Tara C. Smith Sep 28, 2023

"Masks don't work"
"Vaccines don't work"
"Distancing doesn't work"

(They do. Just imperfectly).

I've heard so many of these types of comments over the past 3 years, I thought it was time to write a bit about how one big aspect of infection is a numbers game. /1

Merve Tepe, PhDSep 28, 2023
Show threadTara C. Smith 
/2 When we think of it that way--what is the number of microbes needed to cause an infection?--we can think about how masks, vaccines, distancing, ventilation, hand hygiene, and more can collectively reduce our exposure.
Sep 28, 2023 at 12:51amWeb
Show threadTara C. Smith Sep 28, 2023
/3 In the best cases, these interventions reduce the dose of the microbe to a number too low to cause infection. This is the basis of the "swiss cheese" layering defense that was touted early on, and is still important today. My article @ Quanta discusses this. https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-many-microbes-does-it-take-to-make-you-sick-20230927/
How Many Microbes Does It Take to Make You Sick? | Quanta Magazine

Exposure to a virus isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. The concept of “infectious dose” suggests ways to keep ourselves safer from harm.

Quanta Magazine
Show threadProfessor Charles HaasSep 28, 2023
@aetiology “It’s the dose, stupid”. I seem to need to keep reupping blog posts I did in 2020. https://chaasblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/its-the-dose-response-stupid/ #COVID19 #QMRA #riskassessment
It’s the Dose Response, Stupid

During the first campaign of Bill Clinton, James Carville hung a sign in the campaign office, “It’s the Economy, Stupid”.  Amidst the discussions on COVID19 and SARS-COV-2, the concept of dose-resp…

Charles Haas' Blog