Download or read book The Case for Masks written by Dean Hashimoto and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The science behind wearing a mask to stop the spread of Coronavirus, from a top expert in the field. In America, the debate over whether or not masks should be worn to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has become enmeshed with political affiliation, views on religious and personal freedoms, and conflicting media reports on the benefits and dangers of facial coverings. But now, several months into this pandemic, what does science say? What have we learned from international case studies? Dr. Hashimoto, the chief medical officer who oversees the Workplace Health and Wellness division at Mass General Brigham, a Harvard Medical School affiliated healthcare system, presents the current research, making the case that wearing masks in public is a key part of saving lives and bringing this pandemic to a halt. Citing specific examples of situations where infected individuals wore masks versus ones who didn't and how that changed the outcome, as well as population-based studies in individual states and by country, and the undeniable effect that universal masking had on Mass Brigham Hospital's staff of 75,000, Dr. Hashimoto offers a clear and compelling argument for the benefits of masking. In addition, he explains the complementary roles of social distancing, washing hands, coronavirus testing, and face shields, and a thorough exploration of what kinds of masks are most effective at stopping the spread of viruses and how they should be fitted and worn. He addresses safety concerns and medical misconceptions about mask wearing, why the CDC didn't recommend universal mask wearing at the beginning of the pandemic, and how employers can promote mask wearing in their workplaces. Don't wear a mask just because someone told you to. Find out the real reasons for masking and understand the science for yourself.

Download or read book Masking in Pandemic U S written by Urmila Mohan and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-09-19 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthropological study explores the beliefs and practices that emerged around masking in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Americans responded to this illness as unique subjects navigating the flux of social and corporeal boundaries, supporting certain beliefs and acting to shape them as compelling realities. Debates over health and safety mandates indicated that responses were fractured with varied subjectivities in play—people lived in different worlds and bodies were central in conflicts over breathing, masking and social distancing. Contrasting approaches to practices marked the limits and possibilities of imaginaries, signaling differences and similarities between groups, and how actions could be passageways between people and possibilities. During a time of uncertainty and loss, the "efficacious intimacy" of bodies and materials embedded beliefs, values, and emotions of care in mask sewing and usage. By exploring these practices, the author reflects on how American subjects became relational selves and sustained response-able communities, helping people protect each other from mutating viruses as well as moving forward in a shifting terrain of intimacy and distance, connection, and containment.

Download or read book Unmasked written by Ian Miller and published by Post Hill Press. This book was released on 2022-02-11 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masks have been a ubiquitous and oft-politicized aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Years of painstakingly organized pre-pandemic planning documents led public health experts to initially discourage the use of masks, or even insinuate that they could lead to increased rates of spread. Yet seemingly in a matter of days in spring 2020, leading infectious disease scientists and organizations reversed their previous positions and recommended masking as the key tool to slow the spread of COVID and dramatically reduce infections. Unmasked tells the story of how effective or ineffective masks and mask mandate policies were in impacting the trajectory of the pandemic throughout the world. Author Ian Miller covers the earliest days of the pandemic, from experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci contradicting their previous statements and recommending masks as the most important policy intervention against the spread of COVID, to the months afterward as many locations around the globe mandated masks in nearly all public settings. With easy-to-understand charts and visual aids, along with detailed, clear explanations of the dramatic shift in policy and expectations, Unmasked makes the data-driven case that masks might not have achieved the goals that Fauci and other public health experts created.

Download or read book The Case Against Masks written by Judy Mikovits and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-07-20 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do we really need to wear masks? From the New York Times Bestselling authors of Plague of Corruption comes the must-read guide on masks and re-opening following the COVID-19 pandemic. THE CASE AGAINST MASKS is the book all America needs to be reading as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Written by New York Times bestselling authors Dr. Judy Mikovits and Kent Heckenlively, this book reviews the evidence for and against widespread public masking as provided by the Centers for Disease Control and the Mayo Clinic, as well as top scientific publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. This debate needs to take place without fear and paranoia. Important questions raised in this book are the affect of masks on oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, how SARS-CoV-2 spreads, the effectiveness of various types of masks, those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19, and whether our children should go back to school in the fall, and if so, what measures they should take. The authors' previous book, PLAGUE OF CORRUPTION, was the runaway science bestseller of 2020, and the authors bring that same passion and attention to detail to the mask question. As politicians and bureaucrats of all stripes are weighing in on this question, with some placing their cities and states under mandatory masking provisions, we need to understand the science behind their decisions. Are such measures a reasonable response to current circumstances, or is it a dramatic overreach, which in many cases might make the situation even worse? America desperately needs this public conversation to take place with the best science we have available. As Americans have always done during difficult times, we must summon the courage to have these challenging conversations.

