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COVID, Masks & Distance

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Great New York Times article showing why masks and distance can stop the spread of COVID-19: This 3-D Simulation Shows Why Social Distancing Is So Important A great pattern for sewing your own masks can also be found on NYT: H ow to Sew a Fabric Face Mask I made three changes after reading and analyzing other mask patterns: 1. I use elastic cord or 1/4" elastic instead of the fabric ties in the pattern. I had the elastic in my notions drawer; it is nearly impossible to buy it anymore and what is available is being sold at exorbitant prices. 2. I make them using three plys: cotton high thread count bedsheet (next to my face), interfacing or stabilizer (sandwiched) and cotton flannel on the exterior. The goal is to filter as much as possible yet breathe; all three of my choices are tightly woven yet breathable. You can make a mask out of 2-3 layers of the same flannel or bedsheet but ensure you turn a layer 90° to the others to maximize filtering. 3. I added a piece of wire to make ...
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COVID Data

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The rate of infection in this country continues to be stunning. That groups of protestors and the White House are trying to force the country to "open for business" without widespread testing, a vaccine or effective treatment will kill more Americans, leave more Americans grieving and slow the economic recovery. Read the NY Times editorial " Trump's Role in the Death Toll " to see graphically why testing is essential to survival. In a nutshell, Mr. Leonhardt states that the US and S. Korea "each had their first confirmed case of coronavirus around Jan 20 ... each had their first death in late February". But "from the beginning, S. Korea took the virus extremely seriously, with widespread testing ...". The graph shows that their program of testing, tracing contacts and quarantining has minimized their death rate.  The US sure is winning the race to have the highest number of cases, most rapid increase in cases and kill the most people per capi...
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Mapping COVID-19

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Interactive Real Time Map of COVID-19 While COVID-19 has nothing to do explicitly with Textron, it does have much to do with the state of the world economy, stock valuations and Textron's future sales. Will fear of crowds lead to greater private  aircraft sales, or less because businesses are in recession? Click on the link above for an interactive, real-time map maintained by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, based on an article in Lancet: Dong E, Du H, Gardner L. An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real time. Lancet Infect Dis ; published online Feb 19 2020.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473- 3099(20)30120-1 . 
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