#Virus Protection Tool

[reasonsforhope]

Article | Paywall Free

"The Food and Drug Administration approved new mRNA coronavirus vaccines Thursday [August 22, 2024], clearing the way for shots manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to start hitting pharmacy shelves and doctor’s offices within a week.

Health officials encourage annual vaccination against the coronavirus, similar to yearly flu shots. Everyone 6 months and older should receive a new vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends.

The FDA has yet to approve an updated vaccine from Novavax, which uses a more conventional vaccine development method but has faced financial challenges.

Our scientific understanding of coronavirus vaccines has evolved since they debuted in late 2020. Here’s what to know about the new vaccines.

Why are there new vaccines?

The coronavirus keeps evolving to overcome our immune defenses, and the shield offered by vaccines weakens over time. That’s why federal health officials want people to get an annual updated coronavirus vaccine designed to target the latest variants. They approve them for release in late summer or early fall to coincide with flu shots that Americans are already used to getting.

The underlying vaccine technology and manufacturing process are the same, but components change to account for how the virus morphs. The new vaccines target the KP.2 variant because most recent covid cases are caused by that strain or closely related ones...

Do the vaccines prevent infection?

You probably know by now that vaccinated people can still get covid. But the shots do offer some protection against infection, just not the kind of protection you get from highly effective vaccines for other diseases such as measles.

The 2023-2024 vaccine provided 54 percent increased protection against symptomatic covid infections, according to a CDC study of people who tested for the coronavirus at pharmacies during the first four months after that year’s shot was released...

A nasal vaccine could be better at stopping infections outright by increasing immunity where they take hold, and one is being studied in a trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

If you really want to dodge covid, don’t rely on the vaccine alone and take other precautions such as masking or avoiding crowds...

Do the vaccines help prevent transmission?

You may remember from early coverage of coronavirus vaccines that it was unclear whether shots would reduce transmission. Now, scientists say the answer is yes — even if you’re actively shedding virus.

That’s because the vaccine creates antibodies that reduce the amount of virus entering your cells, limiting how much the virus can replicate and make you even sicker. When vaccination prevents symptoms such as coughing and sneezing, people expel fewer respiratory droplets carrying the virus. When it reduces the viral load in an infected person, people become less contagious.

That’s why Peter Hotez, a physician and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, said he feels more comfortable in a crowded medical conference, where attendees are probably up to date on their vaccines, than in a crowded airport.

“By having so many vaccinated people, it’s decreasing the number of days you are shedding virus if you get a breakthrough infection, and it decreases the amount of virus you are shedding,” Hotez said.

Do vaccines prevent long covid?

While the threat of acute serious respiratory covid disease has faded, developing the lingering symptoms of “long covid” remains a concern for people who have had even mild cases. The CDC says vaccination is the “best available tool” to reduce the risk of long covid in children and adults. The exact mechanism is unclear, but experts theorize that vaccines help by reducing the severity of illness, which is a major risk factor for long covid.

When is the best time to get a new coronavirus vaccine?

It depends on your circumstances, including risk factors for severe disease, when you were last infected or vaccinated, and plans for the months ahead. It’s best to talk these issues through with a doctor.

If you are at high risk and have not recently been vaccinated or infected, you may want to get a shot as soon as possible while cases remain high. The summer wave has shown signs of peaking, but cases can still be elevated and take weeks to return to low levels. It’s hard to predict when a winter wave will begin....

Where do I find vaccines?

CVS said its expects to start administering them within days, and Walgreens said that it would start scheduling appointments to receive shots after Sept. 6 and that customers can walk in before then.

Availability at doctor’s offices might take longer. Finding shots for infants and toddlers could be more difficult because many pharmacies do not administer them and not every pediatrician’s office will stock them given low demand and limited storage space.

This year’s updated coronavirus vaccines are supposed to have a longer shelf life, which eases the financial pressures of stocking them.

The CDC plans to relaunch its vaccine locator when the new vaccines are widely available, and similar services are offered by Moderna and Pfizer."

-via The Washington Post, August 22, 2024

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

When it comes to healthcare, you’ll occasionally encounter things presented as an opinion or as something up for debate - when there’s actually clear scientific facts on those topics. 

You can probably think of some general examples off the top of your head, like: 

Vaccines (They save lives. In fact, they are one of the most effective tools for reducing mortality rates worldwide) 

Pasteurized milk (Raw milk is not healthier than pasteurized milk, it’s actually unsafe. Pasteurization kills harmful bacteria which can cause severe illness) 

Fluoride (Water fluoridation is a safe and effective public health measure) 

Climate change (It exists and directly impacts respiratory and cardiovascular health)

“Detox” (The liver and kidneys detox your body naturally; detox teas, juice cleanses etc. are unnecessary) 

Cancer (Cancer isn’t just one disease, it’s an umbrella term for many different diseases and that’s why it’s very, very difficult, if not impossible, to just find the one simple fix to end cancer forever) 

Sugar substitutes (They have been extensively studied and are safe for consumption within recommended limits) 

There’s a lot of misinformation out there and it often thrives because it plays on fears (such as the natural fear of illness, dangerous substances and life-threatening side effects). Nobody wants to willingly put themselves or their loved ones into danger - but this absolutely natural desire for protection can be exploited. 

Some common tactics for that are: 

relying on personal anecdotes (emotional stories often feel more reliable or trustworthy than cold, hard data, even though they aren’t) 

appealing to those who distrust authority (the suggestion that governments/scientists/corporations/“they” are conspiring against you feels trustworthy if it seemingly “confirms” fears you already had) 

misusing scientific terminology (Complex-sounding terms can make something appear credible and well-researched, even if these terms are used completely incorrectly) 

giving quick, easy answers or fixes to complex problems (health is a complicated, multifaceted topic and there’s oftentimes no easy-cut answer to why a certain person gets sick or if a now-healthy person will still be as healthy in 10 years. This unpredictability can feel scary, and oversimplified answers can offer comfort) 

While health myths impact anyone, they disproportionately affect marginalized groups - for example chronically ill or disabled people but also our community.  

