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[TorchTheWitch]

8. I was trying to figure this out myself

And no apology necessary. I'm sure you've seen how obnoxious people can be on a perpetual basis here.

I don't think there is any way to know when or how either nurses became infected. So far, I haven't even seen any information on what days Vinson cared for Mr. Duncan. I tend to believe they were probably infected at a point in their care that had them showing symptoms within the 8-10 or thereabouts average period. Just because they got appropriate PPE after the first two or three days from the date of his admission doesn't mean that they were able to get out of it without infecting themselves, and there was still no disinfecting happening.

We're constantly told by everyone that has the experience and knowledge in this about the buddy system, supervision in PPE removal by a trained and experienced person and that disinfection before removal is KEY.

With all that went wrong, just like the CDC said, I don't think it can be known when or how either became infected. But since the average person starts to show symptoms somewhere between 8-10 days since infection, I can't help but believe that both of these nurses likely also fall into that spectrum. Just doesn't seem to be any way to know.

It also could be that the nurses were a hell of a lot more careful when they knew they weren't appropriately suited up but became too lax when they got the appropriate PPE without even realizing it. They had no previous experience or knowledge, were continually given changing protocols, weren't being appropriately supervised by anyone else that did and still with no disinfection process before removing the PPE. Infection could have happened at any time.

I had posted an article recently that discussed that 10% of caregivers in West Africa who become infected that are experienced and knowledgeable with the correct PPE and disinfection protocols become infected at the removal of PPE stage. I watched a video recently (can't recall now which one it was - I've watched so many) that the US missionary that became infected around the same time as Dr. Brantly didn't see patients and was only helping to suit up caregivers or other workers, spraying them down with disinfectant and supervising their removal of PPE. All I remember about the video as far as trying to identify it was that the whole thing was an interview with her and her husband after she recovered.

Be as tinfoil hat as you want to be. You should see some of the tinfoily things that get posted here pretty regularly. It was a good post. I bookmarked it soon after you posted it since I didn't have time to reply at the time, and I rarely bookmark any posts here to return to.