There isn't a lot you can do to stop a virus until you know the vector. I mean the flu is primarily transferred through the mucous membranes through things like doorknobs and people coughing and sneezing in crowded areas. However that is not the only way to get it. And you also have to consider how long the virus can live outside of the host. Most of them have a short lifespan, only a matter of minutes or hours.
That is why quarantine is effective, if the disease is not truly airborne then making people stay off the streets and out of crowded places works. The disease literally has nowhere to go. It worked for cities dealing with the Plague back in the 1300s and it why doctors tell people to stay home when they are sick. Not to help the sick person, but to prevent the infection from spreading more.
Your point about the mask is a good one. And something I didn't think of.
Most of what I know about epidemiology is from history and reading. So I am by no means an expert. But recently I've had to do a lot of research on how disease spreads and my mother is a biologist.
A lot of times, officials give a placebo answer to prevent mass hysteria. Especially if the public is clamoring for some kind of response. The masks aren't a bad idea, per se. But quarantine is better.
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Date: 2009-04-25 12:59 pm (UTC)That is why quarantine is effective, if the disease is not truly airborne then making people stay off the streets and out of crowded places works. The disease literally has nowhere to go. It worked for cities dealing with the Plague back in the 1300s and it why doctors tell people to stay home when they are sick. Not to help the sick person, but to prevent the infection from spreading more.
Your point about the mask is a good one. And something I didn't think of.
Most of what I know about epidemiology is from history and reading. So I am by no means an expert. But recently I've had to do a lot of research on how disease spreads and my mother is a biologist.
A lot of times, officials give a placebo answer to prevent mass hysteria. Especially if the public is clamoring for some kind of response. The masks aren't a bad idea, per se. But quarantine is better.