"The results were striking: compared to staff wearing surgical masks and not screening patients on admission, the combination of wearing N95 masks and testing patients using RATs was the cheapest, saving an estimated $78.4 million and preventing 1,543 deaths statewide per year. Staff wearing N95s and screening patients with PCR tests was the most effective option, saving $62.6 million and preventing 1,684 deaths per year."
North Carolina bans medical masks (seriously), US/UK/NZ surging, covid 60% deadlier than influenza, weird new variant symptoms, US: no fall vax for uninsured, covid ripping through New Zealand schools, rAW MiLk eNTHusIaSTs, masking on the Fallout set, and more.
New: Cases surging globally (again), KP.2 FLiRT variant dominant in US “defies vaccines,” FDA postpones vaccine meeting, Moderna warns LC risk rises w/each infection, tests rated from best to worst, WHO knew it was airborne, hospital acquired infection = nearly 1 death/day in AU, and more.
"A sudden rise in long COVID in January has persisted into a second month. About 17.6% of those surveyed by the Census Bureau in January said they have experienced long COVID. The number for February was 17.4.
Compare these new numbers to October 2023 and earlier, when long COVID numbers hovered between 14% and 15% of the US adult population as far back as June 2022." #COVID#COVID19#CovidIsntOver#LongCovid
@violetblue 's Pandemic Roundup this week documents rising covid infections, the CDC no longer requiring hospitals to report covid admissions, asymptomatic kids increase household covid spread, and the ravages of Long Covid on teachers, healthcare workers, and the UN relief czar.
Practical tips on how to make your N95/KN95 masks last longer:
#CovidConscious crowd: I’m sure I saw some discussion of techniques for stapling excess #respirator material together under chin to improve fit on small faces …
But I can’t find it now and I don’t want to just start stapling willy-nilly!
The most useful invention I've ever run across... Corsi-Rosenthal box.
I have used this so far for:
Wildfire smoke
COVID-19
Bacon smoke (on Saturdays, LOL)
General improvement of AQI
Pet related allergies (hay and dander)
Ragweed/pollen heavy days
Dust from Santa Ana winds
Dust from construction/remodeling
Paint fumes (only partially useful, doesn't absorb gases, but helps somewhat) -- plus it sucks all the dust from the air, so it doesn't stick to your paint
Definitely looking like my wife and I are the last mask holdouts for our entire extended family. I guess it had to happen sometime. Lonely. #Covid#COVIDcautious#LongCovid#CovidIsntOver
Question: Anyone who specializes in indoor air quality able to take a look at something? Used @cleanairstars tool to ask for filters for a classroom and was told it's not needed bc HVAC is ASHRAE 62.1. Thanks!
The #NPR article reminds me of how some thrive in a new country while others pine.
Those who despair miss the life they used to have. The childhood friends, familiar food, ease of speech, etc.
Those who thrive build new social networks, embrace new activities, new foods. They may miss things about the old country, but don’t pine for the day they’ll return.
Maybe a lesson for how to thrive together in the pandemic.
There is a fantastic presentation on covid-19 highlighted in @violetblue 's Pandemic Roundup this week. It was written for heath care professionals but is relevant for anyone looking for a cogent summary of what covid really does, how it can potentially adversely effect any part of one's life, and strategies for helping those suffering from it.
As always, these Roundups are free and well worth supporting:
-CDC to end 5-day isolation
-US: 6th week of 2000+ deaths,1.2M infections/day
-Best of the #CDCsays meme
-Japan, New Zealand surges increase
-Covid pregnant: 1 in 10 get long covid
-John Turturro infected Donald Glover on Mr. and Mrs. Smith
– Disability communities grapple with tsunami of Covid’s newly-disabled
-Nicotine patches and long covid
-Global #MaskBloc Directory
"The CDC does not serve us, and other countries who follow its guidance and advice about Covid-19 will only destabilize, become divided, slip rapidly into recession, and enter an era of disease and disability ..."
"... the CDC has behaved as a threat to global public health nearly every step of the entire, ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. And -- I can't emphasize this enough -- they do not care.
@violetblue cares -- support her Pandemic Roundups:
CDC may be changing it's 5-day isolation guidelines in favor of a "symptom-based" one like CA & OR; many infectious disease experts are encouraging this ("Public health recommendations have to be practical").
Public health used to be about eliminating disease (smallpox, polio). Now it's about expediency.
Institutional covid denial has abandoned us to fend for ourselves. Start with @violetblue 's Huge FREE covid safety resource list:
Building on their presentation last Fall, abolitionist organizer Moss Williams is returning with another virtual event on antifascism and disability! On Sunday the 25th, Moss will weave together history and theory to explore the relationship between fascism and ableism—and how both are driving attacks on our bodily autonomy.
Register for this free event at https://firestorm.coop/events/3145-antifascism-disability-part-ii.html. Not sure if you can make the event? Sign up anyway and you'll receive a link to the recorded conversation when we post it! Moss's recorded September presentation is available from the link above.
absolutely incredible hearing normie friends being like "wow i am just so deeply tired lately i can barely get up" and when i am like "sounds like long covid, do you uh want some tips or resources? masking again is good too, it'll help prevent recurrences and worsening" and they are always like "i just don't feel sick, i must just be mentally tired from stress or winter or something, that's all"
you absolute denialists just cannot stop even after you're sick now too, can you. fuck
the few people who have stuck around enough to talk to me and listen about how exhausted and broken-down i am from CFS for literally a decade. are like "well but I've never felt like this before". no one does until we do, you watched me go from active and SO energetic to literally working from bed, are you being serious right now.
i cannot fathom. the entire absence of logic or reason, the denialism, the... all of it. why. how. you'll all just get worse by trying to push through and tough it out, i am trying to help you without even shaming you for willingly, complacently being part of the problem in the first place.
We got a new mattress delivered today. The delivery guys not only wore masks (as we requested) but pretty decent KF94s, and they had them on as they approached the building. #CovidIsntOver