Speak Softly and Start Believing
Nothing personal but the language or languages you speak may influence
whether you become infected with the Covid virus. Different languages
spew more moisture than others. Do you speak softly, or loudly? Do
you project when you speak, like singers, teachers, and broadcasters?A
study in the journal Aerosol Science and Technology, says this all has
an effect on how the virus will impact you. For example when we speak
English, we aspirate a lot. We produce voiceless but plosive consonants
like p, t, and k. We pronounce those letters within a word with exhaling
breath. A researcher named Sakae Inouye from the University of Tokyo
observed that like English, the Chinese language actually has even more
aspirated letters. Inouye concluded that in Chinese, “the consonants p,
t, k, q, ch, and c, when placed in front of vowels, are pronounced with a
strong breath”. In fact when a Chinese, English and Japanese speaker were
compared, the tissue in front of their mouths fluttered in English and
Chinese but not in Japanese. That could be the reason Japan has only one
third the number of Covid cases of Canada, yet it has three times Canada’s
population. And if you speak French and most of us do, you will agree
that at least anecdotal evidence suggests the expressive French, Italian,
and Greek speakers have plenty of potential viral particles to pass onto
others! Now it can’t all be attributed to language because the Japanese
have a mask wearing culture, are disciplined in social distancing, and
respect their government’s suggestions of avoiding crowds. We are still
learning about this virus, but it’s worthy of note that different speech
sounds produce either more or less moisture according to the study
in the medical journal LANCET. And loud speakers clearly emit more
aerosolized particles than soft spoken speakers, in some cases ten times
as many! So whichever way you chose, try to reduce your air flow, and
keep your moisture to yourself.
No matter what language we speak we are all human beings and as
humans, we tend to lie, a lot. A recent study found fully one third of
the population lies about whether they have symptoms or have in fact
been infected. Psychology researchers at St Catharines Ontario’s Brock
University found “34% of those testing positive denied having symptoms”.
Women more than men were more honest, older but not younger adults
told the truth.
But what bothers me the most, is the recent on line Leger survey clearly
showing pandemic fatigue has set in, and fully half of Canadians think
our politicians are holding back information. Younger Canadians find
politicians and health officials exaggerate the severity of this deadly virus.
Why? Because we’ve been lied to, too often. Italians were told the virus was
created in a Chinese lab. The Chinese said the virus originated with the US
military. Donald Trump said the anti malaria drug hydroxychloroquine
was the cure. Ottawa Public Health said recovered patients of the virus
would not be reinfected for at least two years. Granting 14 day exemptions
to Uline U.S. billionaire Liz Uihlein and her gang’s private jet fly in for
their 36 hour visit to Milton Ontario. That severely undermines public
confidence. We were told masks were not effective. Yes they are. Health
Minister Patty Hajdu admitted “We knew very early about COVID-19, the
risk that it posed to human health”. This was in December 2019! Hajdu,
Justin Trudeau, Doug Ford, and no doubt other politicians that we don’t
know about have not followed their own rules. Teachers complain about
class sizes but it was an infected teacher (no mask) who forced the closure
of a Pembroke high school. And I am not alone wondering why 50 people
can gather in a strip club but only 10 are allowed at a house party. And
so one can perhaps understand why many no longer believe what they
hear and have dropped their guard. And what about a vaccine. Can it
be trusted now? All this despite a troubled Premier Legault saying “The
situation is critical…please think about others”, promising more powerful
screen ads but he hasn’t changed the rules, yet. Ontario’s Doug Ford
has, and is fed up, instituting a system of provincially enforced measures
that cary heavy fines. I read this recent powerful commentary from an
outraged Canadian, “Not realizing, or not caring about our overworked
medical staff, selfish, spoiled, disrespectful citizens are going to kill us”.
Most believe, some don’t. The sad reality is one infected can send 30
others to hospital, hopefully to recover, thanks to our dead tired doctors
and nurses. That’s what I’m thinking.
Robert Vairo. robert@newsfirst.ca
