The Winter 2022-23 Surge is Here
The best continuing number to watch is the hospitalization rate, since most cases are never tabulated. Covid-19 hospitalizations have been climbing steadily, increasing by more than a third in the last four weeks.
Washington Post, Dec. 15, 2022
Nationally, the surge is far from uniform, but at each location it’s either here now, or probably coming sooner or later. The latest variants are increasing nationwide, and seem to be very easily transmitted.
CDC, Dec. 12, 2022
Slowing the Surge and Avoiding Infections
For your holiday gatherings, and in general, you can pick your percentage of risk reduction: three choices are
- Minus 25%
- Minus 80%
- Minus 100%
Minus 25%: Wear a traditional mask, N95, KN95, or cloth mask. The 25% reduction in the number of covid-19 cases is from a large, multi-school study we have mentioned before. Mask effectiveness can be better if you are careful, but the 25% number reflects how a large number of people wore their masks in the real world. Here is a blog post reference: March 10, 2022 Blog Post
Minus 80%: Another exciting confirmation of the effectiveness of fresh air ventilation was just published. "A recent study .. involving 316 classrooms and 205,347 students, found that [covid-19] infection rates decreased 80% with ventilation rates greater than … 21 cfm per student.” This amount of fresh air, or a little more, is what we have been advocating and engineering since the summer of 2020. When our Safetulator™ Fresh Air Meters are “in the green”, you are getting fresh air at this level. Here is the article on the recent study:
Minus 100%: This one is great in that it involves nothing out of the ordinary once the day gets rolling. Each person gathering together simply takes an antigen test first thing, each day of being together. A negative result means you are not contagious for the day. (Probably nothing is really 100%—if you make a mistake doing the test, then your negative result is meaningless.) See our blog post describing antigen testing: Nov. 11, 2022 Blog Post
And there’s a new brand we can now recommend: InBios, made in the USA, easy to use, and about $5/per test from Amazon and elsewhere.
InBios
Have a healthy and joyous holiday season!
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Highlights From Past Blogs
October 14 - Breathe Fresh Air - Be Smarter
September 2 - A Mask That Really Works
August 5 - Breaking News - Almost Zero Risk
April 29 - The Big Meter
April 7 - How to Test
March 21 - The Origin of the CDC’s Biggest Mistake
February 16 - Ventilation Revolution
January 11 - Air Purifiers
December 15 - The Double Risk of Indoor Dining