#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!
Again: if you’re on an airplane, you should be wearing a high-filtration mask. It’s sound practice for the entire flight, but especially before takeoff and after landing.
Here are the CO2 measurements from a flight I took yesterday - the two peaks are from embarking and disembarking, showing the plane’s ventilation systems being shut off. This is unfortunately a frequent practice.
@yosh
I took a flight recently and also noticed that the ventilation shut down on the tarmac during takeoff and landing.
What I don't get is, how do the flight attendants stay healthy? They must be getting exposed to COVID daily and none wear masks.
The plane I was on had about 200 seats. During the height of the COVID surge in January/February, odds are that a handful of people on each plane were contagious.
On both my flights - going and returning - only about 3-5 passengers were wearing masks, including my husband and myself.
Periodic #reminder that #longCOVID establishes persistent viral reservoirs and fucks with your T cells, damaging your learned #ImmuneSystem over the course of years. It reduces your CD4 T cell counts.
What other virus do you know that does this? 🤔
Our governments have abandoned us to #COVID. Stay safe as you can out there, and #MaskUp
One of our asks for #VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal is to require privately-run medical settings to meet the same minimum mask coverage as public facilities. This account from Lisa Sherwood (she/her) shows why it’s important.
🚨 Content warning: negligence, denial of care
“I was having problems with my heart in 2023 and was referred for testing to a private clinic. When I arrived, I found one medical office assistant (MOA) at the desk wearing a surgical mask under their nose, and the other MOA had their mask dangling from a single ear. When I asked the MOAs to please mask, they refused. I tried to prop the door open a little for better ventilation, but one of them told me it was too cold. The doctor was wandering around unmasked.
Upon the MOA’s suggestion, I waited outside for my appointment. The doctor came out and suggested I would be “happier getting tested elsewhere” and an MOA deposited my belongings outside.
I immediately got into my car and started phoning to determine how a mask requirement was enforced in private clinics. It became clear there was no process, and no enforcement. A complaint to the College of Physicians was my only option. I faced months of delay and increased heart irregularities before I was able to get testing in a hospital. As such, diagnosis and treatment were delayed. It’s clear that patients at private health care clinics are more susceptible to similar breaches in infection control practices for SARS-CoV-2 and other airborne illnesses.”
Honestly cannot comprehend how any medical professional today can justify going without N95 masking or better, and not demanding significant HEPA filtration and ventilation in the workplace.
Either you are a professional who vows to not spread disease or you are a hack who needs to retire.
There are many unmasked medical professionals out there today who are a disgrace to the profession, but I also know of a few who always wear N95s and bring their own air purifiers who also have given up on the medical institution bc the institution doesn't care about the health of their HCW nor the patients. Those are the ones who end up retiring early.
We live in a country where I can: go out in public with a highly infectious, deadly disease, intentionally (forcibly) infect, harm, and potentially kill my fellow citizens.
...And I'd never be charged with a single crime.
I'd been seen as a good, freedom loving patriot, backed by the government.
Went to the doctor yesterday. Of course I #MaskUp. The nurse and the doctor asked "Why the mask?" And I'm like, bruh...
Think about how different the world would be today if folks had done their civic duty in 2020 and masked up. If our government had made sure everyone had easy access to high-quality masks. If we hadn't been abandoned by those who were supposed to protect us.
I'll never forgive Trump for what he did to the world. And to see people not caring if he gets reelected... Sickening.
As part of #VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal, we’re amplifying the voices of just a few of the people who’ve been impacted by BC‘s fluctuating mask protections.
Next up, from Jay (he/him, they/them):
🚨 Content warning: surgery, medical negligence
“I had surgery last year after masks were discarded in BC hospitals. It was a nightmare. Despite the fact that I’m disabled and extremely medically vulnerable (including immune system damage from previous Covid infections), staff didn’t mask in my hospital room. It was entirely on me to “manage my own risk”, even though that meant I couldn’t safely remove my mask to eat or drink. The lack of healthcare mask protections risked my recovery, and could have resulted in me bringing new illnesses home to my high-risk family members. Patients shouldn’t bear the burden of infection control, especially at their sickest and most vulnerable. That’s why we need proper airborne precautions in healthcare year round.”
Vitacore's having a RIDICULOUS clearance sale on a few 3M respirators; in particular, a case of Aura 1870+ is as cheap as I've ever seen it (or any other Aura, for that matter) -- works out to $0.70/ea
> As Long COVID patients become louder, as their presence becomes more undeniable, as their numbers grow, the COVID normalization project must pivot from attempting to disappear these victims to steadily stigmatizing them.
On March 15 aka Long COVID Awareness Day, outlets across the globe chose to elevate an unpublished, un-peer-reviewed, observational text-message based “study,” and its absurd claim that Long COVID is nothing new and everyone should stop talking about it.
This political choice- elevating a single unpublished study which examined a total of zero patients and ran a total of zero tests- when tens of thousands of others contradict its findings, is unsurprising. The political choice to do so on a day intended to draw attention to the suffering of tens of millions of people is cruel in the extreme.
For one of the most devastating #PublicPolicy#crises of this century, half of the governments in this country have published no internal reflection.
Why the lack of reports? It could be that governments simply haven’t gotten around to it yet. The federal government recently tasked a panel of experts with a report reviewing the federal approach to #pandemic#science advice and #research coordination. It is set to be published in March.
At the dentist’s again for another broken tooth. I had to ask him to wear his mask over his nose. I hate that I put my life at risk every time I get medical attention. I got some writing done in the waiting room, though. #Covid#MaskUp#Dentist
#IDMastodon
March 11 marks four years since #COVID19 was declared a pandemic. But while much of society has moved on from #MaskUp , quarantining, and isolating, some still feel the effects of the pandemic every day & #LongCovid is a constant struggle