A.LU

(This is super hard to read, I'm still learning how to plot this stuff.)

Sorry, it took me a long time to get back to this. I've tried to plot all the pathogens in Sentinella here, but I still don't think I understand much more than before (Rhinovirus often correlates with SC2, hmm). I've tried to indicate hotter periods too:

Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants It remains critical that global systems to detect signals of potential variants of interest (VOIs) or variants of concern (VOCs) and rapidly assess the risk posed by SARS-CoV-2 variants to public…

List of mutations is from www.who.int/activities/t... (plus elsewhere for KP.2). As always, reader beware, I have no qualifications in this area.

And the FDA is considering LP.8.1 - perhaps we'll know more tomorrow: www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Meanwhile, the WHO is being a bit wishy washy - LP.8.1 is "a suitable alternative vaccine antigen" whereas JN.1 and KP.2 "remain appropriate": www.who.int/news/item/15...

The EMA's ETF is recommending LP.8.1 for this year's boosters: www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/etf-...

Differences in mutations between JN.1 and KP.2 and LP.8.1. Not a family tree.

JN.1 vs KP.2 vs LP.8.1 got you confused?

Here are the differences in spike mutations (note: not a family tree):

Nur ein ganz kleiner Kommentar - das mit den monoklonalen Antikörpern stimmt - zumindest in Europa - leider nicht.

Die EMA hat z.B. Kavigale als obsolet bezeichnet, bevor es überhaupt zugelassen wurde. Pemgarda gibt es nur in den USA.

That's an unlikely explanation - they're just going after workplace safety in general. N95s are well established outside of the medical sphere, these reviews (even when badly done) are irrelevant for industrial usage (decades of evidence exist).

Is anyone aware of hardware (or sw) differences between the 8020M (gen1) and 8020A (or perhaps even 8020) that could affect serial protocol handling?

The former occasionally appears to struggle with handling (too) regular display updates, and I'd be curious to understand why.

Does anyone in Europe need some TSI/8020-compatible serial adapters? I ended up making a few more as an experiment (& basket filler):

A graph showing specimen particle concentration collected during a fit test. Levels vary between almost 0 and peaks of 140.

But... is FF possibly an overestimate because it's an average over inbreath and outbreath? (Equally, leakage might still be significant even at peak FF, perhaps I can verify with an N95 companion?)

IME HMFF is almost always significantly lower than peak FF (exceptions apply) -> ergo, leakage must dominate.

There may be better ways to measure filtration efficiency (for local air), but how to ensure that flow rates match what they'd be on my face?

Graph of leakage vs Fit Factor. Two lines are shown: leakage total, and penetration attributed to seal leakage. Total leakage is inversely proportional to HMFF, penetration attributed to seal leakage is linear relative to FF.

An attempt at visualising the impact of leakage (or faceseal penetration) on total penetration for a given respirator.

A lower bound for filtration efficiency (for **current** air cmp.) can be calculated from peak FF, and can in turn be used to estimate a lower bound on leakage.

I was wondering if it might just be more tests -> more positives, but I don't think so - positivity seems high:

Alternatively: more severe variant (BA.2.86?) -> more hospitalisations -> more + tests in hospital?

Mittlerweile sind mehrere Impfstoffe in der EU zugelassen, die nicht vom US-Markt abhängen (Kostaive, Bimervax) - ist es also wirklich so schlimm?

(K.A. ob die wirklich liefern können bzw. ob schnelle updates möglich sind.)

UZH bietet Risikopersonen möglicherweise die RSV Impfung an (vermutl. Off-Label, und def. ohne Kostenübernahme): reisemedizin.uzh.ch/de/impfbuch-...

Hat da jemand Erfahrungen? Ist wohl nicht mehr der richtige Zeitpunkt dafür.

Also curious - not many (European) countries seem to do it, France is the only place I've found so far that recommends it.

The view from Jänzi, a peak in the Alps in Obwalden (near Luzern). In the background you can see a mountain panorama and bits of a lake, in the foreground are some trees and snow on the ground.

The sun starts to rise behind the mountains, in the midground the village of Stalden and its church steeple can be seen.

A view on the climb to Jänzi. In the foreground is a mountain path rising from right to left. On the right is part of a farmhouse. The bqckground is an alpine panorama with snow-covered peaks.

10/53: Jänzi

Quite a spectacular morning.

Mittlerweile ist Terminbuchung wieder Online möglich (seit Ende Februar gab es eine Zeitlang keine Termine mehr).

P.s. vielen Dank für alle diese Infos!

The view from Alp Unterbüelen: it's mostly fog. In the foreground a snowy hillside can be seen, with some trees peeking out of the fog here and there.

Hillside in a sparse forest. The ground in the foreground has a partial dusting of snow.

