So we just work around people with Covid then? Sharing the cafeteria and coming to work with runny noses and take the elevator with people who are immunocompromised? I guess we don’t do public health anymore, just popular health?
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Just keep 'earning' that paper and paying out the 'government' to fund their wars and genocides, you'll turn out alright (terms and conditions apply: must be white, wealthy, sociopathic...)
As some who is immunocompromised do you think people were actually minding anything the whole time? No and especially not for other people's welfare and they never have. I just avoid people whenever possible. I'm not trusting them to do their part.
Exactly as we always have. Privledge means being able to afford keeping infections to yourself. Did you honestly think things would change just because the germ du jour can be permanently diabilitating or even lethal? This is America!
I shall be virtually shielding and getting very angry when I venture out and encounter people who give me crap for wearing a mask.
Also tweeting our useless UK health officials, CMOs, and opposition health spokespeople and health correpondent all of whom are doing (excuse me) FUCK ALL.
They have lost way too many of the genes in their Y chromosome to even have the ability to understand healthcare ad “ignore” healthcare just like they ignore the frivolous loss of genes in their y chromosome.
I was so proud of how many people on the left were defensive of the immunocompromised during 2020 - 2021. Now the left is still generally better, but it kind of feels like many were just using us as a political bludgeon that was easily discarded when they got tired of covid precautions.
I flew for the first time in probably a year. We were masked, as was about 20% of passengers & some of the flight crew. As they were going through the preflight announcements, a new one (to me) was basically “don’t hassle anyone for their mask/no mask choices.” I was saddened & angered.
everybody else wanting to go back to "normal" so badly and me still masking around strangers like "i trust none of you and besides covid sucking it's been really nice not getting seasonal illnesses, actually?"
we have never really done public health, we do capitalist health. this is return to form.
I think the simplest answer is that we’re at a point where the economy has stabilized even if individual humans are suffering so they’ve just decided to write off a bunch of us as acceptable costs of doing business
I’ll take comfort that the nurse or doctor taking care of my sick loved one in the ICU may have Covid, but at least they stayed home a day per the COD guidelines.
yeah we always come to work sick. I work with kids, we don't have a choice. we just stay sick. it fuckin rules. I've never been so powerful since I started this job. I'm sick 100% of the time and I don't even feel it anymore. I think I'm immortal. unaffected by hangovers. cough in my mouth.
I was very much hoping we would come Out of all this with, at a bare min, ‘wear a mask when sick’ but idek if that’s in the guidance let alone the public
I keep hoping they'll come out with a stronger argument than: "doing very little wasn't working to reduce the spread, so we want to try doing nothing for a while."
I'm so disheartened that they're going with "it's very hard for people to isolate when we have no national sick/family leave policy, so we'll just stop suggesting that people isolate." THE OTHER OPTION IS RIGHT THERE, PEOPLE, IT'S IN YOUR SENTENCE
They’re claiming that places that already officially totally gave up on isolation are doing equally badly as places that only unofficially totally gave up so I guess that’s why they feel fine about making the giving up official national policy (instead of, like, doing literally anything else)
I hate that this appears to be our reality, but: teaching multi-hundred students college courses in person has absolutely felt like this since mask mandates were dropped. I'm not sure I've had a single lecture section without people coughing and sneezing.
Even prior to COVID; people would go to work when ill unless they were physically unable. Most employers never cared about the well-being of their workers and the economic reality faced by employees made it that much acceptable to go to work when ill.
And don’t get me started on the state of our healthcare system that prices out people from wanting to go to the doctor when they’re sick; or the abysmal teaching of science in schools that leaves people ignorant to the fact that doctors can’t do much for your run-of-the-mill viral infection.
Not even just acceptable. Many years ago I was working a survival fast food job and the policy was:
Zero excused absences for any reason.
One unexcused absence was immediate termination.
You weren't allowed time off. Ever. I had to work while so sick I couldn't think straight.
they want to sacrifice people to the church of capitalism. people dying is preferable to the change of status quo in the eyes of these people. hundreds of people still die every day from covid. removal of guidelines is another way for the rich to be served by the poor, who they see as expendable.
I work in healthcare, in a safety net hospital serving an underserved patient population. I am also immunocompromised. And very, very weary. Too many colleagues care about fitting in and “getting back to normal” more than protecting patients. Not to mention hospital administration.
Anymore?