That’s because health myths (or outright health lies) can perpetuate stigma and create barriers to accessing evidence-based care. 

Myths specifically targeting queer health often follow the same patterns we talked about above. Let's take a closer look at some common topics and break down the facts behind them: 

Pedophilia (There is no evidence linking sexual orientation or gender identity to pedophilia or predatory behavior. This myth is rooted in bigotry and perpetuates harmful stereotypes) 

HIV/AIDS (it’s not “the gay disease” or even a “punishment for being gay”. It’s a virus that can affect people of all genders and sexual orientations) 

Regret rates (Regret rates for gender-affirming care are very low, even lower than for getting a new hip or a tattoo.) 

Regret rates, 2.0 (“Regret” does not automatically translate to “they were wrong about being trans”. A trans person could regret medical decisions for a multitude of reasons (even external factors like a lack of social support or experience of harassment) and still continue to identify as trans) 

Mental illness (The higher rate of mental health issues in queer people is caused by external factors like discrimination and social exclusion, not by the identity itself. Being queer is not a mental illness.) 

Conversion therapy (It doesn’t work. It also causes severe psychological harm including an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide) 

Treating these myths as not “only” homophobia and transphobia but also as health misinformation may feel nitpicky, but I think it’s important. If we don’t, it’s easy to dismiss them as merely a matter of “not accidentally saying something offensive” - but there’s more at stake than hurt feelings. Health misinformation can prevent people from getting the medical care they need and put their lives at risk. And that applies to “Trans people often regret their surgeries” as much as it does to “Covid vaccines are dangerous”. 

So, look out for those typical patterns and warning signs - not only in the general “health and wellness” area but also in discussions about queer issues. 

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

[mullermilkshake]

Torchlight down a long tunnel

Part 24 <- Part 25 -> Part 26

Jinwoo tries to grasp at fading straws.

Yandere!Jinwoo Sung x Fem Pregnant!reader Tags - Amnesia arc, Protective Jinwoo doesn't know what possession is just yet

<<< For more Dark/Yandere content, click this link to go back to the Masterlist! >>>

<<< Or back to this fic's Master list. >>>

I have only watched the anime and haven't gotten round to reading the manhwa yet. Please refrain from spoilers.

TAG LIST CLOSED

“Can you remember who you are?”

Jinwoo blinked away the ingrained spots of light behind his eyelids from Jin-chul’s flashlight in his face. “Yeah, I’m Jinwoo Sung, S-Rank hunter. I was at a dungeon raid today.”

All facts, nothing difficult about that.

“And who is that?” Jin-chul pointed over to you, a clutched tissue in your hand, red puffy eyes looking back at him.

Jinwoo wanted to feel sympathy, he really did, but nothing came to him. Your face seemed familiar, but that’s all he got from it. “I… I Don’t know. I remembered her face in the dungeon, but every time I tried hard to think, I drew blanks- sorry.”

“It’s okay…” You said, wiping away fresh tears that fell on your shirt over your large baby bump.

“Hunter Sung, believe it or not, but that dungeon boss was an S-Rank, though looks can be deceiving. It doesn’t register the way other magical beasts do, and it’s a master manipulator into making you think it’s more harmless than it actually is. That’s how it lures its prey closer. It takes your memories, hence why the other hunters who managed to escape had no recollection of the beast. A vicious cycle to get more prey and build up a stock of liquified food.”

“So what happens now? I’m good with poison, I have a high tolerance, this shouldn’t have affected me like this. Why can’t I remember?”

“Because it doesn't act like a poison. The biologist explained that it worked more like a virus, attacking the brain instead of the entire body. Anyone with any tools or armour with poison resistance still would have succumbed. Despite its lack of S-Rank mana, this spider is far more dangerous than what we’ve seen before, because it cannot be blocked or resisted against.”

Shit, for the first time in a while, Jinwoo was helpless.

Pathetic.

Can’t protect them.

You’d be a terrible father anyway.

From what pit did that last thought crawl from?

“Manager Woo, will… will he ever get his memories back?”

You sat next to Beru like he wasn’t even there, Jin-chul gave him sly glances now and then, but no one spoke because of the elephant in the room.

“I’m not sure, I’ll have the association doctor come and check him over. In the meantime, I’d suggest doing some things together while you two wait to pass the time, who knows, it could trigger your memory.”

“You’re going?” You said, struggling to stand up as quickly as you’d like, grasping onto the sofa for stability.

“I have the incident at the gate to clear up, you’ll be in good hands with the doctor, he’s our best in the association. Take care, I’ll check in on you tomorrow.”

Jin-chul bowed and left the apartment, closing the front door behind him and dropping you and Jinwoo in an uncomfortable silence.

Who was this pretty girl, seemingly pregnant with his babies?

You never said anything, you just stood there, still completely unaware of Beru and Igris. Jinwoo couldn’t shake the guilt of not remembering, confused by the spider’s poison and the fact there were two babies involved.

How could he not remember?

“So, I want to ask you some things, would you be comfortable with that?”

Awkwardly you nodded, looking away towards the door and straight through Beru. “Okay.”

“Can you not see him?”

Jinwoo pointed to Beru who froze where he stood, looking over you though his eyes were wide and deer-like. He couldn’t sense any aura from you per se, but from the two individual aura signatures coming from your belly.

They’re strong auras. Not even newborn and they’re Upper A-rank? No, their mana seems more complicated than that, they must be S-Rank already. Sheesh, they’ll be a handful down the line.

“No.” You said, blinking away with a trembling lip. “I can’t see your shadows anymore.”

“So you had mana, but lost it. Jin-chul said something about it.”

“The babies-“ you hesitated, wandering over towards the sofa. “Chairman Go said the babies are using it. I’ll probably get it back after they’re born.”

Jinwoo blinked at the twitch behind his eye but followed you anyway. Beru sat next to you on the sofa, his long legs bent in half until his knees were higher than your head. He said not one word.

