SARS-CoV-2
Links and information
Transmission
Masks
Masks- Love them/hate them, but do they help protect or harm?
There are rightly many concerns about masks. Do they offer protection? Do they increase carbon dioxide in inhaled air? Do they lead to inhaled bacterial content?
Carbon Dioxide Increases & Face Masks
Carbon dioxide increases with specified respirators, but remains below short-term NIOSH limits
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PAPR respirator
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KN95 respirator
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Valve respirator
Does not include surgical or cloth masks
The mis/disinformation circulating due to a pediatric study in JAMA has since been retracted
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Graph below from Nature study (linked below in yellow) shows for concordance BinaxNOW compared to PCR when viral load is high, medium, and low
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Sensitivity tends to dip with low viral load, but improves with repeated testing
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BinaxNOW test is sensitive for all variant types, is cost affordable, and has quick turnaround time
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Caution is needed during first days of transmission with any kind of antigen test where sensitivity comes into play
