I wouldn't wish this life on my worst enemy.

Out of curiosity, what's the most efficient way to mask? Surely I'm not supposed to just buy disposable N95s in bulk, right? I don't know what the best method is. -- /Goadstool@hexbear.net

Me and my bodycount of 9205s:

So as I was laying bed unable to sleep in I went looking for some stuff.

Found a reddit sub dedicated to masks:

https://old.reddit.com/r/Masks4All/ - And they've got a pretty extensive wiki!

And then found a guy that's been reviewing masks, filters, and air quality meters for a while now.

https://breathesafeair.com/

He's got a bunch of reviews for masks and respirators. Here's some of his reviews for reusable Masks/Respirators.

Flo Mask Review - The Best Everyday Mask? - which I'm currently leaning towards.

Envo Mask Review - N95 Reusable Respirator

ElastoMaskPro Review - The Most Breathable N95 Reusable Respirator?

Also he recently did a write up on Mask for Kids

Best Kids Masks: 13 Best Certified Facemasks for Toddlers, Children & Teens

If you've got more resources, please feel free to share them in the comments, this was just some stuff I saved while tapping around in bed.

Part 1

Part 2

I guess the CDC updated their page.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncird/whats-new/covid-19-can-surge-throughout-the-year.html

Many respiratory virus illnesses peak during the winter due to environmental conditions and human behaviors. COVID-19 has peaks in the winter and also at other times of the year, including the summer, driven by new variants and decreasing immunity from previous infections and vaccinations. You can protect yourself from serious illness by staying up to date with vaccinations, getting treated if you have medical conditions that make you more likely to get very sick from COVID-19, and using other strategies outlined in CDC's respiratory virus guidance.

When 24 patients who had recovered from COVID-19 had their whole bodies scanned by a PET (positron emission tomography) imaging test, their insides lit up like Christmas trees.

A radioactive drug called a tracer revealed abnormal T cell activity in the brain stem, spinal cord, bone marrow, nose, throat, some lymph nodes, heart and lung tissue, and the wall of the gut, compared to whole-body scans from before the pandemic.

This widespread effect was apparent in the 18 participants with long COVID symptoms and the six participants who had fully recovered from the acute phase of COVID-19.

Add it to the pile of evidence

Today, CDC recommended the updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccines and the updated 2024-2025 flu vaccines to protect against severe COVID-19 and flu this fall and winter.

It is safe to receive COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the same visit. Data continue to show the importance of vaccination to protect against severe outcomes of COVID-19 and flu, including hospitalization and death. In 2023, more than 916,300 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19 and more than 75,500 people died from COVID-19. During the 2023-2024 flu season, more than 44,900 people are estimated to have died from flu complications.

Updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendation

CDC recommends everyone ages 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 this fall and winter whether or not they have ever previously been vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine. Updated COVID-19 vaccines will be available from Moderna, Novavax, and Pfizer later this year. This recommendation will take effect as soon as the new vaccines are available.

The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, is always changing and protection from COVID-19 vaccines declines over time. Receiving an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine can restore and enhance protection against the virus variants currently responsible for most infections and hospitalizations in the United States. COVID-19 vaccination also reduces the chance of suffering the effects of Long COVID, which can develop during or following acute infection and last for an extended duration.

Last season, people who received a 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine saw greater protection against illness and hospitalization than those who did not receive a 2023-2024 vaccine. To date, hundreds of millions of people have safely received a COVID-19 vaccine under the most intense vaccine safety monitoring in United States history.

Updated 2024-2025 Flu Vaccine Recommendation

CDC recommends everyone 6 months of age and older, with rare exceptions, receive an updated 2024-2025 flu vaccine to reduce the risk of influenza and its potentially serious complications this fall and winter. CDC encourages providers to begin their influenza vaccination planning efforts now and to vaccinate patients as indicated once 2024-2025 influenza vaccines become available.

Most people need only one dose of the flu vaccine each season. While CDC recommends flu vaccination as long as influenza viruses are circulating, September and October remain the best times for most people to get vaccinated. Flu vaccination in July and August is not recommended for most people, but there are several considerations regarding vaccination during those months for specific groups:

The following statement is attributable to CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen:

“Our top recommendation for protecting yourself and your loved ones from respiratory illness is to get vaccinated,” said Mandy Cohen, M.D., M.P.H. “Make a plan now for you and your family to get both updated flu and COVID vaccines this fall, ahead of the respiratory virus season.”

It's just super frustrating seeing people who are supposedly my brothers and sisters, who I've been there to the hilt, who know that my partner is struggling, who know that I'm terrified. We've gone through the science and racial and class inequalities together and they've voiced how they should mask a hundred times. And then they come to meet me IRL totally fucking unmasked, without even a fucking apology.

Well, if you're "back to normal", I'll sit and watch you eat outside, but I'm not taking my mask off in front of you. I'll wait till you finish your meal, and I'll head home early. If I've complained about no masking two times already, you heard it enough, I'm not going to complain again.

Am I overreacting?

Edit: for those of griping that you're not allowed to do COVID minimisation in this comm. These would be valid answer:

• Maybe your friend forgot
• Maybe your friend was tired
• Maybe your friend was hung over
• Your friend made a mistake but you should forgive him
• I'm not yet fully covid conscious, but I'm trying
• We can't all be perfect. Hopefully they do better next time.

