<story><title>Modeling the effectiveness of respiratory masks in reducing influenza (2018)</title><url>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30229968</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Leary</author><text>The US has 12 million N95 in stockpile, another 5 million N95 that expired.&lt;p&gt;The US has 30 million surgical masks in stockpile.&lt;p&gt;The US needs 300 million N95 masks for medical professionals. [1]&lt;p&gt;[1]
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cnbc.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;28&amp;#x2F;us-mulls-using-sweeping-powers-to-ramp-up-production-of-coronavirus-protective-gear.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cnbc.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;28&amp;#x2F;us-mulls-using-sweeping-powe...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Therefore it is rational for public health policy to reserve high quality masks for medical professionals, regardless of their effectiveness for the general public.&lt;p&gt;I wonder how many masks they can manufacture a week in this emergency.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jvanderbot</author><text>This. &amp;quot;Don&amp;#x27;t bother with masks&amp;quot; is actually &amp;quot;There is insufficient evidence to show that wearing masks is effective at preventing spread of disease&amp;quot;, coupled with &amp;quot;Please don&amp;#x27;t take away our supply of masks that are for health care workers&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;If masks didn&amp;#x27;t stop the spread of disease, nobody, even doctors, would bother. The problem is that mask usage writ large does not have a cost&amp;#x2F;benefit point that warrants recommendation by CDC.</text></comment>
<story><title>Modeling the effectiveness of respiratory masks in reducing influenza (2018)</title><url>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30229968</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Leary</author><text>The US has 12 million N95 in stockpile, another 5 million N95 that expired.&lt;p&gt;The US has 30 million surgical masks in stockpile.&lt;p&gt;The US needs 300 million N95 masks for medical professionals. [1]&lt;p&gt;[1]
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cnbc.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;28&amp;#x2F;us-mulls-using-sweeping-powers-to-ramp-up-production-of-coronavirus-protective-gear.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cnbc.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;28&amp;#x2F;us-mulls-using-sweeping-powe...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Therefore it is rational for public health policy to reserve high quality masks for medical professionals, regardless of their effectiveness for the general public.&lt;p&gt;I wonder how many masks they can manufacture a week in this emergency.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Terretta</author><text>If 80% of people who get this are fine, 20% aren’t fine.  Some stats suggest 14% severe, 6% ICU.  Someone’s going to have to be taking care of all these categories of severity.&lt;p&gt;One scenario is home care, with only the severest cases transferred to a medical facility.  In that scenario, the “general public” may need to be healthcare providers.</text></comment>