I worked at a hospital for 10 years. We were ALWAYS been pressured to show up as long as no fever over 100.4%. Common cold, flu, and covid. It's all just treated the same now. Places that are habitually understaffed have been ignoring communicable diseases for YEARS.
And they say this like ppl actually isolate when sick with other viruses. It's basically throwing up their hands and saying, "you're on your own" but that's the way it's been for so long.😔
You are still rolling weighted dice if you are masked in a one-way masking situation for extended periods of time. We can't keep accepting "personal risk assessment" as a public health policy with a disease requiring BSL-3 controls in a research setting.
A good reminder here: One way masking with an N95 that fits well is only 83% effective at preventing covid. Wearing a mask, using Enovid, & a hepa/uv filter at my desk saved me for 4 years—then my boss insisted I attend a 4 hour meeting where I was the only one in a respirator. Guess what happened.
Yep, avoided it for 4 years after all precautions. Had to travel for work, was v. careful (respirator everywhere, nasal rinse, etc.) and never caught it. Spend hours with my sick mother in hospital where I'm practically the only person masking? Popped positive 2 weeks ago and have felt effed since.
feeling love +rage for you both, along with so many others. that we can't be safe when we're most vulnerable, getting medical "care", is an impossibly ludicrous evil. +the broken social compact is devastating to witness. solidarity 🖤
Let's not forget the clerks that work in grocery stores, 7-Elevens, everyday folks who probably don't even get any paid time off, and would probably get fired if they called in sick.
I was on Caltrain a few days ago - on Superb Owl Sunday - and I was one of very few people masked. Maybe it’s because I follow many disabled folks/activists on social media, but I still think about case rates, asymptomatic transmission, immunocompromised folks.
But has the prevalence of vaccinated folks reduced the risk of super-spreader events? If so few are masking, does the masking mainly benefit me and my network? Not gonna touch “COVID is just a cold” until it’s sequelae are better understood. I do find myself asking, am I being overcautious?
I keep thinking of that so-called 80-20 rule. Maybe the policy, such as it is, is just fine for 80% (or whatever) of the population, but what of the rest??
And why is there so little discussion/implementation of HEPA filtration and/or air-cleaning measures? Are there studies that show whether these help or do not help, under what conditions, CADR, filter types, etc?
I get that it’s easier and cheaper to not dig into these questions and to just party like it’s 2019, but if we do, wouldn’t we want to have a better handle on risk impactors?
This is what I hear, but hospitalization numbers are not readily available or reported in any organized, systematic fashion. Ditto on COVID test outcomes, etc.
That is one new indicator that’s reflective of the prevalence of virus in the local population. But is public-health policy (yeah yeah, I know) set up to respond to those measured values?
I don't understand why we are making policy around what *some* people are doing anyway. This is were guidance and education and supportive policies are most needed... but we're doing the opposite.
I still wear my mask everywhere. I back it up with Enovid and a portable air purifier in higher risk environments. Nurses are frequently hostile when I ask them to mask.
My employer abandoned any meaningful changes to protect the immunocompromised as soon as they thought they could get away with it. It's all in service to exerting control over people and making money. At least in the US we exist to make the rich more money, sorry if it's hazardous to your health.
I’m immune compromised. The first time I had Covid, I landed in the hospital. This most recent bout was much milder, recovered in about a week. But I know enough not to go visit my 90 yo mom when I’m testing positive. Be smart, don’t be an ass.
You would not believe the deep productive chest cough I heard yesterday on MUNI. I always mask on the bus/train, but I was giving him some serious wtf side eye. He sounded very sick and contagious, whatever it was.
We're going to have to take down all the "Employees must wash hands before returning to work" signs too because not all employees have been washing their hands so why even have a policy
As an autistic immunocompromised person, I came to the conclusion that society and the powers that be, cares very little to nothing about people like me.
Best I can do now is to protect my peace and protect myself, as best as possible.
Be prepared, while being realistic.
Yeah, but unfortunately the world can't just stop because a handful of people have the sniffles. And people can't afford to be out of work. That's Capitalism for you
You got it! When my coworker announced on Saturday she had COVID, I figured she would be out the next week. Nope. Saw her in the office on Tuesday. She was surprised at how surprised I was to see her.
Ayup. And definitely create a pretty large class of newly chronically ill people, don't forget, that we both don't know how to treat (and absolutely will only intermittently cover with health insurance).
