worked really well for the people that needed them most)

8/🧵

I guess you could add a biohazard suit compared to a secure communications link or something, but the above covers the basics - we have found that the "masks don't work" crowd simply don't understand that some masks are better than others and the telephone analogy seems a good way to show that

7/🧵

A picture of a full face #P100 elastomeric respirator on a face - provides nearly total protection against droplets and aerosols

Compare with a picture of a satellite phone

6/🧵

A picture of an #N95 respirator mask on a face - provides excellent protection against droplets and even better protection against aerosols than the #KN95, due to head straps rather than ear straps (also more comfortable on the ears!)

Compare to a picture of a modern smartphone

5/🧵

A picture of a #KN95 respirator mask on a face - provides excellent protection against droplets and aerosols, but not quite as leak-proof as an #N95

Compare with a picture of a flip phone

4/🧵

A picture of a bandana or other ordinary cloth "face covering" - provides more protection against droplets, and some protection against aerosols

Compare with a picture of a 1950s black Bell desk phone

3/🧵

A picture of a hand held up in front of a coughing / sneezing face - provides some protection against droplets, but almost none against aerosols. Could be sneezing into an elbow instead of the hand?

Compare to a picture of an early candlestick telephone

2/🧵

A picture of nothing at all covering any part of the face - distance and ventilation are the only protection

Compare to a picture of the Campbell soup cans & string "telephone"

These are terrific, Scott - thank you! None of us have much graphical talent, so these will be helpful indeed.

I failed trying to make a mask simile graphic - perhaps you could do better? The idea was to compare masks and phones, using pictures of each:

1/🧵

By comparison, both of our neighboring Ohio counties - Clark (Springfield) & Montgomery (Dayton) - have wastewater levels of COVID that are considered Low

Is he High level shown for Yellow Springs a temporary bump due to the Street Fair on June 14th? Time will tell - new data on Friday the 27th