one way to prevent the virus from spreading even further would be for everyone to wear masks — it’s been shown that masks reduces transmission of sar-cov-2 , the coronavirus causing covid-19, the disease. asymptomatic carriers of covid-19 are hard to find because they likely wouldn’t go to get tested if they don’t have any of the classic symptoms — which undermines even the most vigorous testing, tracing, and social distancing programs.
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as for vaccines, there are currently at least 141 vaccines currently being worked on. sixteen vaccines are in human trials but only one is in phase iii of the clinical trial process. one other is in phase ii/iii. the majority are in phase i, i/ii, or phase ii.
even as businesses in your region start to open, you need to consider your own personal tolerance for risk — and how that affects everyone in your bubble .
‘rt’ is a metric that tells the transmission rate of a virus at any given time (‘t’). r0, pronounced “r-naught,” which was oft-talked about in the early days of the novel coronavirus, measures the disease’s potential . rt tells the actual transmission rate and can guide how regions ease lockdowns and reopen. ideally, the rt should be below one for at least two to three weeks before things are reopened.
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canadian government guidelines say reusable cloth masks should be made of at least two layers of tightly-woven fabric, such as cotton or linen. in a new study published by the american chemical society , researchers from the university of chicago tested the filtration efficiencies of common fabrics, including cotton, silk, and polyester-spandex chiffon.
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here, we rounded several canadian companies making face masks. read more here.
“in asia, it’s more like a civic duty for people. people who don’t wear face masks are criticized,” says dr. elaine shuo feng, an epidemiologist and statistician at the oxford vaccine group in the u.k. who authored a paper on the rational use of face masks in the lancet last week. “in hong kong, face masks are recommended for anyone who uses public transportation or goes to crowded areas.”