It came on like a headache. A dull skull with razor blades chucked in and shaken about. “Mana blindness.. I think?”

“You never went into detail about your conversation, so I never asked.”

“Why? Why didn’t you challenge me on it? What if it was important and I was keeping it from you?”

Jinwoo didn’t understand why he asked that, though if he were really in a relationship, he’d keep nothing from you. Well, he was. He clocked the only picture frame on the side table, you and him maybe taken only a few weeks ago. Taped to the side was a sonogram picture.

“Uh… I’m not sure. You usually take care of all that stuff, I’m just trying to keep stress free like the doctor told us. I only have a week left before my due date, so…” You must have noticed his distraction. “Oh, we took that about a few weeks back. The doctor wanted to see me for another scan, it’s more up-to-date than the one you have in your wallet.”

That’s odd. “My wallet?”

“Yes!” Beru vigorously nodded his head. “The pouch of currency you transport around with you, Sire.”

Jinwoo rummaged through his pockets for his wallet, to find two pictures in the side pocket. A candid photo of you, and a sonogram with a message handwritten in his own writing.

Sung twins. 

“That’s the twenty week scan.”

“And how far along are you again?”

Beru excitedly answered for you. “My mistress is thirty-five weeks, my Lord!”

You responded like he wasn’t even there. “I’m just over thirty-five weeks. Hae-in is overdue now, she was due nearly two weeks ago, they’re inducing her tomorrow.”

Hae-in’s pregnant too? That’s right, I remember. But why do I not care? Oof that’s harsh. 

“So…” Jinwoo wanted more answers, more information. “We love each other then, I proposed to you.”

He noticed your engagement ring, but he didn’t recognise it.

“You did. A couple months back, and you tell me you love me all the time, actually.”

Jinwoo was intrigued, the way you were looking at him like he was the only person in the entire building.

“And do you love me-“

The front door knocked quietly yet authoritatively. Then silence.

“I’ll get it.”

Jinwoo stood first, holding his hand out to keep you sitting. “No, I’ll get it. You rest, it’s been a weird day.”

To say that opening the door was daunting would have been an understatement. Jinwoo’s memory had clearly wiped you away like chalk on a board and replaced it with an anxiety he wasn’t used to. 

He was expecting one doctor, not two.

A man whom he’d never seen before with a medical bag and warming look behind his eyes. Jinwoo noticed the long scar across his face over his cheekbone and right eye, like a hardened man devoting his life to medicine.

Then there was the other doctor, a woman, who seemed familiar yet Jinwoo couldn’t quite make her out. It was as though his gut was telling him not to trust her behind her tortoise shell rimmed glasses. Or maybe it was how she lacked mana unlike the other doctor.

His aura had calming effects like lavender bath oil and chamomile tea to help Jinwoo sleep after a stressful day. But hers, it was wrong. Like waking from a nightmare and expecting a demon to pounce in the silent, pitch black abyss yet never did. Just an eerie quiet, waking up in his own sweat.

There was nothing there.

“Mr Sung, how are you feeling? Manager Woo gave us most of the details.”

“I’m fine.” Why was he suddenly on the defensive? He didn’t want this woman stepping foot in the apartment.

When he looked for you, you were already close by, instinctively rubbing your belly with the weakest smile he’d seen so far.

“Hi Doctor, we weren’t expecting you today.”

“I know. I’m sorry for dropping in like this.” She smiled sweetly. “I just heard what the two of you were going through and I wanted to check in with you. It must be stressful.”

“Oh, that’s really thoughtful of you, it’s… different. I didn’t think we’d be in a situation like this.”

The doctor stepped past the older man, and reached for you. “It’s a difficult situation. But I’m sure he’ll remember how in love he is with you. Why don’t we go in the kitchen while the doctor looks your fiancé over?”

“Oh, uh-“

Jinwoo didn’t know why, but a compulsion drove him to do something out of character from what he knew. He got between you and the doctor with a stone glare that irritated him for a reason he couldn’t pinpoint.

“We’ll stay in the same room. It’s important she hears what the doctor says.”

“That’s a great idea!” The man said, breaching the threshold and trudging over towards the living room.

Beru didn’t know where to look, looking for somewhere to go before someone sat on him. Jinwoo called him back before the doctor could see him and he sat right where Beru would have been.

“O-Okay, yes of course. That’s a great idea.” 

Jinwoo made sure to sit between you and the woman, almost protective over a girl he couldn’t remember. His eye twitched again, a pain behind his eye he tried his hardest to ignore.

“Now, Mr Sung. I am aware of your ailments, and there’s a few exercises I’d like for you to do in the meantime, but right now, I’d like to examine you physically, would that be alright?”

Jinwoo nodded, having zero issue with the man, he really calmed the room down. He pulled open his medical bag and fished out a miniature flashlight. 

“I’m going to heal you, my ability is very specific and I’m hoping it will cure you completely, but it’s entirely by random lottery.”

“Lottery?” You said. “Like a lottery ticket?”

“Yes, sometimes patients get incredibly lucky and heal completely without any further treatment, yet some require modern medicine too to fully recover. It all depends on luck. Mr Sung might remember everything, or he may get bits and pieces and will need to follow the exercises I give him.”

So it’s totally random. That’s not worrying at all. 

“Do it.” 

No time like the present. Jinwoo had forgotten about a huge section of an important part of his life that everyone else seemed to remember besides him, he was to be a father who until now he’d been pretty chill about.

I’m going to be a father. 

He had to be on point and follow through. No way could he be a father like his own, just disappearing. He couldn’t do that to you, no matter how little he remembered.

And if push came to shove and he never regained his memories with you, well, he’d just have to make new ones.

“Alright, sit still and breathe normally, you’ll feel a little warm and tingly, but that’s to be expected.”

“Right-“

You slipped your hand into his, holding on to it with another weary smile. Something in his brain told him he didn’t have the heart to pull away, to keep to himself. And you were so pretty, no, beautiful. You were glowing almost. Wasn’t that what people said to those who were pregnant?

Glowing.

