I need help with #covid#information that I can use with trying to educate a few friends who I can't be around physically because they are referring to covid as seasonal. I know it's not. Please help me with finding some easy to understand links or graphics that I can send to them so they can learn why it is not like seasonal cold/flu. Search results had too many disinformation links; need help on links & graphics without disinfo.
@msquebanh A good point I saw a little while ago was that if #covid were truly "seasonal," the peaks and troughs would be inverse for countries in the northern and southern hemispheres.
But as you can see from Our World in Data, both Australia and Brazil reported roughly the same patterns as, for example, the US, Japan, and Germany
(I highlighted the date in May because May 8 was the day covid stopped being tracked by the government in Japan, so it's easy to see that the data doesn't improve so much as cut off
But then I noticed that the US is just straight up gone at that point 🥲)
Moderna continues to track covid numbers at this site for here in Japan (Japanese only, though) https://moderna-epi-report.jp/
@CassandraZeroCovid@niji_limbo Yes...it's getting really frustrating to keep hearing people say - tis the season - referring to covid in Winter. Friends who I once thought had better critical thinking minds, failing me & it adds to my increasing social physical isolation & increases my depression - which hits me hard almost every Winter, from longtime SAD issues. I only have about 4 safe friends left, who I can be around in person.
@msquebanh@CassandraZeroCovid It's all so terribly isolating 😣 I wish for you many safer IRL friends who value both your and their safety and well-being over convenience
That fact that Covid rampages in the hottest months has been well hidden by CDC. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that ALL viruses who have been characterized as "seasonal" are probably just airborne viruses which are let loose as soon as everybody moves inside in the coldest + hottest months.
@niji_limbo@CassandraZeroCovid Thank you. It's hard not to get more depressed because some of the friends I can't be around anymore since they're no longer safe, are longtime friends whom I thought would care about my health more. I haven't fully processed those losses yet. I don't even know where to meet new IRL friends because there's not much safe spaces for me to meet new folks. I'm grateful for online friends who understand. Just wish I had more offline friends who understood too.
@msquebanh I'm having a similar issue. I know there are resources like https://covidmeetups.com/
but there are literally 0 hits for the country where I actually live 🥲
I wish there were more databases where folks who are vocal about being conscientious online and want to meet other like-minded folks offline could search for clubs/activities/businesses/spaces where we can be safe AND social
@msquebanh There really should be :( It would improve so many people's quality of life, and it's so simple to put together (even if it isn't so easy to maintain)
@msquebanh What I have found difficult is finding current information. COVID has had the heck studied out of it, but most of the search results are over a year old. #COVID
@msquebanh You can find a regularly updated graph showing COVID and flu deaths here: https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/mortality.html It shows that in the best weeks, even today, COVID kills more than flu dies in its worst, and that COVID deaths don't have much of a seasonal pattern.
@shqippy The problem is our public health professionals have spread disinformation that fed into more people thinking it's normal to get covid in Winter now.
@msquebanh
Seasonal typically means one peak in infections (deaths) per year. Here’s a graph of annual/seasonal flu peaks that occur every year in the fall except for 2021 when covid mitigations precluded a flu season.
The other graph shows multiple peaks in covid (waves) in single years = not seasonal.
@NMBA I think they may point to the chart & say, look, 2023 looks more like 2019, so it's leveling out now. They'll notice big spikes in between & point at lower levels.
@msquebanh
Can’t compare 2019 with 2023 because 2023 flu season is just starting (not levelling out, rather about to peak). A meaningful comparison would need to compare equal time frames. Tell
them to count the peaks per year for flu for 2020 and 2022 (1/yr) and compare against the number of covid peaks (>1/yr). If they don’t have skills to properly interpret a graph, logic won’t help.
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