There is some limited in vitro data to show that one of the ingredients inactivates the virus while another ingredient makes it more difficult for it to "stick" to the mucous membrane. It's been on the market and widely used for allergies so we know it is safe, thus I don't mind giving it a try even if there's not lots of data. My hope would be that it makes it less likely that virus that did happen to find its way in would result in infection. It wasn't previously classed as a drug , so the fda can't approve it, but they are working on changing that. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7645297/ https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04858620

@Spryte besides the obvious vaccine and protective mask you could try xclear nasal spray and use mouthwash. My kids who are too young to vax (but not high risk) can do some limited outdoor things with other kids around. I have them use a couple squirts of xclear beforehand and use Listerine afterward.

Some of you with KF94s might be interested in this experiment with fit. The moral of the story is to use something to clip it behind the head and pull it tight to get the best fit factor. Aaron did a video comparing fit factor to filtration rate showing that you still get something like 95% with a fit factor of 40. Just something to be aware of it you have to go somewhere high risk. I did this yesterday when I had to take my 8 yo to urgent care. I was so thankful to have the kf94s. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8289716/

I'm curious about the 4% of unvaccinated doctors. The medical contraindication rate can't be that high, I don't think? I wonder if some of the doctors who were already infected decided not to get vaccinated.

Even if the employees didn't do anything, it would at least alert any high risk people to stay away from them.

@wathe, yeah I know them. I had already gotten into a tiff with one of them about it awhile back when she claimed it was dangerous to have kids mask because if adults can't see kids' facial expressions it might make it more difficult to identify and rescue child tea-trafficking victims. I put a little pro-vax frame on my fb a couple weeks ago in hopes that people might realize that not everyone is anti vax/anti-mask just because they homeschool. I had hoped it would discourage people from trying to wipe their stupid on me. So far it has been pretty successful.

Already done, blocked actually, but it is pretty irritating to see them in a place where they are obviously flouting the rules, particularly the one who was at the grocery store since that is the sort of place people need to go even if they are high risk.

Because they constantly post a bunch of bs about it on fb. One of them doesn't even do regular childhood vaccines for her kids.

At a store that says unvaccinated people must wear masks, how do you suppress the urge to point and scream, "unclean, unclean?" Seriously, two of them today, one at Petco and one at Aldi. I had my KF94 ( plus I'm vaccinated) and their faces were bare. This is kinda of JAWM, but I guess what irritated me so much is that they both think they are so holy that by they have to practically rub it in your face, but they can't show the simplest sign of respect for their neighbors or the property owners.

This has a good chart too. Figure 1 shows the percent culture positivity, essentially whether or not the virus that they are shedding is infectious or inactivated. Vaccinated people have deactivated much more of the viral load.

There is undoubtedly survivor bias in the data, but I kind of think there is a plausible mechanism as well. In an infection we make antibodies to a whole bunch of different places on the pathogen. They are more or less effective depending on where they bind, but in vax we only make a very specific type of antibody. It does seem logical that having a mishmash of antibodies would better protect against variants, even if there are fewer antibodies overall, because the virus would have to have a functional change in multiple places to evade all of them.

Yes, you can get bifocals or progressive readers, but if you want rimless you will probably need to have them made at an optical. The have to use polycarbonate lenses to do rimless, which drives the price up and also results in poorer optical quality than cr-39 (the entry level plastic option. " A semi-rimless can be done with the cheaper lenses and purchased online-maybe that would be acceptable considering the price difference.

Yes, this is why I feel ok about it. Lots of white collar workers had a vaccine clinic right at their place of employment and were given some leeway to deal with side effects. I have been saying for months that they should have used tax dollars to give all the minimum wage folks a paid day off after their vaccine instead of sending out a bunch of stimulus checks to people who don't need them to buy stuff that isn't even available.

This sounds like CYA against peds just going and vaxing all the under-12s. I would think they would still use it off label for high risk, medically fragile kids. It's not like we're clueless about dosing.

