Category: Nature

Nature is filled with threes. Land, sea, and air. People propagate many plants by three chief methods. These methods are: (1) cuttage, (2) grafting, and (3) layering. Forests a catagirized into three major groups: (1) coniferous forests, (2) temperate deciduous forests, and (3) tropical rain forests.

Posted on by

COVID -19: Fabric masks should have three layers of different material

10 JUN, 2020 – 04:06 

Roselyne Sachiti

Fearures, Health and Society Editor

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published an updated guidance on the use of face masks for control of COVID-19.

WHO wearing masks properly
WHO do’s and don’ts

In his opening remarks at a media briefing on Covid- 19 last Friday, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the guidance is based on evolving evidence, and provides updated advice on who should wear a mask, when it should be worn and what it should be made of.

He said WHO has developed this guidance through a careful review of all available evidence, and extensive consultation with international experts and civil society groups.

“I wish to be very clear that the guidance we are publishing today is an update of what we have been saying for months: that masks should only ever be used as part of a comprehensive strategy in the fight against COVID.

“Masks on their own will not protect you from COVID-19,” he emphasised.

He said the updated guidance contains new information on the composition of fabric masks, based on academic research requested by WHO.

“Based on this new research, WHO advises that fabric masks should consist of at least three layers of different material. Details of which materials we recommend for each layer are in the guidelines.”

According to the latest guidelines, cloth masks should consist of at least three layers of different materials: an inner layer being an absorbent material like cotton, a middle layer of non-woven materials such as polypropylene (for the filter) and an outer layer, which is a non- absorbent material such as a polyester or a polyester blend.

“Fabric cloths (e.g., nylon blends and 100 percent polyester) when folded into two layers, provides 2-5 times increased filtration efficiency compared to a single layer of the same cloth, and filtration efficiency increases 2-7 times if it is folded into 4 layers. Masks made of cotton handkerchiefs alone should consist of at least 4 layers, but have achieved only 13 percent filtration efficiency. Very porous materials, such as gauze, even with multiple layers will not provide sufficient

Posted on by

These Three Things Need to Happen Before Stocks Bottom Out, Credit Suisse Says

By Callum KeownUpdated March 16, 2020 10:29 am ET / Original March 16, 2020 9:58 am ET

When will stocks reach the low and what will the recovery look like?

Workers wearing protective gear in South Korea.ASSOCIATED PRESS
Workers wearing protective gear in South Korea.ASSOCIATED PRESS

Credit Suisse said it needed to see three conditions required for a trough in global stocks:

1. Clear-cut fiscal easing in the U.S. — which happened late on Sunday;

2. A peak in daily infection rates

3. A trough in global purchasing managers indexes, which it said could happen in May.

In the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis, markets bottomed out a week daily new infections hit a peak, the bank’s research analysts said.

“We expect a V-shaped recovery ultimately and would be buyers of equities on a one-year view; we believe markets will rise 15-20% over the next 12 months. 

“Historically when we look at exogenous supply-side shocks, markets tend to rise very rapidly from the trough (SARS, Kobe earthquake, Suez, 1987),” they said.

The analysts, led by Andrew Garthwaite, favored stocks in Asia (a commodity-importing region on top of the virus) relative to Europe. In a new realistic worst-case scenario, U.S. earnings would drop 20% and the S&P 500 would fall to 2,200 points, they added.

They also expected “massive” monetary and fiscal stimulus. “This should enable a V-shaped recovery that by the end of 2021 could make up for much of 2020’s lost growth,” they said.

Source: https://www.barrons.com/articles/these-three-things-need-to-happen-before-stocks-bottom-out-credit-suisse-says-51584367103

Posted on by

Coronavirus can stay infectious for 3 days on surfaces. But it’s still okay to check your mail.

March 13, 2020 at 8:00 AM EDT

Excerpt: Scientists studying the novel coronavirus are quickly uncovering features that allow it to infect and sicken human beings. Every virus has a signature way of interacting with the world, and this one — SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease covid-19 — is well-equipped to create a historic pandemic.

Corona virus covid-19
Corona virus covid-19

The coronavirus may take many days — up to 14 — before an infection flares into symptoms, and although most people recover without a serious illness, this is not a bug that comes and goes quickly. A serious case of covid-19 can last for weeks.

This coronavirus can establish itself in the upper respiratory tract, said Vincent Munster, chief of the Virus Ecology Section of Rocky Mountain Laboratories, a facility in Hamilton, Mont., that is part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. That enables the virus to spread more easily through coughing and sneezing. Munster and his colleagues have been studying the novel coronavirus under laboratory conditions to better understand its viability outside a host organism — in the air and on surfaces.

Those experiments found that at least some coronavirus can potentially remain viable — capable of infecting a person — for up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel.

Source and to read more: The Washington Post at https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/coronavirus-can-stay-infectious-for-days-on-surfaces/2020/03/12/9b54a99e-6472-11ea-845d-e35b0234b136_story.html