Download or read book Truth About Masks written by Judy Mikovits and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do we really need to wear masks? From the New York Times Bestselling authors of Plague of Corruption comes the must-read guide on masks and re-opening following the COVID-19 pandemic. The Truth About Masks is the book all America needs to be reading as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. Written by New York Times bestselling authors Dr. Judy Mikovits and Kent Heckenlively, this book reviews the evidence for and against widespread public masking as provided by the Centers for Disease Control and the Mayo Clinic, as well as top scientific publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. This debate needs to take place without fear and paranoia. Important questions raised in this book are the effect of masks on oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, how COVID-19 spreads, the effectiveness of various types of masks, those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19, and what measures should be taken by schools as children continue to return to in-person classes. The authors' previous book, Plague of Corruption, was the runaway science bestseller of 2020, and the authors bring that same passion and attention to detail to the mask question. As politicians and bureaucrats of all stripes are weighing in on this question, with some again placing their cities and states under mandatory masking provisions, we need to understand the science behind their decisions. Are such measures a reasonable response to current circumstances, or is it a dramatic overreach, which in many cases might make the situation even worse? America desperately needs this public conversation to take place with the best science we have available. As Americans have always done during difficult times, we must summon the courage to have these challenging conversations.

Download or read book Rapid Expert Consultations on the COVID 19 Pandemic written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2020-05-30 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In response to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a standing committee of experts to help inform the federal government on critical science and policy issues related to emerging infectious diseases and other 21st century health threats. This set of Rapid Expert Consultations are the first of their kind and represent the best evidence available to the Committee at the time each publication was released. The science on these issues is continually evolving, and the scientific consensus the Committee reaches on these topics will likely evolve with it. The standing committee includes members with expertise in emerging infectious diseases, public health, public health preparedness and response, biological sciences, clinical care and crisis standards of care, risk communication, and regulatory issues.

Download or read book An American Sickness written by Elisabeth Rosenthal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller/Washington Post Notable Book of 2017/NPR Best Books of 2017/Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2017 "This book will serve as the definitive guide to the past and future of health care in America.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene At a moment of drastic political upheaval, An American Sickness is a shocking investigation into our dysfunctional healthcare system - and offers practical solutions to its myriad problems. In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare. Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life; fatalism has set in. Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying more for less. How did things get so bad so fast? Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries—the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers—that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before. How did healthcare, the caring endeavor, become healthcare, the highly profitable industry? Hospital systems, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes. Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people. Patients receive bills in code, from entrepreneurial doctors they never even saw. The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms, she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship and to hospital C-suites, explaining step-by-step the workings of a system badly lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate the maze that is American healthcare and also to demand far-reaching reform. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a healthcare system that no longer has our well-being at heart.

Download or read book First Wear a Face Mask written by Dr. Philip M. Tierno, Jr. and published by Rodale Books. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stay safe and stay calm. A New York University microbiologist gives you the knowledge you need to protect yourself from COVID-19 and other common infectious diseases. With the spread of COVID-19, the world has never felt less safe. And with so much advice out there, it's hard to know whether you're taking the right precautions to stay safe. Don't panic: there are simple steps you can take to best protect yourself from infection. Professor of microbiology and pathology at NYU School of Medicine Dr. Philip M. Tierno Jr. cuts through the noise with to-the-point explanations, checklists, and best practices in this brief yet authoritative guide to protecting yourself from infectious diseases. First walking you through what germs are and how every infection happens, First, Wear a Face Mask offers calming, straightforward advice to address the ongoing spread of COVID-19 as well as the germs that imperil us every year. This practical approach will give you peace of mind as it helps you learn how to protect yourself in a variety of scenarios, from cooking at home to eating out, from your everyday commute to air travel. With tips and tidbits of history, he guides you through taking care of your home, kids, and pets. Dr. Tierno has more than 40 years of experience in the clinical and medical microbiology fields and recently appeared as an expert during the pandemic on CNN in conversation with Chris Cuomo and on Doctor Radio. And in this book, he distills his wide-ranging knowledge into actionable, digestible steps. Although there is no impenetrable shield to infection, there's a lot you can do to increase your odds of staying safe. Arm yourself with knowledge, keep calm and carry hand sanitizer.

