Thank you! That’s great news. Though frustrating they’re waiting until October 28th. Will be cold comfort to the patients infected between now and then.
I feel like there’s so much at play here - for example I had some healthcare workers say it will significantly limit their career prospects if they continue masking.
It’s dreadful this is where we are - but the ones who ARE masking need our support.
Yeah - I will write more in my next article but they said they were strongly discouraged from masking and that it was obvious it would have career limiting potential.
One in the UK was actually told she would be disciplined if they caught her wearing a mask.
I have many family who are Drs. I left 11 yrs of teaching. My friend was murdered saving his student in a school shooting massacre when he knowingly opened his classroom door
So HCWs unwilling to self advocate &/or protect their patients by masking (whatever the reason) infuriates me
If they are unable or unwilling to do their job and not harm their patients what value and purpose do they serve besides protecting their status and $?
That is why I and a group of Covid safe people have been running Covid safe mobile masked vaccine clinics, & long term are trying to create more…
Imagine if we could create patient owned cooperative Covid safe HC - mutual aid drug and test libraries, patient owned facilities, everyone is trained in “basics” blood draw, etc, free med schools for those willing to be covid safe and work in the cooperatives
Yup. Capitalism is an inhumane system that rewards inhumanity destroying humane people/relationships replacing them with inhumane transactions they call markets.
And when you constantly tell a profession they are superior & normalize their abuse we have our modern HC profession
The thing where they ask you to take your mask down to take your temp when taking your vitals for appointments where that is completely irrelevant seems like a ritual of humiliation and submission. I know you can refuse, but again confrontation is intimidating in a medical setting.
I always refuse and it has gone badly at times. One threatened to do it rectally instead to which I replied “it now sounds like you’re trying to punish me for wearing PPE. Surely you’re not stooping that low?”
Oof. That’s over the top! Without going into details I know from someone I care about that some absolutely will use those punitively, totally different situation, but still just a screening situation.
Oral thermometers work well in the armpits, which is usually where they choose on myself. I gave them the list of alternatives: wrist, forehead, ear, armpit, or rectal. I wish they’d employ even a modicum of logic when seeing a patient with a sealed respirator on.
As a Brit, I find it wild that the US still uses oral thermometers in healthcare. I'm 35 years old and I don't think a HCW has ever even thought about using an oral thermometer on me. They've been aural since I was small.
“Ritual of humiliation and submission” is a perfect description
It’s almost like if the learning environments of HCWs are just rituals of humiliation and submission, the HCWs we get will repeat those same inhumane infantile behaviors
Comments
I’m dedicating this article to @tinu.bsky.social - a fierce disability advocate who never stopped fighting for masks in healthcare.
She passed away 3 weeks ago - after being failed by HCWs and society:
May I suggest you ask the humane HCWs who still mask 1 or more of these questions?
How can we support them?
How do countries with no to low doctors build their HC infrastructure out?
What can we do in the short term and long term to rebuild our HC systems?
I feel like there’s so much at play here - for example I had some healthcare workers say it will significantly limit their career prospects if they continue masking.
It’s dreadful this is where we are - but the ones who ARE masking need our support.
One in the UK was actually told she would be disciplined if they caught her wearing a mask.
She ended up with Long Covid.
I have many family who are Drs. I left 11 yrs of teaching. My friend was murdered saving his student in a school shooting massacre when he knowingly opened his classroom door
So HCWs unwilling to self advocate &/or protect their patients by masking (whatever the reason) infuriates me
That is why I and a group of Covid safe people have been running Covid safe mobile masked vaccine clinics, & long term are trying to create more…
https://bsky.app/profile/baldurheimdall.bsky.social/post/3l6znebd5og2j
And when you constantly tell a profession they are superior & normalize their abuse we have our modern HC profession
Rebuilding bottom ⬆️
And they (usually) have access to them!
Like.
They used the ear thermometer
They wanted to take it when I saw my doc earlier this month and told them no lol. Cause flat out.
They're really respectful about it tho ;__;
It’s almost like if the learning environments of HCWs are just rituals of humiliation and submission, the HCWs we get will repeat those same inhumane infantile behaviors
Good to know how to respond to diffuse situation - better to get masks back in healthcare so this doesn’t happen