The only way we can adequately manage risk in healthcare in a pandemic with an airborne pathogen is by having sustainable processes & resources in place to cope with a high volume of cases.
Stockpiles of disposable PPE expire & run out quickly, ramping up processes/skills takes too long, & we can’t rely on building infrastructure being brought up to scratch in a hurry.
Airborne precautions for respiratory tract pathogens needs to be an increasing part of our healthcare routine.
They may be able to produce at volume, but they still require raw materials (filter media was a bottleneck) and supply pipelines.
It took months for them to eventually deliver at volume
We should absolutely maintain minimum purchase contracts for appropriate PPE and may benefit by moving some of the demand away from surgical/medical masks to something designed for respiratory protection.
@harold it would absolutely be, but it’s only one component. Ventilation assessments undertaken in some hospitals here in our region demonstrated that the buildings were not fit for purpose and patients were moved out during the pandemic. New hospital infrastructure needs new considerations (fewer/no shared rooms), better ventilation with appropriate directional flow etc.
“Vapes were sold to governments & communities around the world as a therapeutic good: a product that could help hardened smokers kick the habit.
If vapes are therapeutic goods then it is entirely appropriate that Australia should regulate them as therapeutic goods, instead of allowing them to be sold alongside chocolate bars in convenience stores, often down the road from schools.
One in 6 high school students, & 1 in 4 young Australians aged between 18 & 24 are vaping.”
This paper reports transmission occurring after 4 hours of vacancy in a room with 6 ACH ventilation measured at some undisclosed time before the outbreak.
Huge piece of work by my team almost done. One of the gnarliest single pieces just fell into place with a satisfying thunk.
I'm just revelling in that feeling of satisf...okay, done.
Back to it.
Whenever I see OpenAI's Sam Altman with his pseudo-innocent glance, he always reminds me of Carter Burke from Aliens (1986), who deceived the entire spaceship crew in favor of his corporation, with the aim of getting rich by weaponizing a newly discovered intelligent lifeform.