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Re:Why N95 masks are hard to make by gwright on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @11:41PM (#22613406)
> The coronavirus is an upper respiratory virus

I thought it was a lower respiratory virus. I have no idea if that changes the efficacy of masks but...

Re:Why N95 masks are hard to make by Gibbon1 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @11:49PM (#22613444)
Probably a typo/fumble finger. Wading through all the dreck it seems that it causes viral pneumonia which is always bad news.

Read just today that an advantage of any mask is it keeps people from transferring the virus from their fingers to their mouth and nose. A paper on the effectiveness of home made masks, like from tee shirt material says they are in no way a replacement for N95 masks but are better than nothing.

Re:Why N95 masks are hard to make by bitL on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @12:02AM (#22613505)
My understanding is that it starts as an upper respiratory virus (mainly concentrated in the throat), leading to flu/cold-like symptoms and only those unlucky ones that get it deep in their lungs attached to ACE2 receptors end up with a life-threatening lower respiratory illness requiring ICU and ventilator/ECMO due to immunity going berserk and killing off lung tissue with virus embedded in it, a cytokine storm.
Re:Why N95 masks are hard to make by adrianN on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @12:52AM (#22613752)
Unlike with SARS there is a significant viral load in the upper respiratory tract too.