No covid trains and stations?

[PK99]

Well it's all a bit anecdotal and lacking in detail, but yes: taken at face value I'm surprised and even slightly reassured by the results.

Except oh no, the tests were done in January and June when masks were still compulsory. That's a a change to a very significant variable, arguably invalidating the results. Repeat the testing every month and see how it goes.

I'll only feel happier if infection rates, hospital admissions and deaths show a sustained downward trend not just in summer but into November. Maybe then we can breathe a sigh of relief (whilst crossing fingers that the next variants don't change the situation)

As breief media eports tend to be...

More detail here: along with link to get the full report.

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/227473/covid-19-sampling-study-finds-trace-virus/

 

[KnittyNorah]

Some seem to think they can be in the presence of others for unlimited periods or get much closer if wearing a mask.

The message about masks being protective was never, or rarely, heard past the point of the word 'protective'; its continuation into 'of others, by reducing the amount of virus exhaled by an infectious person who is wearing a mask, and moderating the speed and distance at which it travels, this infecting fewer people than would otherwise be the case.'

The fact that mask wearing is to benefit others was never, IMO, explained clearly or well enough and the majority of people don't realise, forget or have never fully understood it.

I'm hearing a lot of 'I was on the bus/in the shop/wherever; it was quite crowded and a lot of people weren't wearing masks, but I had mine on so that's OK ...'
No it's not OK. Thank you for being protective of others but unless you were wearing a correctly-fitted N95, you had minimal to no protection yourself from all those others who were not wearing masks ...

 

[lazybloke]

As breief media eports tend to be...

More detail here: along with link to get the full report.

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/227473/covid-19-sampling-study-finds-trace-virus/

Thanks for the Imperial page. The detail on handrails and ticket machine is the same as testing last year, but is more reassuring now because passenger numbers are considerably higher.


The airborne study result is a red flag to me.
Clearly is isn't claiming "you can't get covid on public transport" but that could be the takeaway from a casual glance at a headline., and it goes against everything we've been told about face to face contact.

The wearing of masks, and social distancing, are already reducing. Incomplete studies like this can encourage behaviour that endangers the vulnerable.
Caveats need to be much stronger, and conclusions stressed far more clearly.


Perhaps the most disappointing detail on the Imperial page is air testing was done on concourses (open spaces) not on trains (enclosed spaces). And whilst there's a lot of detail about how filters were stored and transported, there's no info to suggest whether the filters bear any resemblance to the human respiratory system.

My point still stands about the timing of the testing.

 

[DCBassman]

My point still stands about the timing of the testing.

The bigger point still is that this virus just doesn't spread by random contact, and this study only confirms earlier studies. Proper use of masks and social distancing is what is bringing this down, in addition to immunisation. Were this virus able to spread well by fomites, we'd have been in lockdown the entire 18 months, not intermittently as we have. And the death toll would have been staggeringly higher worldwide.