Download or read book Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count written by James W. Pennebaker and published by Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Incorporated. This book was released on 1999-04-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language, whether spoken or written, is an important window into people's emotional and cognitive worlds. Text analysis of these narratives, focusing on specific words or classes of words, has been used in numerous research studies including studies of emotional, cognitive, structural, and process components of individuals' verbal and written language. It was in this research context that the LIWC program was developed. The program analyzes text files on a word-by-word basis, calculating percentage words that match each of several language dimensions. Its output is a text file that can be opened in any of a variety of applications, including word processors and spreadsheet programs. The program has 68 pre-set dimensions (output variables) including linguistic dimensions, word categories tapping psychological constructs, and personal concern categories, and can accommodate user-defined dimensions as well. Easy to install and use, this software offers researchers in social, personality, clinical, and applied psychology a valuable tool for quantifying the rich but often slippery data provided in the form of personal narratives. The software comes complete on one 31/2 diskette and runs on any Windows-based computer.

Download or read book The Great Influenza written by John M. Barry and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-10-04 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 New York Times bestseller “Barry will teach you almost everything you need to know about one of the deadliest outbreaks in human history.”—Bill Gates "Monumental... an authoritative and disturbing morality tale."—Chicago Tribune The strongest weapon against pandemic is the truth. Read why in the definitive account of the 1918 Flu Epidemic. Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, The Great Influenza provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon. As Barry concludes, "The final lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that...those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best. A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will people be able to break it apart." At the height of World War I, history’s most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in twenty-four months than AIDS killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision of science and epidemic disease.

Download or read book Charade written by David Marcus and published by Bombardier Books. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THIS BOOK IS DOUBLE MASKED FOR YOUR SAFETY. The Coronavirus crisis led to the most extreme and widespread suspension of constitutional freedoms in American history, despite being based on myths and lies. From the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis in March of 2020, the media and politicians engaged in myths, half-truths, and even flat-out lies to bring about obedience from the populace. Charade tackles these myths one by one, laying bare the brazen power grab by governors, experts, and corporations all seeking to bend the American people to their will. David Marcus combines his reporting on the Coronavirus crisis with a cultural deep dive into how those in power used the emergency to consolidate power and change the very concept of American freedoms. Government, media, advertisers, and scientists all sought to set an agenda to strip Americans of their rights. From church attendance to running a business, right down to how many people can be in a private home, few rights were left wholly unchecked. What’s worse is that any challenge to the holy laws of lockdowns were criticized and censored as dangerous and deadly speech. The question that remains is whether Americans will ever allow this to happen again. Now the lies of 2020 can be revealed. No, Americans weren’t all in it together. It was not as simple as “trust the science.” Donald Trump was not a villain, Andrew Cuomo was not a hero, and lockdowns did vastly more harm than good. As America awakens from the nightmare of the Coronavirus crisis, it must learn lessons from it—but the first step is an honest accounting of all the rank dishonesty.

Download or read book Mask Mandates Save Lives written by Mr. Niels-Jakob H Hansen and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-08-06 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We quantify the effect of mask mandates in the United States. Our regression discontinuity design exploits county-level variation in COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions, and deaths across the border between states with and without mandates. We find a significant and substantial effect—mask mandates reduced new weekly COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions, and deaths by 55, 11 and 0.7 per 100,000 inhabitants on average. Crucially, we find that the effect of mask mandates depends on the attitudes toward mask wearing at the county level, with larger effects in counties more positively inclined towards mask wearing. Our results imply that mandates saved 87,000 lives through December 19, 2020, while a nationwide mandate could have saved 58,000 additional lives. These large effects suggest that mask mandates are a crucial tool to counter pandemics, particularly if accepted widely by the population. Our results are thus also relevant for countries who will not be able to immunize large swaths of their population in the short term.

Download or read book Unmasked written by Emily Mendenhall and published by Vanderbilt University Press. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unmasked is the story of what happened in Okoboji, a small Iowan tourist town, when a collective turn from the coronavirus to the economy occurred in the COVID summer of 2020. State political failures, local negotiations among political and public health leaders, and community (dis)belief about the virus resulted in Okoboji being declared a hotspot just before the Independence Day weekend, when an influx of half a million people visit the town. The story is both personal and political. Author Emily Mendenhall, an anthropologist at Georgetown University, grew up in Okoboji, and her family still lives there. As the events unfolded, Mendenhall was in Okoboji, where she spoke formally with over 100 people and observed a community that rejected public health guidance, revealing deep-seated mistrust in outsiders and strong commitments to local thinking. Unmasked is a fascinating and heartbreaking account of where people put their trust, and how isolationist popular beliefs can be in America's small communities. This book is the recipient of the 2022 Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize from Vanderbilt University Press for the best book in the area of art or medicine.