“Whatever happens, it’ll be alright.” 

You didn’t believe it, not your eyes and lips, even the tear from your cheek. He was hurting you and didn’t even know how much.

What a dick. I’m a dick. 

A warmth rolled through Jinwoo, like sitting in a hot bath full of calming bubbles and aromatic candles. What was that smell he recognised in the dungeon? A vanilla scent, similar to the one under his nose from you, your clothes, your hair.

“There, how are you feeling, Mr Sung?”

“Uh… I’m not sure. I don't think anything has changed.”

It hurt to say out loud, you slouched though tried to hide your disappointment. All eyes on him and yours were the loudest.

The man shrugged, yet hid his own disappointment well. “Sometimes it can be delayed, I’ll come back in a day or two and see your progress. While I’m away, you’ll need to rely on your each other and talk through things, explore feelings and do things together that you did before, it might help regain some memories. Unfortunately, we're going in here pretty much blind with only what information the association has.”

“And that’s where I come in.” Again, the woman’s smile was sickly sweet. Maybe Jinwoo just didn’t like her. “I’ll come over and see how you’re doing right up until your due date, stress can cause early labour, so try to keep calm. If you have any concerns, just call me. We’re all here to help the two of you.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

“Well, that’s us finished here for now. Get some rest and take each day as it comes, I’m confident we’ll get some of those memories back for you.” 

Jinwoo saw them out, eyes the woman closely until the front door closed. He stared into space for a solid minute, then came back to you where you were in the same spot. He needed his memories back quickly, having them stolen from him made it personal.

“What did you want to do for the rest of the day? I’m sorry I haven’t prepared anything for dinner yet.” You were cooking him dinner too?

“Let’s get take out, I think we have a lot to talk about. Why don’t you tell me more about our relationship? I’d like to hear it.”

“You would?”

“If I’m going to be a dad, I need to know who their mom is, maybe it’ll help get my memories back?”

Your eyes were wide, unsettled and glassy. “But, what if you don’t ever get them back?”

That was a good point. There were milestones he’d never remember, like proposing and seeing the babies first scan, or his first time with you sexually.

It would take a lot of getting used to, much commitment to get up to speed when he didn’t remember and now within a week, he was due to become a father. Still, he was committed as committed could be, however, it was still to sink into his brain and solidify his future laid out in front of him.

“If that happens, we’ll just have to make new ones. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

Part 24 <- Part 25 -> Part 26

Thank you for reading and all of the support on this fic! ❤️ Likes, reblogs and comments are appreciated and I appreciate you all! See you next time 🤗

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DISCLAIMER - Crossposted from my AO3 - I do not own any of the characters or anything from the anime or manhwa. This is a work of fan fiction and is absolutely not representative of the views or intentions of the original creator(s).

Also please don’t post any of my work without permission thank you!

[stephanidftba]

From Sharon Astyk on Facebook:

Folks, if you haven't been wearing a mask regularly or consistently, but who oppose this administration I want to encourage you to start (folks who have been wearing them all along, let this one go, because this isn't about you.)

I know, I know, you don't want to - you don't want to be harassed, you've had covid twice and it wasn't that bad, you aren't that worried, so why would you do that?

1. Wearing a mask in public means that people who are protesting masked are normalized. If there are many people wearing masks in public spaces, they can't identify who is resisting easily. If masks are a proxy for resistance, as governments are calling them, then it is rather like the story of King Christian of Denmark donning the yellow star. So if you want to protect and support resistors, you can mask.

2. We are on our own with disease protection. RFK jr has been very clear he plans to make vaccines incredibly inaccessible to most Americans. Right now there are circulating cases of measles, TB, mumps, covid and below the radar bird flu (yes, that too) as well as other stuff. No one is going to give you a vaccine to prevent disease. No one is going to tell you when you or your kids are exposed to measles or tuberculosis or bird flu. They are not testing, they are not recording data, they are not seeking to protect you. If you don't protect yourself, no one will.

While I strongly recommend everyone get any boosters or vaccines they need, in a society with low vaccination rates, and permeable vaccines that let some cases through and wane with time, a vaccine-only strategy is not viable. You cannot tell when you are exposed to these diseases, and you will just get sick, and some people will die.

No one is going to tell you when Bird flu starts spreading human to human on any scale. We will find out when a bunch of people get very sick and die - and I don't want you to be among them. No one is going to tell you when a kid has measles at your school in many states now, and you don't know if your vaccine from 30 years ago is still holding. 38% of cases in Ontario have been in vaccinated adults.

Vaccines and air cleaning and far UV light, and smaller classroom densities (yeah right) are all good tools, but the most reliable one is an N95 or equivalent mask.

3. The opinion of Trump, RFK jr and the rest of this administration is that disabled or medically vulnerable people should just die. They've been very clear, and we've seen it in how they cut support, research, to cancer, sickle cell disease, diabetes, alzheimers, etc... and how they talk about people with disabilities like autism.

They are rapidly and painfully stripping resources like SSDI, Medicaid, Special Education support programs and funding, research for rare cancers and diseases, testing that would let you know if your baby has a condition...you name it.

A 14 country study just showed that after 5 1/2 years of the pandemic, 25-30% of people who have covid have long covid. And we've known that was going to happen - that's almost exactly the same stats we've seen in other studies. By your third infection, your risk of long covid is up around 30%.

And while our support systems have been broken and fraying for a long time, they are simply DEAD now. You won't get SSDI. You won't get health care for your disability. You may not get treatment for your cancer. Your Alzheimers meds may not be covered. RFKjr thinks the answer to type 2 diabetes or mental health issues is a work camp.

We know that some viruses, including covid are oncogenic (the obvious one is the HPV virus, and the vaccine prevents cervical cancer perfectly), which means they up your risk of cancer. We know it increases your risk of dementia, and the rate at which dementia progresses. We know that covid can reactivate EBV and TB.

We also know that measles wipes your immune system for three years - including your vaccines. If you get measles, and you cannot get vaccinated again, you could die of diptheria, tetanus, mumps, etc...

