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We've seen hundreds of photos, renders, illustrations of the SARS CoV 2,
the coronavirus that causes COVID-19,
this invisible killer that's brought the world to a halt.
But, how small is a virus, really?
What does the coronavirus look like to scale?
To talk about viruses, we have to understand that a virus is not a living being,
let's assume that this tennis ball is a virus.
It's not alive, it can't reproduce it's just a tennis ball.
If this were a virus, the coronavirus specifically,
which is around 100 nanometers in size,
then I would be a Bacteria in size comparison.
I also can reproduce, unlike this tennis ball.
Now, if you were to cut coronavirus open, which I did,
What you would find inside is DNA.
Technically RNA, which is just genetic code.
And this genetic code can infect human or animal cells,
and make them do things that they wouldn't normally do.
And this case create more virus RNA, and expel it to infect other cells.
The virus is really just that, it's just walls made of proteins and lipids,
containing some genetic material inside.
And the reason why everybody's insisting on you washing your hands,
is because soap is an agent that dissolves fats and lipids.
So, literally soap dissolves the walls of the virus,
and then this genetic material gets out into the world and it just gets destroyed.
Because it can't survive outside its own capsule.
Now, the SARS CoV-2 virus, which is the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease,
infects a very specific type of epithelial cells in the human lung,
if we were to look at those at scale, and the tennis ball is the virus,
then the cell would be around 6.5m wide or around 20 feet wide,
and then if a single cell is this size, then a lung would be more or less...
Wait! This got on a scale, and I can't even go outside,
let's change the scale so we can finish this.
Let's start over with a different scale.
Let's assume that a grain of rock salt is the size of the coronavirus.
Now if that's the case,
coincidentally, the size of a human epithelial cell from the lungs,
would be more or less the size of this steak that I'm smoking today.
When the virus falls into the cell, it infects it, and it causes it to start behaving erratically,
and in this case to start emitting more viruses,
so this steak suddenly started pouring our new grains of salt,
that go and infect other steaks and make them delicious.
OK, so that we can keep getting an idea on scale,
a grain of salt = coronavirus, steak is a single cell,
then a human lung would be around four miles tall,
and a full human body around 27 miles.
Now, the reason why I really liked the rock salt example,
is because it's gonna let me show you how a virus is truly invisible to light.
in waves either it's from the Sun or from a source of light so these light
As you may know, light travels waves go on in the world and bounce in objects,
and then, for example, this skull over here, absorbs every single color of light,
and only bounces the color blue.
That's where we detect it as blue.
Viruses are so small, so tiny,
they're even smaller than the wavelength of light,
so light doesn't really bounce off them,
there's really no way to see them. They're truly invisible.
The only way we can see a virus is with an electron microscope,
that emits waves that are way smaller than visible light,
and as those waves bounce, an electron microscope can detect them.
But as you can see, calling a virus an invisible killer,
is a very accurate thing to say.
Now, this grain of salt scale example,
also going to be really useful to talk about masks.
The shortage of so-called n95 respirator face masks.
The LA mask mandate about to take effect.
Choosing to wear a mask or not, is no longer an option for those living in the Czech Republic.
And across the country, people have mobilized to make and distribute homemade masks.
My immediate question after I understood the scale of the virus was,
what can a mask do to protect you from a 100-nanometer particle?
Can this get through the fabric?
So to answer that question i brought in Christian Marin-Müller,
who has a Ph.D. in molecular virology.
well the virus doesn't just float around on its own,
it's propagated through saliva.
It actually replicates in your salivary glands,
and the virus travels in these droplets.
Generally, with the SARS CoV-2 virus, it tends to travel in bigger droplets.
And that's the main method of transmission.
So the virus isn't floating by itself.
If it was, it could definitely fit through the pore in a mask.
The reason I know Christian is because the company he founded, Speratum,
came up with a very promising cure for pancreatic cancer.
They're currently in animal trials.
But, back to the issue with masks, there have been a lot of contradictions:
at the very early stages of the pandemic, at least in the Western world,
masks were not encouraged.
Actually, governments told people not to use masks.
But that was partly related to concern on a shortage of masks or people speculating on the price.
As the pandemic has evolved governments have opened up,
and started encouraging the use of masks.
But that's not to say that masks are the solution to the problem.
On the complete opposite of the spectrum,
a few groups have started sharing charts like this one,
and you've probably seen them around.
Where masks are posed as the solution to the problem.
And that's not the case,
this a classic example of how you can tweak real information, it's not fake news,
but you can tweak real information to prove your point.
If you add into this chart a bunch of countries that have not forced the use of masks,
you can see that masks aren't the only variable.
That's a much longer debate, but the point I'm trying to prove here is,
there's a big difference between a respirator and a mask,
and what they were designed for.
If you're using an n95 respirator,
that's protecting from both directions.
Those are very effective at stopping virus spread.
But if you're using a surgical mask, those were designed more to capture things coming out of the mouth.
So that they can't fall into a patient who is getting surgery.
They do have some protection on the other side, things coming in,
but they weren't designed for that purpose, so they're not exactly the most effective.
A team at the Bauhaus University used the special configuration of
cameras to capture this video,
which clearly shows how a mask makes a tremendous difference...
in the particles that you emit when you sneeze or when you cough.
But again fabric and surgical masks are designed mostly to protect, others not ourselves.
And once again, masks can help, but they are not a complete replacement...
to social distancing and washing your hands.
N95 and other types of respirators, require specific fitting,
and specific training to be used properly,
and they're reserved for people who are trained to do so.
If you're wearing gloves and a mask for example,
and you're still constantly touching your face, you're just defeating the purpose.
One of the things with gloves is that they provide a false sense of safety,
because the virus doesn't enter through your skin or your hands,
it enters through your eyes nose and mouth.
And so gloves give you a false sense of security,
and you probably don't wash your hands as often as you should.
Meanwhile, on masks, there's been studies that demonstrate that after use,
masks tend to have a lot of virus on the outside,
and that's because people, even if they're being careful,
they're still touching the outside of their mass very often.
Now, a couple of weeks ago I published this video on how Costa Rica...
was really successful at containing the coronavirus spread.
Costa Rica has not forced the use of masks, which again is an example of how it's social distancing,
it's the government measures, that have made the biggest difference.
But one the highlights of that video and what everybody seems to have liked a lot,
was how I used digital animation to explain these points a lot better,
and to portray this in creative ways.
These animations are really useful to make the video cool,
but also to keep you engaged and to explain things a lot easier.
But they didn't cost thousands of dollars to make,
It usually takes me a couple of days to shoot and edit one of these videos,
and I used tools like After Effects and Final Cut.
So if you want to learn how to use these tools,
I can recommend a couple of great classes on Skillshare.
First, 'Transforming footage into evocative travel stories'
that's a class by Oliver Astrologo,
and has a fantastic overview of the editing process,
from choosing the right music to editing footage and even color grading.
The other class I think you'll find useful is Nguyen Ahn Nguyen's Indie filmmaking class,
it's just 45 minutes long, and has a useful chapter on shooting for visual effects.
So you can boost any of your creative skills for free.
Skillshare agreed to give my subscribers two free months on their premium plan,
so, again, the first thousand people to sign up with the link in the description,
will get to join for free!
Hope you enjoyed the video,
hit that subscribe if you liked it,
and I'll see you next week.