A microbiologist has shut down all of the "Karens" who have been slamming the use of facemasks by demonstrating the sheer importance of wearing one...
Many wouldn't believe that we're still living through a global pandemic...
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But believe it or not, we still are.The Black Lives Matter movement has been dominating headlines over the last few weeks...
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Which is exactly what should be happening, of course.But it seems that many people have forgotten that a global pandemic has seized the entire world...
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And even though numbers of infections are steadily dropping in many countries, our country continues to be the worst affected.There are currently over 2 million actives cases of the virus here in America.
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It just doesn't seem to be phasing people anymore.Many individuals seem to be forgetting that the virus is passed on through close contact...
Grow the hell up. Wear a mask. Look out for each other. It's not all about you. https://t.co/KLcrfkwXrJ— Elizabeth Hackett (@Elizabeth Hackett)1591910999.0
In many parts of the world, it is now mandatory to wear a form of facial covering in public...
Wear. A. Mask. It’s not about you, it’s a courtesy to others. And it saves lives. https://t.co/P3lmigxpgp— Mark Pocan (@Mark Pocan)1591830301.0
But it seems that certain individuals have been deciding to completely disregard this rule...
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And "Karens" seem to be the biggest culprits. For those who aren't aware, a "Karen" is now associated with a middle-class white woman who throws a tantrum when she doesn't get her own way.Who could forget this "Karen" who was spotted in a New York bagel store earlier this month?
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She wasn't wearing a facemask and when she got called out, she erupted in the worst possible way.Things quickly turned ugly...
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The woman was seen to storm over to the person who called her out and deliberately cough all over her.This is not acceptable.
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The woman's behavior was considered as an assault due to the fact that we're living through a pandemic, and it's clear that this selfish individual has no idea how dangerous this virus really is.People were left feeling furious...
And with a little help from social media, the "Karen" was soon identified.Her name is Lauren Balsamo...
Meet Lauren Balsamo, 27 years old from Astoria, NY Employed at @WeillCornell Facebook name “Lauren Ashley” You know… https://t.co/9jyCLQQTVz— Rob Gill (@Rob Gill)1592050655.0
The company in which Lauren worked for reached out on Twitter...
@call_nasty Lauren Balsamo has not been an employee of WCM since Jan. 2020. As an institution on the COVID-19 front… https://t.co/D85k3ZVxBn— Weill Cornell Medicine (@Weill Cornell Medicine)1592066862.0
Sadly, Lauren isn't the only "Karen" to have condemned the use of facemasks...
Ya’ll I’ve found Karen of the San Fernando Valley #karen #KarensGoneWild #TraderJoes #noho #northhollywood… https://t.co/EgOfH5B1eQ— D. Giles (@D. Giles)1593221563.0
Well, thankfully for us, a microbiologist has decided to speak out about the importance of wearing facemasks...
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And he has completely shut down all the Karens by doing so.Microbiologist Rich Davis used a viral tweet to explain this fact...
Alright just a few more things (and then this thread may be too long and unwieldy to be useful) A lot of people ha… https://t.co/gvylbXBD3W— Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫 (@Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫)1593479805.0
And he showed the results of a demonstration he put together showing just how big of a difference masks can make in halting the spread of respiratory droplets.
For this demonstration, Dr. Davis held agar cultures near his face and sneezed, sang, talked, and coughed at them.
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For one set, he wore a standard surgical mask, and for the other, he wore no mask.
He then left the cultures to grow the bacteria deposited by his respiratory droplets...
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So wherever you see a bacteria colony, that's an indication of where the droplets and bacteria from his mouth landed. It's crystal clear that the mask made a huge difference in the number of droplets that landed on the plates.
Dr. Davis also demonstrated the effectiveness of distance on the spread of droplets...
What about keeping your distance? Second demo: I set open bacteria culture plates 2, 4 and 6 feet away and coughed… https://t.co/jObeaiBrpJ— Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫 (@Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫)1593207133.0
While a 6-foot difference greatly reduced the presence of bacteria, the mask still appeared more effective in all cases.
Speaking to BuzzFeed...
I'm aware that this simple (n=1) demo isn't how you culture viruses or model spread of SARS-CoV-2. But colonies o… https://t.co/M1NonZQuIR— Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫 (@Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫)1593207134.0
He also stressed that the type of mask wouldn't make much of a difference...
So COULD you test different masks with this same set up? Yes. Would it be different? Eh. Probably not. A mask prev… https://t.co/DvvjA5v77v— Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫 (@Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫)1593233634.0
In short, Dr. Davis recommends that face masks and face shields should be a normalized part of hygiene, just like washing our hands or sneezing into tissues.
What does a mask do? Blocks respiratory droplets coming from your mouth and throat. Two simple demos: First, I sn… https://t.co/wSxIkjKjWf— Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫 (@Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫)1593207132.0