You cannot afford to be newly disabled right now. They want people dead or unable to resist. DO NOT COMPLY IN ADVANCE. No one is protecting you from this. So protect yourself - this is as much a step as getting your passport or supporting your food pantry.

4. Because they are so clear that they have eugenicist intents towards disabled people, as well as non-white folks, wearing a mask is an act of solidarity with them.

Statistics have always shown that non-white people are more likely to wear masks than white folks, mostly because they know perfectly well that the safety net has a lot of huge holes in it. They are often worn by people who simply cannot afford to be sick.

Moreover immunocompromised and disabled people HAVE to mask. There are also people who physically CANNOT mask, who rely on others to mask to protect them. When you put on a mask, you do two things.

1. You stand with those who must or wish to mask, and practice community care. You make it clear those lives are more valuable than your convenience. Remember, they are counting on you not to believe that and let disabled people be first targets.

2. You make protest, activism and resistance safe and accessible for millions of people who otherwise cannot participate in standing up to our goverment. You help cross crucial thresholds for engagement by making resistance fully accessible.

My father, who is in his middle 70s and disabled, repeats the mantra regularly that these motherfuckers are not going to get to kill him, no matter how hard they try. That he has no intention of dying under Trump. He's going to stay alive and piss them off and fight back until he gets to piss on their graves.

If you want to do that, you have to wear mask. Its that simple. Masking is fighting back. Masking is solidarity. Masking protects you and everyone. Masking is resistance. Wear a mask in public.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FT62GK2av/

@covid-safer-hotties

[liminalweirdo]

“I am at high-risk of severe acute illness from a COVlD infection, as well as my MIL who lives with me, my husband, and our two children.  Since the pandemic began, we have had to move to homeschooling them to protect our family. We have been largely ostracized by our community, and now we will be criminalized for wearing masks in public and hope that local law enforcement refrains from engaging with us over masking. It is unfathomable to me that we are told that we must live with COVlD since the will to mitigate his virus has completely crumbled from our government at all levels, and now the most important tool we have to prevent infection is being criminalized.”

- source

[lotus-tower]

Safety for the rich Ordinary people have zero clue just how many tools the rich are using to avoid this virus. The rich are photographed without masks during public appearances, giving the public the impression that it’s safe to ditch masks. But what we don’t see are all of the precautions being taken behind the scenes. Nasal photodisinfection Celebrities are using hospital-grade technology to photodisinfect their nostrils. KISS’s manager, Don McGhee, talked about the band’s use of nasal photodisinfection in an interview, saying, “Without this, we wouldn’t be on the road.” The technology, called Steriwave, has been used by hospitals to reduce infections in surgery patients for more than a decade and is now available commercially—for a very high cost. Event Scan & Covid prevention companies [...] And they are paying for it. The rich CEOs of these major companies and rich government officials are getting everyone PCR (or LAMP) tested before their big corporate parties, screening all their guests beforehand, and taking Covid very seriously—while telling their low-level employees to return to the office. Far UV-C The schools, workplaces, and homes of the rich are being outfitted with special UV lights that kill viruses in the air—including Covid-19. Far UV can continuously and autonomously eliminate over 90% of pathogens in the air (and on the exposed surfaces) of an enclosed room. These high-tech lights cost thousands of dollars. [...] LAMP Testing Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) testing may be the “better sibling of PCR testing” and is being used by the rich to rapidly diagnose Covid-19. [...] Fancy private schools, like this one (whose tuition fees are $17,664—$18,900 annually) are requiring all visitors to submit samples for LAMP testing—in addition to daily testing of students, teachers, and families, requiring high-quality masks, cleaning the air, serving outdoor lunches, and a lot more.   When you're seeing photos of maskless rich people gathering together, it may look like they aren’t taking any Covid precautions. But the reality is: they've all tested beforehand. They’ve hired private companies to screen their guests, using multiple layers of protection. They are not taking any chances with this virus, because they know it’s extremely serious and nothing like the flu.

-The Pandemic Isn’t Over: The rich know it. You should, too.

[theresattrpgforthat]

@martianworder asked me about this on my Forged in the Dark post, so here we go!

Clocks

So Clocks have been a tool that have been used before and outside of Blades in the Dark, but BitD was where I think they were made really popular.

Golem Clocks designed by cmartins on Itch.io

For all intents and purposes, a Clock is just a track that you fill, but in some cases it's preferred over a track because it fills less space, and it's easy to just draw a clock on a piece of paper to help you keep track of something as you play.

A Clock can be more than just a track. It can be a countdown, a timer, or a representation of a person or faction's goals. The larger the Clock, the bigger task it is. Here are some examples of how you could use them.

A Healing project clock from Blades in the Dark.

A player could have a project Clock that they fill over the course of many sessions. Perhaps they want to research a cure for a vampire virus that is threatening a loved one. The GM would ask them to make a research roll every downtime, and how successful they are indicates how many slices they fill - effectively, how much progress they make towards finding a cure.

Rebellion and Sedition Clocks for Brinkwood: Blood of Tyrants.

A play group might use a Clock to track a common goal, such as winning over a number of anarchists to help take down a mega-corporation. If this is a campaign-long goal, you might use a series of linked clocks to represent the jailbreak you need to assist before you can win over a computer hacker, and then the massive hacking project you need to support before you can overwhelm the corpo servers.

Faction Clocks from Scum & Villainy.

A GM might use a Clock to track the work a Faction makes towards their goal. Every downtime section, they GM might roll to see how successful the Faction is, or simply tick one slice of the clock if the Faction has no reason not to be able to do what they want. If the Faction is allowed to work unimpeded by the PC's, they might eventually do something that changes the world around them, for better or worse.

Mission Clock from External Containment Bureau and Doomsday Clock from Apocalypse Keys.

Clocks might also be used as a timer, to indicate when something terrible might happen, or when the group's time is up. This might be the amount of time before a murderer next strikes, before the haunted house claims another victim, or before the world begins to end. In some games, specific points in the clock (such as halfway, or a quarter of the way through) may trigger special events that give the PC's more information, or remind the group that the pressure is really on.

