Unless they're someone who still takes reasonable precautions, people who tell you they've only had Covid once or twice need to be asked, "How many times did you not test for it when you felt sick?".
"Did they go to their doctor for a PCR?"
Many people also still use outdated Covid test kits as I have found absolutely do NOT give an accurate positive test, never mind the false negatives of not testing properly...
I’m hearing an increasing number of people say they won’t even discuss common sense Covid mitigations because they’re so angry about the restrictions placed on them at the beginning of the pandemic. Their anger is literally preventing them from protecting themselves and others.
I often ask if they’ve considered how angry they will be if Covid disables them and places permanent restrictions on their body? Especially knowing it was preventable. I’ve yet to get a good answer.
I’ve travelled from Ireland to Finland via Germany over the past few days and I was the only one wearing a face mask in the airport or onboard the plane. In a pandemic! WTF, people? Do better! #CovidIsNotOver#WearAMask 😷
And before anyone says it, yes we are still in a pandemic. And no, it is not only my responsibility to protect myself if I’m worried about catching #SARSCoV2. The point is my wearing a mask protects you, and vice versa. Transport and travel hubs are major vector for transmission. #CovidIsNotOver#WearAMask
Tomorrow I travel. On the one hand, I wish I could return to the days when I felt comfortable in a crowded airport or plane without a mask. On the other hand, I'm not a child, so I know I need to do the responsible thing to protect myself, my spouse, the friends we're visiting, and everyone else.
It's not a fun decision, but it is an easy one. #WearAMask
This #LongCovidAwarenessDay I want to say sorry. I’m sorry to everyone who’s joined the ranks of the chronically ill & disabled because our leaders, public health and fellow citizens refuse to take Covid seriously.
Those of us who were disabled before the pandemic could see this wave of chronic illness coming - and many of us have been screaming from the top of our lungs the last 4 years. Begging people not to take their health for granted & to wear a mask and protect themselves. Warning them that there are no do-overs once you become chronically ill.
Unfortunately very few people are listening - and many won’t understand the true devastation of #LongCovid until it directly impacts them. At which point it’ll be too late.
Despite seeing these waves of disability as an inevitable consequence of “let er rip” Covid strategy - one thing I did not see coming was how many people would willingly embrace not only ableism - but full on eugenics.
People in my own life who were previously kind & supportive have become cruel and angry. The masks have been ripped off. They don’t hesitate to tell me that they blame me for the restrictions placed on them in the early days of Covid - and that they will never again allow their freedoms to be infringed on in the name of protecting the vulnerable. One even went as far as to say “you’ve been sick for years - just die already.”
People who say these things don’t understand what disabled people understand all too well - your health is not a permanent state. Everyone will become disabled eventually…. Some of us earlier than others. Also many people who think they’re invulnerable are already vulnerable and don’t even know it.
Yet rather than adapting behaviour and pushing for a new normal that makes the world safe for everyone - most temporarily abled people have instead doubled down on hateful eugenics talking points and want us to stay home forever (or worse - die). It needs to stop.
Covid is airborne and we all share the air. “You do you” individualism is quite literally killing people. We need to start caring about the air we share as this will lead to a healthier society for everyone. Until then we need to mask up. It’s not hard, it’s incredibly effective & it might save someone’s life.
If you want to read more about the “friend” who told me I should “just die already”… I wrote about it & the behaviour changes I’ve noticed throughout the pandemic here: https://disabledginger.substack.com/p/just-die-already
Today is #LongCovidAwarenessDay and marks one year since I started talking openly about my personal health.
I've never been comfortable with sharing my personal information, but I hoped by talking about what it's like living with #LongCovid (for nearly 4 years now) folks may reconsider their YOLO approach to #covid and actually #WearAMask
This past year has been the worst of my life. It was the year hope died. Hope that I might get better, and hope that ppl might take #Covid seriously.
#COVIDIsNotOver and #COVIDIsAirborne, so I'm not boosting your unmasked transit or conference selfie. if you give a shit about people dying under the wheels of an SUV, you should give a shit about people dying of #COVID - and they still are, over a thousand people a day worldwide.
The ventilation on most #trains and buses is not good enough to clear out a full car's worth of exhales, and never has been. #WearAMask until we eradicate it!
On can-kicking the problem via manufactured consent and victim-blaming, vs. real and lasting solutions in intersectionality and the curb-cut effect. #WearAMask and #CleanTheAir because #CovidIsNotOver , because all illnesses just suck and most are preventable with just those two steps, because we all deserve to be safe and to belong.
I've seen some responses about that NPR article along the lines of, "How can you change people's minds without conversation?"
Tbh I don't believe the author was trying to facilitate conversation. I thin she expected the article to be well-received and that her husband would be coerced into dropping some of his necessary covid precautions as a result. 1/
@Pagan_Animist More than welcome. Good luck. 🥰 One more thing you could tell anyone you’re trying to convince to wear a mask is that even if the have an asymptomatic case, if they spend time with someone in their first trimester, they could be responsible for that person miscarrying. I’ve woken up a few people with that info. #COVID#CovidIsNotOver#LongCovid#WearAMask
And yet another study shows that there can be viral persistence in the body long after a Covid infection seems to be over:
COVID Virus Can Remain in the Body Over a Year
In their research on long COVID, the scientists found COVID antigens in the blood for up to 14 months after infection and in tissue samples for more than 2 years after infection.
From @thesicktimes
How Mask Blocs Are Keeping Communities Safe with Neglected Government Stockpiles.
"To supply plentiful, free masks to anyone who requests them, bloc members track down large quantities of quality masks being sold cheaply or offered for free. In this way, Covid-19 safety groups and mask blocs essentially function as narrow supply chains in specific regions, with bloc members focusing on distribution as well as acquisition."
Next verse, same as the first. Monthly blood test. Head #phlebotomist is wearing a #mask – below her chin. She pulls it up when I check in, same as last time. Younger nurse again wears none. No other patients there when I was. #WearAMask
Also alt-monthly doctor's visit. Neither receptionist wears a mask, nor does the doctor. No other patients encountered. #CovidIsNotOver
Scheduled for my semi-annual #pulmonary function test next month. Ah, the joys of breathing into – and out of – tubes other people have. Best I can manage is scheduling for first appointment Wednesday, four days after the other day tests are done.
We are thinking about doing our mini-mask bloc of two tonite for the feminist action day. But i don't think i have the courage for this, plus it would piss me off too much.
"Every month or so, the twitter wars start up again. Someone, often a disabled person, pointedly expresses their frustration that - yet again- leftists are gathering with few masks in sight, without guidance to require masking, and/or without distribution of free masks. This lack of COVID mitigation makes these spaces dangerous for immunocompromised people, people living with #LongCOVID, and everyone who is at risk of serious post-COVID health problems including long-term disability (that’s everyone!)
The backlash to these statements is usually loud, angry, mean, and often quickly degenerates into hateful rhetoric about disabled people generally. I don’t think I’ve ever posted a masked selfie without MAGA trolls mocking me, instructing me to die, informing me I’m scared, telling me I’m crazy, and absolutely fuming that I should stay in my house. Disturbingly, some of the leftist backlash to repeated requests for masks and disability justice praxis sounds remarkable similar to the MAGA folks’ go-to talking points."
Yes, it is true. When leftists behave like that it does hurt even more, because they should (and they could) know better. #Anarchists in particular are very disappointing when they fall for the state propaganda normalizing #COVID19 and as such participate in the organized abandonment of chronically ill and immunocompromised people.