To me it seemed obvious but okay lets formulized it in a study – wearing mask reduces viral load which then allows the body to cope with the virus and defeat it – https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A%2F%2Fucsf.app.box.com%2Fs%2Fblvolkp5z0mydzd82rjks4wyleagt036

This does NOT have to be about mask but ANYTHING to reduce the viral load will shift the odds into your favor. The authors do point out the nuance that the viral load level is causing the asymptomatic carriers.

“Our theory is based on the likelihood of masking reducing the viral inoculum to which the mask-wearer is exposed, leading to higher rates of mild or asymptomatic infection with COVID-19. No prior perspective has specifically focused on this link between population-level facial masking, the viral inoculum, and increasing rates of asymptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2.”

“There are two likely reasons for the effectiveness of facial masks: The first – to prevent the spread of viral particles from asymptomatic individuals to others – has received a great deal of

attention.10,11 However, the second theory- that reducing the inoculum of virus to which a mask-wearer is exposed will result in milder disease12-27 -has received less attention and is the focus of our

perspective.”

“Masks, depending on the material and design, filter out a majority of viral particles, but not all.28 The theory that exposure to a lower inoculum or dose of any virus (whether respiratory, gastrointestinal or

sexually-transmitted) can make subsequent illness far less likely to be severe12-27 has been propounded for some time. Indeed, the concept of the 50% lethal dose (LD50), the virus dose at which fifty percent

of exposed hosts die, determined via controlled experiments in which a range of exposure doses are administered to animals to calculate a dose-mortality curve, was first described in 1938.18 Other studies

have examined the LD50, the dose that leads to severe disease or death, or ID50, the median dose at which 50% of a population gets infected, for a variety of viruses in hosts or animal models”

“Studies to experimentally examine the dose of virus associated with different levels of diseases severity in humans has been limited to non-lethal viruses. In one experiment in preparation for vaccine development, healthy human volunteers exposed to different doses of wild-type influenza A virus developed more severe symptoms at higher inocula of administered virus.34 Giving SARS-CoV-2 in a range of doses to humans experimentally would be unethical, but an animal model has tested this theory of masking attenuating disease severity. In a frequently-cited study showing that hamsters are less likely to contract SARS-CoV-2 infection with a surgical mask partition, those hamsters that did contract COVID-19 with simulated masking had milder manifestations of infection.”

“. In one study among two Swiss cohorts of soldiers, the cohort who employed social distancing or facial masks had no illness after a COVID-19 outbreak, compared to a 30% illness rate in an outbreak under typical conditions”

“In two recent outbreaks in a seafood processing plant in Oregon and a chicken processing plant in Arkansas, where all workers were issued masks each day at work, the rates of

asymptomatic infection among the over 500 individuals who became infected were both 95%.43,44 In a hair salon outbreak from an infected hair stylist where masking was implemented in Missouri, none of

the clients tested (n=67) became infected and the remainder (n=72) remained asymptomatic.45 And 6 finally, universal masking in a Boston healthcare system reduced health care worker infection rates

substantially”

“Countries accustomed to masking since the 2003 SARS-CoV pandemic, including Japan, Hong Kong (Figure 1a)48, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and Singapore,9 and those who newly

embraced masking early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the Czech Republic (who mandated masking early on March 23, 2020),49 have fared well in terms of rates of severe illness and death.

Indeed, even when cases have resurged in these areas with population-based masking upon re-opening (e.g. South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan), the case-fatality rate has remained low with opening

but masking,50 suggestive of this viral inoculum theory”

“Exposing society to SARS-CoV-2 without the unacceptable consequences of severe illness (e.g. a “poor man’s vaccine”) could lead to greater community-level immunity52 and slow down spread as we

7 await a vaccine. The level of effective antibody and T-cell immune responses to different manifestations of COVID-19 is still under study, although data for the development of cell-mediated immunity, even

with mild disease, is increasingly hopeful”

“Although universal public masking can certainly protect others, the “inoculum” theory argues for a major protective effect for the individual and will allow for the preservation of life and less severe illness, along

with other COVID-19 control measures, as society re-opens. This perspective puts forth another advantage of population-level facial masking (protecting the individual) for SARS-CoV-2 control based on

an old but enduring theory18 regarding viral inoculum driving clinical manifestations, as well as epidemiologic observations for COVID-19 over time”

Two major points left out in the study which has been mentioned in these reports. This concept of viral load and its lethalness was discussed in how “healthy” frontline people were dying whereas the general population healthy was fine. And more importantly an acknowledgement to focus on viral load reduction via mechanical solutions go beyond the mask. Public spaces can be easily equipped/modified for the HVAC systems to install more effective filtration AND/OR adjust the economizer in commercial HVAC to use more fresh air vs. recirculation. We can even improve on mask and other filters by using advance materials. REDUCE VIRAL LOAD and we shift the odds in our favor – how hard is that to understand?

Another somewhat obvious issue – obesity comes with problems including potentially ineffective vaccinations – https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/08/05/health/obesity-covid-vaccine-effectiveness-wellness/index.html?

“Scientists know that vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies can be less effective in obese adults than in the general population, leaving them more vulnerable to infection and illness. There is little reason to believe, obesity researchers say, that Covid-19 vaccines will be any different.”

“Vaccines harness that inflammatory response. But blood tests show that obese people and people with related metabolic risk factors such as high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar levels experience a state of chronic mild inflammation; the inflammation turns on and stays on.”

“Historically, people with high BMIs often have been excluded from drug trials because they frequently have related chronic conditions that might mask the results. The clinical trials underway to test the safety and efficacy of a coronavirus vaccine do not have a BMI exclusion and will include people with obesity, said Dr. Larry Corey, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who is overseeing the phase III trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.”

Its time to get healthy before winter time – you will feel better – and you will help society as whole keep cost down and help defeat the virus. Eat only whole foods – including meat if you have to – and you will see results.

India takes the leader board in deaths at 1007 – US 515 – but it’s the weekend reporting

TX leads for US at 99

Death dispersed in TX. County wise San Bernardino leads the US at 44.

The state of Maharashtra is getting close to California total confirmation levels and will likely exceed it very soon. Death totals have exceeded Lombardia Italy.