Clocks for Protect the Child.

All in all, Clocks are a great visual tool to help you and your game group keep track of what's going on in the fiction, and it can also help you keep track of a number of narrative threads in a fairly condensed space. Even if they're not built into the game you're currently running or playing, I think they're a fairly easy addition, and can certainly help with bookkeeping!

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Published March 2023. Still relevant.

What The magnitude and quality of a key immune cell’s response to vaccination with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were considerably lower in people with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to people without prior infection, a study has found. In addition, the level of this key immune cell that targets the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was substantially lower in unvaccinated people with COVID-19 than in vaccinated people who had never been infected. Importantly, people who recover from SARS-CoV-2 infection and then get vaccinated are more protected than people who are unvaccinated. These findings, which suggest that the virus damages an important immune-cell response, were published today in the journal Immunity.

The study was co-funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and led by Mark M. Davis, Ph.D. Dr. Davis is the director of the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection and a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.

Dr. Davis and colleagues designed a very sensitive tool to analyze how immune cells called CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells respond to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. These cells coordinate the immune system’s response to the virus and kill other cells that have been infected, helping prevent COVID-19. The tool was designed to identify T cells that target any of dozens of specific regions on the virus’s spike protein as well as some other viral regions. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine uses parts of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to elicit an immune response without causing infection.

The investigators studied CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses in blood samples from three groups of volunteers. One group had never been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The second group had previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and received two doses of the vaccine. The third group had COVID-19 and was unvaccinated.

The researchers found that vaccination of people who had never been infected with SARS-CoV-2 induced robust CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses to the virus’ spike protein. In addition, these T cells produced multiple types of cell-signaling molecules called cytokines, which recruit other immune cells—including antibody-producing B cells—to fight pathogens. However, people who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 prior to vaccination produced spike-specific CD8+ T cells at considerably lower levels—and with less functionality—than vaccinated people who had never been infected. Moreover, the researchers observed substantially lower levels of spike-specific CD8+ T cells in unvaccinated people with COVID-19 than in vaccinated people who had never been infected.

Taken together, the investigators write, these findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection damages the CD8+ T cell response, an effect akin to that observed in earlier studies showing long-term damage to the immune system after infection with viruses such as hepatitis C or HIV. The new findings highlight the need to develop vaccination strategies to specifically boost antiviral CD8+ T cell responses in people previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, the researchers conclude.

Article F Gao, et al. Robust T cell responses to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine compared to infection and evidence of attenuated CD8+ T cell responses due to COVID-19. Immunity DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2023.03.005(link is external). (2023). www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(23)00125-5

[mindblowingscience]

The H5N1 avian influenza virus has infected birds and mammals around the world. As of June 2025, 70 people have been infected, and one person has died in the United States. A new analysis suggests that the virus is evolving clever strategies. Using artificial intelligence tools, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) analyzed thousands of viral proteins and found that their bonds to protective antibodies have weakened over time.

Continue Reading.

[amaditalks]

Right now the US is experiencing the second worst spike in COVID since the beginning of the pandemic. Right now, about 1 in 20 people have the virus, it is estimated that when this wave is over, 1 in 3 people will experience an infection.

It doesn’t have to be that way. COVID is not an inevitability to just passively accept, it is a life changing disease (every time) that you should use every tool and tactic at your disposal to avoid.

You already know what to do. If you haven’t received the updated vaccine, do that. (It’s not a booster, it’s an update, in the same way the annual flu shot is updated.) Mask, any time you’re near people you don’t live with or where anyone else has been in the last 30 minutes. (This includes outdoor spaces, like picking up a no contact delivery or pumping gasoline.) Avoid crowds. Now is not the time for concerts and hockey games or even a leisurely stroll around Target to browse. Clean your air and demand clean air in your workplace and your kids’ schools and anywhere anyone in your family has to spend time.

If 1 in 3 Americans contract the virus on this wave, that means that another half million people are likely going to die, mostly elderly and high risk. (Like me.)

It also means that 11 million people — or more — are going to be disabled, at least short term, when this is done, and there are no reliable predictors for who does and does not develop post-COVID disability.

Those numbers are horrible. But don’t let them terrify you into paralysis, let them galvanize you into action to protect yourself and your family and community.

[reasonsforhope]

"A large clinical trial in South Africa and Uganda has shown that a twice-yearly injection of a new pre-exposure prophylaxis drug gives young women total protection from HIV infection.

The trial tested whether the six-month injection of lenacapavir would provide better protection against HIV infection than two other drugs, both daily pills. All three medications are pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) drugs.

Physician-scientist Linda-Gail Bekker, principal investigator for the South African part of the study, tells Nadine Dreyer what makes this breakthough so significant and what to expect next.

Tell us about the trial and what it set out to achieve

The Purpose 1 trial with 5,000 participants took place at three sites in Uganda and 25 sites in South Africa to test the efficacy of lenacapavir and two other drugs.

Lenacapavir (Len LA) is a fusion capside inhibitor. It interferes with the HIV capsid, a protein shell that protects HIV’s genetic material and enzymes needed for replication. It is administered just under the skin, once every six months.

The randomised controlled trial, sponsored by the drug developers Gilead Sciences, tested several things.

The first was whether a six-monthly injection of lenacapavir was safe and would provide better protection against HIV infection as PrEP for women between the ages of 16 and 25 years than Truvada F/TDF, a daily PrEP pill in wide use that has been available for more than a decade.

Secondly, the trial also tested whether Descovy F/TAF, a newer daily pill, was as effective as F/TDF...

The trial had three arms. Young women were randomly assigned to one of the arms in a 2:2:1 ratio (Len LA: F/TAF oral: F/TDF oral) in a double blinded fashion. This means neither the participants nor the researchers knew which treatment participants were receiving until the clinical trial was over.