9/53: a dreich day up at Alp Unterbüelen. I was led to believe that there's a view up here 🧐.

Panorama of and from the hills in Entlebuch. In the distant background the Alps, including Mt. pilatus can be seen. In the foreground are some tree.

The sun shines through a sparse group of mostly barren trees. I suppose they'll grow a covering soon.

Looking down a semi-steep path, with the sun rising above the hills in the background.

8/53: spring has finally arrived

WPF studies do in fact show that N95s can reach 1000x (99.9%) exposure reduction for a very limited number people. This proves that N95s are filtering at far above 95% in realistic circumstances.

(94/95% do remain relevant in the context of the certification tests.)

OSHA requested comment in question 7 of the proposal on whether it should limit full facepiece negative pressure respirators to an APF of 20 when N95 filters are used. The NIOSH certification tests for 42 CFR part 84 filters are conducted using monodisperse aerosols of the most penetrating particle size (0.3 [mu]m) delivered at a high flow rate of 85 liters per minute. Also, the 42 CFR part 84 certification standards allow up to 5% filter leakage with an N95 filter. If this level of leakage were to occur in the workplace, an APF of 20 would be appropriate for a full facepiece respirator using N95 filters. However, as several commenters noted (Exs. 9-16, 9-22, 9-23, 9-37, 10-6, 10-17, 10-27, 10-59, and 10-60), workplace filter penetration is always much less than filter penetration estimated from certification testing.

Kenneth Bobetich of MSA (Ex. 9-37) stated that while 5% leakage is the worst case, such leakage does not occur in the workplace. Compared to the aerosols used in certification testing, workplace aerosols are not monodisperse, are many times larger, and are delivered through the filters at a lower flow rate. In addition, the 3M Company (Ex. 9-16) cited studies performed by Janssen (Exs. 9-16-1-3 and 9-16-1-4) that compared the performance of N95 and P100 filters made by two manufacturers and used during grinding operations in a steel plant. Workplace performance of both filters was equivalent statistically, and the study showed that N95 filter performance was adequate under these conditions. Lisa Brosseau of the University of Minnesota (Ex. 10-59) stated that it was entirely inappropriate for OSHA to consider a 5% leakage effect for N95 filters because such leakage would only occur when the aerosol is monodisperse and of a small size, conditions that she said are unlikely to occur in most workplaces.

There's a common misconception that N95s/FFP2s filter at 95%/94% efficiency. No - real filtration is much higher - these numbers refer to very specific circumstances irrelevant in reality.

There's no need to believe me - here's what OSHA (and L. Brosseau) have to say about it:

If you want to understand why the UK considers FFP3 to be superior, see bsky.app/profile/grum... (TL;DR: theoretical considerations).

This stuff matters because FFP3s are more expensive and less breathable (the latter factor could **theoretically** lead to more leakage).

The 5th percentile results are a surprise - most WPF studies support an APF closer to 20, whereas this study suggests 5 (they did exclude fit-test failures when performing these calculations). I don't have a good explanation for this.

Fit-test pass rates in this study are rather high - so this data is unlikely to be representative of what happens if you just pick random masks from the market. (Most FFP2s are unable to pass a fit-test... but if fit-testing is performed, then the results will be relevant.)

A.LU (@grumpyparticle.bsky.social) I was only able to find one country in the intersection of "countries that require fit-testing" and "countries that consider FFP3 to offer superior protection to FFP2" (or local equivalent).

This is exactly what you'd expect based on the literature, and supports what most evidence-based regulations specify (AUS/NZ don't even have an FFP3 equivalent, US and others have a single APF for N95/N99 etc.): bsky.app/profile/grum...

Filtration is not the limiting factor, seal is.

F-values against particles in size range of 0.093–1.61 𝜇m for FFP1, FFP2, and FFP3 respirators manufactured by company A. The tests were performed when the FFP respirators were donned on human subjects. Total observations are 30 (30 subjects). Range for FFP3 is slightly higher than for FFP2.

PF-values against particles in size range of 0.093–1.61 𝜇m for FFP1, FFP2, and FFP3 respirators manufactured by company B. The tests were performed when the FFP respirators were donned on human subjects. Total observations are 30 (30 subjects). Range for FFP2 is slightly higher than FFP3.

FFP2 vs FFP3: this SWPF-ish study suggests that they both offer equivalent protection:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Key limitation: includes only 2 manufacturers (for one: the FFP2 model was superior, for the other the FFP3 model was superior).

Panorama of the Rothenthurm valley. The ground has a light covering of snow.

Bull standing in the yard: what are you looking at?

7/53: Chatzenstrick (Switzerland) - near the Einsiedeln of does-or-does-not the leader of a far-right German party actually live here and not in Germany controversy fame.