Yeah, I could accept their "freedom" if they could vow that they and their families will not use the health care system, but they will never do that. I've given up. To me they have blood on their hands and I just feel relieved when I see things about how they will refuse blood transfusions from vaccinated people. I'm glad they've found another way to exit the gene pool.

And also that this is really only for young males. Notably, 2.5 times the risk of Pfizer which is not too far off from the dosage difference. Makes sense. My remaining unvaccinated boy will get Pfizer.

I was thinking about this for my 10 year old too. I'd rather she get the adult dose or the larger Moderna dose, but my 8 year old boy I definitely want getting the 10 micrograms to limit myocarditis risk. Hopefully this is something doctors can decide to do for some older kids once the full approval comes through for Pfizer.

Someone posted upthread a post from a doctor saying that the doctors can use it off label for younger kids, but I haven't seen that anywhere else despite searching. I did find one place (low quality source like a blog or sonething) where someone said they can only use it off-label for 12+. I haven't been able to find any other information. It's also unclear if off-label use can have the dose adjusted.

You guys, I saw this headline and got a little worried. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-board-of-education-gives-school-districts-ultimatum-on-masks/ar-AANyjYl?li=BBnb7Kz But then I read it and now I just can't stop laughing. Every time I try to go do something it pops back into my head and I start giggling all over that they are are threatening to withhold about $2500. I'm picturing someone trying to carjack me, but instead of pointing a gun he says, "give me your car with your child inside or I'll tell all my friends you're a poopy-head." Can't stop laughing. Sorry, I know this is serious. I guess I just figured everyone might enjoy a laugh.

Does anyone know if they are doing the 30 microgram adult dose or the 10 microgram kid dose?

My kids are liking the KF94s as well. DD really likes how she doesn't have to raise her voice to be heard the way that she does with the cloth mask. I got a black Bluna and a white BOTN for myself to try. I get a good seal on the inhale but both leak a bit around my nose on the exhale. I've tried adjusting the nose piece and tightening elastics. I have some double sided tape I could use, but if anyone has a better idea I'm all ears.

We bought our first room-size purifier in 2015, a Germguardian. We actually got it because oldest has a mold allergy. We purchased a second of the same brand the following year and another when covid started, so we run 3 now. They all have UV sterilization capability. I'm sure there are other brands that are good too, but we were happy enough with all of ours that we stuck with what we knew. We turn the UV off at night because there is sort of a blue light glow that disrupts sleep. That is the only thing I would change about them.

We have read some of these. They are not anti-science. It's usually an issue that educated people in the mainstream can disagree about and both sides are presented. It would never be something like creation vs evolution. Instead it might be something like gmo's. They are good because we can feed more people with less land and all the details of that. The opposing might be about the effect it has on ecological diversity over the long run. Both are presented within the same book. I really like them!

I read your post because I sleep with earplugs every night, but I hadn't year of them so I didn't comment. Then I checked my FB and THEY WERE IN MY FEED! Sorry, I still don't know anything about them except for that they are watching me...

We were reluctant landlords at one point. I'm my state, it's best to set up an LLC. You need to have rental requirements written down so that nobody can accuse you of discrimination. My renter met all the requirements I could legally put in place and was renting an entire house so much above the average rent for the area. He didn't really cause any major problems while living there, but he left the place full of garbage when he left and melted some of the siding by putting his grill against it. It was also filthy and I had to spend two full days cleaning it while pregnant after he left. I withheld his security to cover repairs, for which he threatened to sue me. I still kept it though, and he finally went away. Anyway, it was definitely not something I would ever want to do again. I'd much rather flip burgers for minimum wage, especially now that landlords can't evict tenants who don't pay. Nobody is compensating the landlords or giving them a break on the mortgage, insurance, or taxes. It's state-sanctioned theft really. I highly advise against it.