In eastern and southern Africa, young women are the population who bear the brunt of new HIV infections. They also find a daily PrEP regimen challenging to maintain, for a number of social and structural reasons.

During the randomised phase of the trial none of the 2,134 women who received lenacapavir contracted HIV. There was 100 percent efficiency.

By comparison, 16 of the 1,068 women (or 1.5%) who took Truvada (F/TDF) and 39 of 2,136 (1.8%) who received Descovy (F/TAF) contracted the HIV virus...

What is the significance of these trials?

This breakthrough gives great hope that we have a proven, highly effective prevention tool to protect people from HIV.

There were 1.3 million new HIV infections globally in the past year. Although that’s fewer than the 2 million infections seen in 2010, it is clear that at this rate we are not going to meet the HIV new infection target that UNAIDS set for 2025 (fewer than 500,000 globally) or potentially even the goal to end Aids by 2030...

For young people, the daily decision to take a pill or use a condom or take a pill at the time of sexual intercourse can be very challenging.

HIV scientists and activists hope that young people may find that having to make this “prevention decision” only twice a year may reduce unpredictability and barriers.

For a young woman who struggles to get to an appointment at a clinic in a town or who can’t keep pills without facing stigma or violence, an injection just twice a year is the option that could keep her free of HIV.

What happens now?

The plan is that the Purpose 1 trial will go on but now in an “open label” phase. This means that study participants will be “unblinded”: they will be told whether they have been in the “injectable” or oral TDF or oral TAF groups.

They will be offered the choice of PrEP they would prefer as the trial continues.

A sister trial is also under way: Purpose 2 is being conducted in a number of regions including some sites in Africa among cisgender men, and transgender and nonbinary people who have sex with men.

It’s important to conduct trials among different groups because we have seen differences in effectiveness. Whether the sex is anal or vaginal is important and may have an impact on effectiveness.

How long until the drug is rolled out?

We have read in a Gilead Sciences press statement that within the next couple of months [from July 2024] the company will submit the dossier with all the results to a number of country regulators, particularly the Ugandan and South African regulators.

The World Health Organization will also review the data and may issue recommendations.

We hope then that this new drug will be adopted into WHO and country guidelines.

We also hope we may begin to see the drug being tested in more studies to understand better how to incorporate it into real world settings.

Price is a critical factor to ensure access and distribution in the public sector where it is badly needed.

Gilead Sciences has said it will offer licences to companies that make generic drugs, which is another critical way to get prices down.

In an ideal world, governments will be able to purchase this affordably and it will be offered to all who want it and need protection against HIV."

-via The Conversation, July 3, 2024

[probablyasocialecologist]

Despite what [Ashish] Jha says, it is still prudent to protect yourself and those you love from infection, particularly since community-level protections are gone and widespread environmental upgrades that could have minimized the spread (such as indoor ventilation) were never implemented. Yes, things are far better than in 2020, but the virus is still here, and you don’t want to get it. But Jha’s “nothing to see here” response is, in many ways, the logical outcome of Biden’s decision to essentially throw in the towel when it comes to Covid. Thanks to the official ending of the Covid public health emergency, millions—particularly low-income people—are now on their own in terms of access to the ubiquitous-in-Jha’s-mind-only tools of Democratic lore. So why bother telling anyone to worry when they might not be able to get the help they need? Instead, better to tell them that everything’s fine, that masks don’t need to be in the picture—or even that they “don’t need to know what virus they have and don’t need to be buying tests all the time,” as Shira Doron, the chief infection-control officer for the Tufts Medicine health care network in Massachusetts, told The Washington Post. Jha and Doron and their ilk can speak so soothingly because they are part of the class that is much more insulated from the worst effects of Covid. People like them—the ones with money and access—can afford the expensive Covid tests. They can ensure that Paxlovid reaches their door quickly. They’ll be first in line for the new boosters. Some of them even have a concierge physician on speed dial for when things get hairy. Meanwhile, they offer the rest of the country the policy equivalent of “You do you” and “Let them eat cake.” While too many people who should know better are downplaying the ongoing public health risk from Covid, others are trying to signal the peril of our current moment. The New York Times recently reported on new estimates from researchers that Covid might lead to at least 45,000 deaths between September and April—and that’s the best-case scenario. “Based on these projections, Covid is likely to remain in the leading causes of death in the United States for the foreseeable future,” Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, told the Times. So Covid is still a leading cause of death, yet some of the most powerful medical figures in the country are telling us to ignore it. Shouldn’t that disconnect be a bigger deal?

[szanne7000]

Go here for the link to download this necessary tool to protect your system:

https://x.com/TwistedMexi/status/1755754830121849185?s=20

Please, please, be aware of this issue. You can read about it

at SimsAfterDark, here: https://simsafterdark.com/malware-warning/

or

at EA, here: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mod-CC-Issues/CURRENT-ISSUE-Malicous-Script-Mods/td-p/13469910

or

at Scarlett's page, here: https://scarletsrealm.com/malware-mod-information/

This is a virus that is using script mods to infect systems. Windows systems are currently at risk. Mac systems are okay (for now), however, you should still run an anti-virus scan and use @twistedmexi's new fix to protect your systems (PC or Mac).

Protect yourself and your system!

[cougamount]

i had an inkling of some ideas before, but now that his reveal trailer is out and we have more information, here are some of my speculations about NULL

my theory about NULL is that he's an old roblox developer whose mind was sucked into the game old creepypasta style via a virus/glitch, and he gave a helperbot model advanced intelligence. it's possible that NULL even CREATED the regretevator, or some of the levels/floors within. after all, that obby level was just updated to have that new "meta" look...

but, since this obby was made by "obbyguy99" it's kind of up in the air if this is related to NULL or not. he was in the reveal video for this refurb, but maybe it was just a teaser. next, we have this video, where a commenter explains that it leads to an account called "Gleco." based on the text, this is probably NULL's original profile. he mentions an obby.. is it possible that this obby was also stolen from him?

it's obvious that NULL still has the power to use developer tools. this is why he can move his helperbots in his introduction video, and presumably why MR has taken him in. these are the "weird capabilities" that are referred to in pest's interaction with melanie about NULL. tbh, i would have liked it if NULL was the one protecting Poob by way of putting a code in his avatar (and that's why MR needs him) but that's not canon

NULL quoting this line from portal is a reference to himself. i believe it has two interpretations:

1. he (the developer) gave "the gift of knowledge" (the helperbots, lol) to "man" (the general playerbase) and was then "pecked by birds" (taken advantage of).