That’s the amazing part: we still don’t know much about Long Covid. Rates seem to be declining as people have more exposure to vaccines. But I’m certainly not going to FAFO with my already broken immune system.
I quibble with that. I read the studies and they call "long covid" any symptom that persists 4 weeks past initial infection, which doesn't differentiate between a lingering and gnarly case of covid, which vaccines DO help prevent, and long covid, which we can't know if that's how they're measuring.
Also post-viral sequelae such as post-covid diabetes or cardiac issues are long covid, too, aren’t they? The virus causes all kinds of health issue beyond lingering covid fatigue & cough et al.
Yup. There have been plenty of young athletes & entertainers who are literally dropping dead before our eyes, and yet the super spreader events continue.
Yes. And anecdotally, MDs are seeing fewer cases of LC, especially the more severe cases. It makes sense. Each vaccine makes it a bit less novel to our immune system. I’m hoping they will let high risk people get another booster soon.
Yeah. Being vaccinated reduces your risk of long COVID, and reduces the severity if you do get it. And at three or more shots, it reduces your risk by 75%.
I’m basing the “reduction” comment on anecdotal evidence that the number of people visiting Long Covid clinics has declined; and the number of new patients has slowed considerably, according to those running the clinics. The bad news is, those hit esp pre-vaccines aren’t improving.
yeah, lots of ppl can't access or don't even know about long covid clinics. afaik wait times can be many months/year+
and it's reasonable to assume large numbers of folx have no idea their new health issues are sequelae; there are so many, but ppl don't get good info to be aware what to watch for.
Anecdotally, I planned to try to get into one, but upon learning the methodologies they're mostly using... decided against. The more those with Long Covid talk to people with other post viral conditions, I suspect, the more realistic and, well, wary we become.
They wanna make sure those who can't afford to take sick days, either because they aren't given or they are unpaid, get punished for keeping others safe.
Same.
When the only info I have available to calculate my risk is, at best, two weeks out of date and confusing to interpret...I'll just assume that every cough and sneeze is someone making phlegmtrails...
People don’t want to be bothered and they’ve decided they’ve had enough of being controlled. I don’t agree with that because people are still dying. I’m finding most people don’t care about infecting others but get really upset when they catch Covid. STOP KILLING OTHER PEOPLE I want to scream
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Also tweeting our useless UK health officials, CMOs, and opposition health spokespeople and health correpondent all of whom are doing (excuse me) FUCK ALL.
(Because that's what SARS2 does https://www.easychair.info/p/the-current-list-of-infections-of )
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bl0DsT8khogQ_TOOYjBlor8TBj7N6A72dDwL2sLQRzs/edit
we have never really done public health, we do capitalist health. this is return to form.
“Be kind”
“Sneeze into your elbow”
“You do you”
🤡
*sighs in lead pipes, burn pits, toxic waste, 'acceptable' levels of PFAs, +bomving/drilling/fracking/polluting thru climate emergency*
So sad.
I worked at a state health agency during the pandemic. I was repeatedly told to shut up and sit down while we did nothing as people died.
Zero excused absences for any reason.
One unexcused absence was immediate termination.
You weren't allowed time off. Ever. I had to work while so sick I couldn't think straight.
Of course, this was the guy who left his gun lying around where his toddler could get it, which contributed to very briefly...
With lack of testing / false negatives / asymptomatic transmission, we've all been walking around in covid soup for months now already.
I worked at a hospital for 10 years. We were ALWAYS been pressured to show up as long as no fever over 100.4%. Common cold, flu, and covid. It's all just treated the same now. Places that are habitually understaffed have been ignoring communicable diseases for YEARS.
Also let's roll back our COVID guidelines.
Best I can do now is to protect my peace and protect myself, as best as possible.
Be prepared, while being realistic.
(800)-232-4636
New hotness: pay-for-health
Hang in there, Kimothy.
It's somewhat waned about 6 weeks later, but it seemed like a completely random side effect until I looked into it.
In other words, *get your shots*.
and it's reasonable to assume large numbers of folx have no idea their new health issues are sequelae; there are so many, but ppl don't get good info to be aware what to watch for.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/long-covid-rates-appear-to-be-decreasing/
When the only info I have available to calculate my risk is, at best, two weeks out of date and confusing to interpret...I'll just assume that every cough and sneeze is someone making phlegmtrails...