Download or read book Preventable written by Andy Slavitt and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * “Painfully good. The book could have been called, ‘Outrageous.’ The story Andy Slavitt tells is not just about Trump’s monumental failures but also about the deeper ones that started long before, with our health system, our politics, and more.” --Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal The definitive, behind-the-scenes look at the U.S. Coronavirus crisis from one of the most recognizable and influential voices in healthcare From former Biden Senior Advisor Andy Slavitt, Preventable is the definitive inside account of the United States' failed response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Slavitt chronicles what he saw and how much could have been prevented -- an unflinching investigation of the cultural, political, and economic drivers that led to unnecessary loss of life. With unparalleled access to the key players throughout the government on both sides of the aisle, the principal public figures, as well as the people working on the frontline involved in fighting the virus, Slavitt brings you into the room as fateful decisions are made and focuses on the people at the center of the political system, health care system, patients, and caregivers. The story that emerges is one of a country in which -- despite the heroics of many -- bad leadership, political and cultural fractures, and an unwillingness to sustain sacrifice light a fuse that is difficult to extinguish. Written in the tradition of The Big Short, Preventable continues Andy Slavitt’s important work of addressing the uncomfortable realities that brought America to this place. And, he puts forth the solutions that will prevent us from being here again, ensuring a better, stronger country for everyone.

Download or read book Ask a Manager written by Alison Green and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Download or read book The Deep Places written by Ross Douthat and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • In this vulnerable, insightful memoir, the New York Times columnist tells the story of his five-year struggle with a disease that officially doesn’t exist, exploring the limits of modern medicine, the stories that we unexpectedly fall into, and the secrets that only suffering reveals. “A powerful memoir about our fragile hopes in the face of chronic illness.”—Kate Bowler, bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason In the summer of 2015, Ross Douthat was moving his family, with two young daughters and a pregnant wife, from Washington, D.C., to a sprawling farmhouse in a picturesque Connecticut town when he acquired a mysterious and devastating sickness. It left him sleepless, crippled, wracked with pain--a shell of himself. After months of seeing doctors and descending deeper into a physical inferno, he discovered that he had a disease which according to CDC definitions does not actually exist: the chronic form of Lyme disease, a hotly contested condition that devastates the lives of tens of thousands of people but has no official recognition--and no medically approved cure. From a rural dream house that now felt like a prison, Douthat's search for help takes him off the map of official medicine, into territory where cranks and conspiracies abound and patients are forced to take control of their own treatment and experiment on themselves. Slowly, against his instincts and assumptions, he realizes that many of the cranks and weirdos are right, that many supposed "hypochondriacs" are victims of an indifferent medical establishment, and that all kinds of unexpected experiences and revelations lurk beneath the surface of normal existence, in the places underneath. The Deep Places is a story about what happens when you are terribly sick and realize that even the doctors who are willing to treat you can only do so much. Along the way, Douthat describes his struggle back toward health with wit and candor, portraying sickness as the most terrible of gifts. It teaches you to appreciate the grace of ordinary life by taking that life away from you. It reveals the deep strangeness of the world, the possibility that the reasonable people might be wrong, and the necessity of figuring out things for yourself. And it proves, day by dreadful day, that you are stronger than you ever imagined, and that even in the depths there is always hope.

Download or read book Reusability of Facemasks During an Influenza Pandemic written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2006-08-24 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Any strategy to cope with an influenza pandemic must be based on the knowledge and tools that are available at the time an epidemic may occur. In the near term, when we lack an adequate supply of vaccine and antiviral medication, strategies that rely on social distancing and physical barriers will be relatively more prominent as means to prevent spread of disease. The use of respirators and facemasks is one key part of a larger strategy to establish barriers and increase distance between infected and uninfected individuals. Respirators and facemasks may have a role in both clinical care and community settings. Reusability of Facemasks During an Influenza Pandemic: Facing the Flu answers a specific question about the role of respirators and facemasks to reduce the spread of flu: Can respirators and facemasks that are designed to be disposable be reused safely and effectively? The committee-assisted by outstanding staff-worked intensively to review the pertinent literature; consult with manufacturers, researchers, and medical specialists; and apply their expert judgment. This report offers findings and recommendations based on the evidence, pointing to actions that are appropriate now and to lines of research that can better inform future decisions.