2. by way of coding, the developer gave "the gift of knowledge" to the helperbots. perhaps their AI was too advanced, considering how often they were stolen. somehow, the developer became trapped in the game ("cast into the bowels of the earth") and became one of these helperbots, aka NULL. worth noting that NULL himself and his helperbots wear bird hats, so..

also, side note here- after some digging, i believe that the inspiration for NULL's story comes from "Welcome to ROBLOX Building." as stated in the biography, this is the first instance of AI helperbots on roblox, and the game was stolen many times over. also interesting to note that this game was the first place elevators and npc dialogue trees were released

but uh yeah in conclusion: i really really like him

[thegnomelord]

speaking of a cod apocalypse (i think actually idk i just skimmed over my tl) thoughts on the boys becoming some sort of fucked up mutated creatures?

like they're soldiers, right? and assuming the government sends them out to deal with whatever apocalyptic shit there is, surely one of them makes a stupid mistake that'll cost them their lives. fast forward to them succumbing to whatever radioactive shit decided to live in their bodies, and they're dead but alive? and like... just grotesque things. they're still them, just more brutal and monstrous. maybe their skin is melting off, maybe they're growing another limb or two, maybe they have teeth growing on their head.

anyways, thoughts on this kind of genre???? :))))

(i think itd be cool if like.... some of them merged together, just a mass of limbs and skin :33)

Okay, consider: Horizon zero dawn world, full of killer machines and tribes n shit, combined with the virus from the Prototype (that and darksiders are my fav games of all time tbh) also body horror, specifically the blend of machine and flesh bh, is my favorite shit :Dd this is a rough idea

So like as killer machines were sweeping across the planet, devouring everything in sight and replicating, a disease was created that, it was hoped, would be able to infect and eat away at the metal. But it fails, the virus ends up infecting the soldiers that are fighting against the machines and just, combining the human and machine.

The world eventually goes so far to shit that everything on the planet dies. The war machines become deactivated and some of the machine/human mutants are sealed away in bunkers to be used as experiments.

And just like, the 141 becoming a blend of steel and flesh in the grotesque approximation of what they used to be, able to strip away parts of other machines and graft them to their own forms.

Gaz was the first, fighting on the front lines back when he had foolishly believed the killer robots could be defeated. He had gotten separated when he got infected, the fear secondary only to the pain as his flesh literally melted into the corruptors, bone and muscle becoming tangled in gears and wires until all he could feel were his numerous stilt like legs now scrambled to gain purchase on the blood soaked ground . Turned into some weird metal scorpion bellow the waist, weaponry weighing on his back and coolant full wires snaking across his body, Kyle had passed out from the pain, his body further changing in his slumber to grow skin and eyes over the raw metal.

He woke up deep underground in a bunker, turned into a science experiment.

Price was next. He was a soldier turned scientist, working on a subfunction of the teraforming AI that would work to clear the world of the virus that had unleashed. He was the soft voice of comfort Kyle would listen to when they pricked and prodded him, the person Kyle spilled his heart out time and time again.

It came as little surprise when Price became infected. He had started to feel lethargic and sick for the few days, all of it going unnoticed as no one knew how the virus affected humans. That was until he came in contact with a Plowhorn, that changed him into a bulwark of flesh and metal, a living tank with a heavy crest of horns sitting on his head and thick metal plates to protect him.

Price and Kyle kept each other from going insane, figuring out the worst part of the virus — they had become immortal like the machines, but still felt pain like people, pain muddling their brains when pistons and gears would grind against flesh again and again until it regrew in a different way.

They were finally freed when the people experimenting on them died and the AI released the locks of the doors. They emerged hell knows how many years later, taking the first steps into a reborn world that was still crying in it's cradle.

Soap was amongst the first humans to emerge from the mechanical cradle, thrust into a wild and untamed world full of strange machines, with no tools but his hands. While out trying to scavange some of the metal from downed glinthawks he was attacked by Scrappers, ending up infected with the virus that had been slumbering in the earth. Soap became like the sphinx, glinthawk wings attaching to his back with wires, talons merging with skin and pushing out bone, the body of the scraper combining with his own until he was unable to stand on two legs, forced to crawl on all fours and screech in pain through distorted vocal chords until Price and Gaz found him. They took care of him until he was used to his body enough to soar through the air about as well as he could run across the earth.

Simon was the last, born to a tribe that valued strength and worshipped the machines above all. And Simon is the only one who's convergence to steel has any semblence of thought or preparation. He had spent years hunting Fireclaws, tearing off the intact pieces and pistons after every hunt until the shamans of his tribe deemed him ready to become one of the metal gods. The change was slow and painful, bones melting and hardening around new metal, body getting bigger and flesh stretching to fit the new frame, heavy claws weighing on his muscular arms until Simon had become Ghost.

It wasn't what he expected. What he had done in an attempt to fit in amongst his kin served to further push him away as his tribe worshipped him as one of the machine gods, erasing his name as Simon. It was a relief when he met the others, finding comfort in their disfigured and grotesque bodies that looked so similar like his own.

And then you meet them.

Maybe you're a foolish mercenary that stumbled too far into the wild, maybe you're one of the subfunctions of the original teraforming AI that gained sentience. Either way, you didn't fear them, you tried to talk to them, to get to know them even when every societal law of your tribe deemed them as monsters and demons.

And on one random evening, when they had all settled into a rough cuddle pile, scarred flesh over sharp metal creating enough of a cushion for you to sleep in the middle of them all — safe and warm... It occured to them: you are nice, you are kind, and they want to to stay by their side.