"COVID is back" only in the sense that media+govts are talking about it again. It never went away.
Just because you hadn't been hearing the word doesn't mean it wasn't being spoken about, knowingly or otherwise.
While the aforementioned entities don't suffer symptoms or illnesses that necessitate explanation, they do discuss delays, worker shortages, supply chain disruption, etc.
On the other hand, an individual must use euphemisms like allergies, summer cold, under the weather, out sick, fatigue, brain fog, diabetes, autoimmune disease, cancer, natural causes, etc, to gloss over new or ongoing health issues.
When authorities decided to downplay the most contagious pathogen ever and the most severe pandemic threat in a hundred years, it was inevitable that they'd have to take that same position on all future pathogens and pandemic threats. Humanity is suffering for taking an absolutely irresponsible position and not being able to climb down from it. We will continue to suffer until we do.
Wait thirty (30) minutes after eating, drinking, brushing teeth, chewing gum, smoking, vaping, using nasal/throat spray, etc, before performing test.
Swab cheek, throat, & nasal cavity.
Nasal cavity is straight back, not up the nose.
Positive tests are accurate, negative are not; test at least three (3) times, at forty-eight (48) hour intervals. Also be aware that a strain is known to be circulating in India that evades detection for up to seven (7) days after symptom onset.
Desperate to hold onto their ever-shrinking workforce, but still unwilling to walk back their ignorance and lose face, Dell management thinks, โhey, let's screw our healthiest, most productive employees using whatever leverage we have left,โ is the way?
@sb@trendless Stuff like air quality monitoring, filtration and good ventilation should be long hanging fruit which shouldn't annoy the "I don't want to a wear a mask" contingent. Same with paid sick leave of a scientifically appropriate period (10+ days) following confirmed infection. Stuff like free repeat workplace testing following confirmed exposure should imo be in there too.
@sb@trendless High quality masks should also be paid for by employers for those who want to use them and formal fit testing should be part of that process.
@trendless We're making it common. We're not making it a cold. Abundance of evidence from studies that even sub-acute "minor" infections may be taking a serious health toll on the population. The "hard numbers" studies these last few months showing cognitive impairment are particularly scary to me.
@Okanogen The vaccines are neither highly effective at preventing infection nor transmission. And yet, nearly everyone has foolishly given up on non-pharmaceutical interventions. The policy now is to let it rip. So, let's maybe temper the urge to celebrate. Saying we haven't eliminated measles, malaria or polio is drawing a false equivalence. Do we let those bugs freely circulate, as we do with covid? Do people falsely claim they're "mild" and "over," as they do with covid?
There's one layer of swiss cheese that I would never omit:
Respirators.
This is the only layer that can prevent close-proximity transmission.
As long as you're wearing one that you know seals to your face and isn't soaked or super old, it's going to protect you from all the invisible ways #TrojanAir can get into your nose and mouth.
And even if you haven't proven that it seals, it's damp, or you've worn it a bunch of times before, it's still going to provide more protection than any other layer(s).
Please, please don't think you can compensate for being unmasked by utilizing combinations of other layers.
All the other layers are designed to make a respirator more effective or provide backup in the event a respirator lets a bit of something through. Even vaccines were trialled in the context of universal masking; their original efficacy numbers are a product of that environment.
If you can't get your hands on any respirators, reach out and I'll connect you to someone in your region who can help. If I have to ship you some myself, I will.
@trendless But also people should have always been scared of the flu. It kills and disabled tens to hundreds of thousands of people per year. Just because covid is worse doesn't mean we should have ever been casual about the flu in the first place.
We should have been masking every flu season since 1918.
> research demonstrates that an under-floor air distribution concept combined with a ceiling-distributed exhaust system, which generates local and vertically stretched airflow patterns, can significantly reduce airborne pathogens in classrooms by up to 85 per cent
> Fish exposed to some pesticides at extremely low concentrations for a brief period of time can demonstrate lasting behavioral changes, with the impact extending to offspring that were never exposed firsthand, a recent study found.
@trendless Grabbing any excuse to strip people of their privacy/anonymity so protesting becomes too risky for many. Added bonus of spreading plague among the ones still risking disobedience through maskless protesting. Also giving police excuses to be extra present, active and even violent when spotting any sort of face covering.
They must be pleased hitting so many birds with that one stone. :angery:
The alleged problem:
โ...there is a confluence of factors that are driving physicians out of hospitals, and this is negatively affecting Albertansโ access to timely, acute care.โ
The proposed solution:
โMatch alternative relationship plan rates to current fee-for-service billing in Alberta; Incent after-hours care; Provide competitive rates for physician availability; Address and remove further compensation reductions.โ
โข How long have we been sounding the alarm that this was the inevitable outcome of LetErRipโข?
โข Is there so much denial even among physicians/hospitalists in Alberta that they may be swayed by the promise of money rather than a safe workplace?
@trendless#Con premiers are killing our healthcare to line their pockets with back room deals made in favour of privatization. Itโs amoral and immoral. #CdnPM. #con govtโs are in #CriminalDerelictionOfDuty and we the people are powerless to stop their #NakedAbuseOfPower. #CdnMedia oh look, belly button lint.