The organizers of @pycon have given community organizers a massive gift 🎁
Let's not squander it!
A sold out#PyConUS 2024 proved that even large events can prioritize safety and inclusion for caregivers and immunocompromised people by way of requiring masks, and gathering venue data to calibrate their policy from year-to-year. Smaller events have proven it's possible at that scale, too.
Now is the time for at least one other large event to step up.
"NPR’s decision to platform a piece about the difficulty of navigating life with a spouse who can’t dine indoors, instead of a piece about the difficulty of navigating a society that has made dining indoors unsafe for vulnerable groups, is just that- a decision, and a political one."
How a #BigPharma Company Stalled a Potentially Lifesaving #Vaccine in Pursuit of Bigger Profits
A vaccine against #tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest infectious disease, has never been closer to reality, with the potential to save millions of lives.
But its development slowed after its corporate owner #GSK focused on more profitable vaccines.
"Growing vaccine hesitancy is just a small part of a broader rejection of scientific expertise that could have consequences ranging from disease outbreaks to reduced funding for research that leads to new treatments. 'The term "infodemic" implies random junk, but that’s wrong...This is an organized political movement, and the health and science sectors don’t know what to do.'"
“Firstly, cleaning indoor air mitigates all airborne diseases at the same time without requiring changes to individual behaviour. Several diseases that cause us repeated suffering and fill our hospitals are airborne, including COVID-19, influenza, RSV, and tuberculosis.”
“As a physician I am deeply concerned about North Carolina’s potential total ban on mask-wearing. It’s disturbing to think immunocompromised and cancer patients could be deemed criminals for following medical advice aimed at safeguarding their health,” [Jerome] Adams said in one post.
Edit: I didn’t realize this would gain any attention. Just want people to know this is COMMON. At least weekly I or a coworker recommend someone seek additional care and they choose not to or delay due to lack of insurance.
“Policymakers and politicians also have a natural bias against the idea that diseases may be airborne, says Professor Jimenez.”
“Droplets and surfaces are very convenient for people in power – all of the responsibility is on the individual,” he said. “On the other hand, if you admit it is airborne, institutions, governments, and companies have to do something.”
I'm looking for a new job (remote or #PDX), please boost!
I am a research software engineer with 11 years experience developing interdisciplinary scientific software that is robust, #accessible, and user-friendly.
Pro tip: If you want people to get vaccinated, stop showcasing giant hypodermic needles piercing skin with every single article, announcement, and poster about it.
WTF people. What do you think vaccine hesitation is mostly about? Lay off the stock photography cliches. You might as well be showing spiders to arachnophobes.
Hey 🇨🇦
Make sure your #measles vaccines are up to date if you're travelling to 🇺🇸 for March Break.
Florida is 'lettin' it rip'
Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected. The virus can live for up to two hours in an airspace where the infected person coughed or sneezed.
A reminder: epidemics and pandemics are expected to increase in frequency as the climate crisis advances [1] and as humans build deeper into wildlands [2].
So what do we do?
Address the climate crisis!
Embrace urbanism, controlled growth, and leave wildlands alone.
Push for infrastructure improvements for indoor air quality.
Push for better healthcare and sick leave policies.
Advocate for better funding for scientific research.
"The most stolen books from San Francisco public libraries’ shelves are not the hottest new novels or juicy memoirs, they are books about recovering from addiction. Now, city officials want to provide universal access to free drug recovery books, including Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12-step recovery book."
"'We need to take this very seriously as a society,' [Monika Mitra, who directs the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University] said. 'We need to understand who these people are, how they’re being impacted and what we can do about it.'"
Doing everything you can to avoid spreading the virus is a great start
Do you know what killed more than 19,000 Americans in the last 3 months? Covid. About 9 an hour. Many many more than that have been hurt, often permanently.
That’s a lower number than previously, yet the risks remain.
Stay home when ill, wear masks in crowds and inside, stay up to date on your vaccinations and improve ventilation (ex: opening windows) to stay healthier.
"Consumer Reports (CR), a consumer advocacy group, said it tested 12 store-bought versions of Lunchables — which are made by Kraft Heinz — along with similar lunch and snack kits and found “relatively high levels of lead and cadmium” in the Lunchables kits...There is not a safe level of lead for children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes."
"Police were pushing into the camp after an hours-long standoff. Chan, 31, a medical tent volunteer, said protesters limped in with severe puncture wounds, but there was little hope of getting them to a hospital through the chaos outside. Chan suspects the injuries were caused by rubber bullets or other 'less lethal' projectiles, which police have confirmed were fired at protesters."
"Latin America is experiencing its worst dengue fever outbreak on record. Case numbers in the first 4 ½ months of 2024 are already 238% higher than they were by this time last year, which itself ended with a record 4.1 million cases, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Cases are more than 400% higher than the five-year average."