Comments by "XSportSeeker" (@XSpImmaLion) on "Don't reject science because our politicians are fools." video.

  1. I agree with almost everything Louis said, apart from the bit about science and these outside inside kyosks. I already talked about this in a previous comment in the previous video, but I'll repeat again because I don't want people to miss this. Politics and science should stay separated, or at the very least be seen as independent entities to be treated differently. It's extremely bad when government, mayors, governors, president and whatnot enact hard generalist policies that don't offer alternatives, solutions or some sort of relief, even when it is in response to something serious, like a pandemic.... particularly in countries that should have conditions to provide some solutions or at least some relief. And I think a lot of what could've been done just didn't happen because of government lack of trust in science, general chaos and confusion regarding who to trust, which made people lose time and money in fruitless arguments when those could've been better spent on thinking about better strategies to handle the situation better. Ok, now, about those outside inside kyosks and... well, shackles or cabins, and it being better or worse than dining inside. Let me preface this with - studies are still ongoing, the science isn't 100% on most things about the pandemic, but I'm basing my comment on studies and articles that I've read... so it can't be considered anything more than my personal opinion really, but I'll still link to some studies that gives some base to what I'm saying. The transparent tents and the shackles that Louis encountered in NY. The alternative offered is an outside but inside solution. Because temperatures are freezing. Which then Louis said seems worse than simply being inside. Here's where I disagree. What are the advantages of the tents and shackles? First, isolation between tables. Because those are all individual table booths, what you avoid is costumers getting into any space shared among all costumers, without a mask. Even more if they never set foot inside the restaurant, paying the bill at the table and then going back home. Second, if the restaurant has a policy of limiting the number of people in each table, or something like allowing only people from a same household inside a booth, then it's very effective. Because what you essencially have is people who are already in contact with each other inside a confined space. If the restaurant is not asking for this, then this point is moot... though you are still limiting the risk of infection only to a single table instead of going through multiple tables. Third, there have been reported cases of transmission between different tables because of a central ventilation system, which is likely in most restaurants. Basically, what you have is air conditioning system having a strong enough airflow to carry aerosols with the virus from one table to another. Fourth, with the dynamics of aerosols taken in consideration, if those booths are cleaned up in between costumers, they considerably lower the risk of transmitting the disease. The virus is present mostly on aerosols that don't remain airborne for too long, so as long as you take care of surfaces cleaning them up well, it won't just stay floating in the air. If neither the booths nor the tables are being cleaned off, worst case scenario, you gotta remember that the virus is still being spread by aerosols - which are heavy, and quickly drop to the floor. So transmission is still less likely than when you have lots of people packed inside the same space talking, eating, coughing and sneezing. The virus does seem to survive in cold surfaces for sometime depending on type of material, but studies are still inconclusive about that type of indirect transmission... what we know is that Covid-19 is mostly spreading person to person directly, in these superspreader events. Fifth, also conditional. If restaurant staff ask costumers to only take the mask off inside the booth, and put it back on if they intend to leave it, this also helps limiting exposure. Sixth, regarding other comments Louis made. Filters only help contain stuff either coming from outside or going outside, if the air conditioning system is central, which is the case for most restaurants. Best case scenario would be for each booth to have it's own isolated filtered system. Ventilation can be good, but only if it's exchanging air with the outside quickly... which often doesn't happen during winter. If you only have strong air circulation inside a confined space, it can actually be worse - because it's helping spread aerosols all around the room. This is among the reasons why cruise ship cases went to bad - they had a lot of internal air circulation, but it didn't exchange much of it with the outside. And now, here's the kicker - if all those conditions are met, it might be safer to eat in those individual booths, outside but inside, than just outside. Because this is all about aerosol containment. If only some of the conditions are met, it might still be safer than eating inside, but perhaps not outside outside. Because even if the virus is spread among people sitting on a single isolated table, it's still better than it spreading among strangers, which is what scientists are calling superspreading events. One person infected means it spreading out inside an entire household, and potentially inside an entire social circle, so if it's contained in a table, there is potential for it to stay only at that social circle and not go further than it was already going to go one way or another. And with this, I should also note another misunderstood thing with the term outdoors - it's generally used because usually, outdoor tables are more spaced out, there are more chances for aerosols to spread away with outdoors airflow, and during daytime you have the sun hitting on... which might kill some of the virus. That said, if you saw videos... I particularly have seen videos in Paris of all places... where people are eating outside, but the tables are almost shoulder to shoulder packed, restaurants filled to the brim, and waiters/waitresses almost not having space to attend tables... that could be potentially worse than eating inside with half capacity. Again, because this is about aerosol containment. So you see how complicated this can get. And how important understanding the science behind it is. Just remember what I already said. This isn't black and white. Most studies about how the virus spreads out are inconclusive, or just still not 100%. And there are lots of ifs and buts for measures to be effective. Just that, it's better to follow whatever is already out there in scientific investigation, than politics, popular knowledge, or what the uncle of a friend said on your favorite chat app or social media. Links: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-coronavirus-spreads-through-the-air-what-we-know-so-far1/ https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6936a5.htm?s_cid=mm6936a5_x https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2271-3 https://jkms.org/DOIx.php?id=10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e415 https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0764_article https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm072576 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm1501197
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