Not acceptable:

• Oh here's a tidbit about masks that's been disproven in the science literature 10x already
• Oh the chuds and libs aren't masking, and I feel peer pressured

private providers are beginning to offer covid vaccines where I live - previously they were by law only accessible via public healthcare.

the service costs about $100 though - it's really expensive, but I can afford it. do you think $100 is worth it?

it seems to only be for a single vaccine, also. I'm thinking about waiting a few more months, for fall/winter

And yes, she's working remotely in the meantime. But why would she need to work remotely if she wants to ban masks and because the pandemic is over?

Anyways, sending my thoughts and prayers to the COVID in her body right now.

https://twitter.com/APDillon_/status/1806077038375116955

Don't worry though, they made sure to put some vague exemptions!🙄

Came across a comrade making some cool agitprop. Here's their kofi.

https://ko-fi.com/mxpapaya

Ran across this fun study from last year finding ongoing hypoxia in people weeks after they'd recovered from the acute infection. Fun!

Objective: Systemic hypoxia occurs in COVID-19 infection; however, it is unknown if cerebral hypoxia occurs in convalescent individuals. We have evidence from other conditions associated with central nervous system inflammation that hypoxia may occur in the brain. If so, hypoxia could reduce the quality of life and brain function. This study was undertaken to assess if brain hypoxia occurs in individuals after recovery from acute COVID-19 infection and if this hypoxia is associated with neurocognitive impairment and reduced quality of life.

Results: Fifty-six percent of the post-COVID-19 participants self-reported having persistent symptoms (from a list of 18), with the most reported symptom being fatigue and brain fog. There was a gradation in the decrease of oxyhemoglobin between controls, and normoxic and hypoxic post-COVID-19 groups (31.7 ± 8.3 μM, 27.8 ± 7.0 μM and 21.1 ± 7.2 μM, respectively, p = 0.028, p = 0.005, and p = 0.081). We detected that 24% of convalescent individuals' post-COVID-19 infection had reduced StO2 in the brain and that this relates to reduced neurological function and quality of life.

informal anecdotal data gathering

1. Do you regularly consume a CBD-containing product (Marijuana, CBD oil, medical marijuana, etc) Please be specific about strain

2. Have you been infected by COVID, how long did it last, and what were your symptoms?

I'll go first:

1. No
2. Yes, in March 2020, it lasted a month to a year depending on where you draw the line between long-COVID and acute COVID. Symptoms were fatigue, chills, high heartbeat, and a lower quantity of pee

I haven't been able to eat anything substantial for 4 days holy shit.

Fuck the assholes that let this spread.

"Just the flu" my ass

Ate yoghurt yesterday, threw it up. Ate half an apple today hoping it stays down.

Time is passing so slowly. This is agony.

"That's not really how it works, mom."

"That's not what my doctor says."

Love visiting with the Parents!

feel like shit holy hell.

Headache and shivers

Everything hurts

Fuck this country, fuck it so hard.

If only we had a way to slow down or stop the spread of disease.

Someday, far onto the future, scientists will figure it out!

Around the world, a post-Covid reality is beginning to sink in: Everyone, everywhere, really is sick a lot more often.

At least 13 communicable diseases, from the common cold to measles and tuberculosis, are surging past their pre-pandemic levels in many regions, and often by significant margins, according to analysis by Bloomberg News and London-based disease forecasting firm Airfinity Ltd.

The resulting research, based on data collected from more than 60 organizations and public health agencies, shows that 44 countries and territories have reported at least one infectious disease resurgence that’s at least ten times worse than the pre-pandemic baseline.

The post-Covid global surge of illnesses — viral and bacterial, common and historically rare — is a mystery that researchers and scientists are still trying to definitively explain. The way Covid lockdowns shifted baseline immunities is a piece of the puzzle, as is the pandemic’s hit to overall vaccine administration and compliance. Climate change, rising social inequality and wrung-out health-care services are contributing in ways that are hard to measure.

We can explain it, covid takes a toll on our immune system, and we are constantly exposed to it and can catch it multiple times a year. No one in public office wants to acknowledge it because that would mean putting money and effort into infection control.

Opening Blurb:

Think you’ve grasped the full extent of COVID’s ongoing impact? Think again. As Americans shrug off vaccines and forget indoor air quality, the virus stealthily continues its destructive path. This was pretty much inevitable without new guidance urging a change in strategy and nobody telling us the full truth.

The danger is clear and present: COVID isn’t merely a respiratory illness; it’s a multi-dimensional threat impacting brain function, attacking almost all of the body’s organs, producing elevated risks of all kinds, and weakening our ability to fight off other diseases. Reinfections are thought to produce cumulative risks, and Long COVID is on the rise. Unfortunately, Long COVID is now being considered a long-term chronic illness — something many people will never fully recover from.

Dr. Phillip Alvelda, a former program manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office that pioneered the synthetic biology industry and the development of mRNA vaccine technology, is the founder of Medio Labs, a COVID diagnostic testing company. He has stepped forward as a strong critic of government COVID management, accusing health agencies of inadequacy and even deception. Alvelda is pushing for accountability and immediate action to tackle Long COVID and fend off future pandemics with stronger public health strategies.

Contrary to public belief, he warns, COVID is not like the flu. New variants evolve much faster, making annual shots inadequate. He believes that if things continue as they are, with new COVID variants emerging and reinfections happening rapidly, the majority of Americans may eventually grapple with some form of Long COVID.

Let’s repeat that: At the current rate of infection, most Americans may get Long COVID.

In the following discussion with the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Alvelda discusses the wider social fallout from this ongoing health crisis, which could be avoided with the right mindset and action. He raises tough questions: Without robust surveillance and mitigation measures, how do we prevent future outbreaks from spiraling out of control? Is our pandemic readiness up to par for looming threats like bird flu? How do we cope with a population ravaged by the lasting impacts of Long COVID? The answers are a wake-up call.