#PCR test rule

[kiralamouse]

Family members keep getting (thankfully home-treatable) COVID. After latest victim tested positive, Sis called out the most-exposed still-negative family members with the center frame of this shot:

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Neil,

With the upcoming filming for Good Omens S3 slated to start next year, I was wondering if you knew if there would be similar mitigations on set as there were for the filming on S2, such as masking? I was also curious as to what other mitigations were taken during the filming on S2, such as testing, air filtration, etc?

Thank you!

There was daily testing for everyone, masking and social distancing mostly. And we were incredibly lucky.

I doubt that Season 3 would have similar rules -- we don't have the money in the budget to have our own labs and do PCR testing on everyone every day, for example.

[reality-detective]

Nobel Laureate SLAMS Fauci in Resurfaced Video 👇

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Kary Mullis (inventor of the PCR test) slams Fauci in the 1990s.🤔

"Guys like Fauci get up there and start talking, you know, he doesn't know anything, really, about anything and I'd say that to his face. Nothing.... They've got a personal kind of agenda, they make up their own rules as they go, they change them when they want to and they smugly, like Tony Fauci, does not mind going on television in front of the people who pay his salary and lie directly into the camera."

[didalexiabreakupwitholgayet]

hey! can you tell what happened with Gio at Barcelona? I know she was playing there when she was young but I don’t know how she left. I read during the Olympics bunch of tweets from the Brazilian fanbase about how they lost respect to Alexia after her position as a captain towards the incident of her departure and how awfully she went along with the club and remained silent even tho they are known for treating Brazilians badly (I think they were referring to the current Roque situation which I unfortunately understand)

yeah, there's no love lost between gio and barça, nor between gio and culers 😬

(and i'm sorry but this has nothing to do with brasilians.😂 if barça can treat messi and spanish club legends on the women's side the way it has done, then no one is safe!)

anyway, gio joined barça back in 2020 and left in 2022. she was technically part of the first champions winning team in 2021. in 2022, she accused the club of abusive behaviour, following her first call-up to the brasilian wnt, specifically due to the club's covid quarantine protocols.

she claimed: “after completing the quarantine imposed, i received authorisation from fifa to join the brasilian national team in the united states, with the full knowledge of the club. before traveling and during the concentration period, i carried out several pcr tests, always with negative results. when i returned to barcelona, they called a meeting with the club director. at that meeting, i was accused of having committed serious indiscipline and that, therefore, i would be removed from the team and suffer serious consequences."

she then accused barça of punishing her after that incident and created an atmosphere ‘work assault and psychological violence against women' and said that the club subjected her to illegal confinement by the head of the club’s medical services.

barcelona then responded by saying:

and most culers took barça's side after all was said and done and accused gio of breaking covid rules and wanting special treatment. but some barça fans view gio as a problematic player, and with her stint at arsenal and not being able to be registered last season and the murkiness surrounding her agent interfering or what not with an earlier loan, who knows? the truth is always more muddled.

and alexia has nothing to do with anything. why are brasilian fans dragging her into this?! literally alexia is blamed for all the problems in the world when this was a decision by the club medical staff during a global pandemic.

[darkmaga-retard]

The mainstream media has been claiming that COVID-19 infections are on the rise, and the way for the slave class to protect themselves is to just submit to the “safe and effective” “vaccine” that AstraZeneca has already recalled. The fear-mongering is going to all new levels once again in an effort to convince people to get the mRNA injections.

2 Million Americans Dead From COVID Vaccines & It All Started With The Department Of Defense

This entire plandemic was about these shots, and how the ruling class could play this game and convince as many gullible and willing slaves to get injected. It has always been about the “vaccine”, the “solution.” The scamdemic was just the problem needed to push the “final solution.”

In fact, the Los Angeles Times laments that in California, just 37% of seniors 65 and older have received the last updated COVID-19 vaccine that first became available in September. How many more do they expect the masses to take?

Apparently, a lot because if the media is to be believed, doctors are urging everyone to get up to date on vaccinations, particularly if patients are at higher risk of severe complications from COVID-19. An updated COVID-19 vaccination formula is expected to become available in about a week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging everyone 6 months and older to get one dose of the updated vaccine.

Head United States tyrant, Joe Biden has gotten five COVID shots and tested positive for the virus for the third time. So are these shots “effective?”

Biden Tests Positive For COVID…AGAIN

They also want the slaves to get tested repeatedly if the first test shows up as negative. This way, they can test until it’s positive and boost the already fabricated numbers even further.

The CDC ADMITS: PCR Tests CANNOT Differentiate Between Coronaviruses!

This is also happening right now with the bird flu. The more they test, the more they magically find, and the more fear they push on the naive slave class.

U.S. Enters Mass Testing Phase For Bird Flu In Dairy Cattle

If the rulers think for even a second that they can get away with another scamdemic, they will try it. Never put anything past the sociopaths who want to rule over others.

[oww666]

as usual too little too late where were the courts when the govt was demanding we take these tests ?

[gulfportofficial]

On Settlement, as Somebody Who Definitely Didn't Quietly Take to Ship (move to East Asia for work) Due to My Hypos Getting Such an Upper Hand of Me.

Finally being in like, a settled place (life-wise but also internationally-wise) is so fucking weird. Like, I have piles and piles of PCR test reports I was required to take as I visa-hopped between friends and countries that would allow me in for a little while, before being able to organize the documents I needed to work in another country. This happened because I had the bad sense to want to see my family in the US after a year of lockdown in the People's Republic of China (where I was working at the time) and the visa rules changed while I was away. This cast me adrift since I also couldn't go back to my home country (both because it was logistically insane - NZ locked that border down hard and if you wanted to return you had to sign up for a lottery to be assigned one of the quarantine spots, and you had no way of knowing if you'd get one in a week or three months - but also because I would never abandon Chester, and NZ has strict biosecurity at the best of times. It was obviously ramped up to eleven during. Had I gone back to NZ, I'd have had to have given him away before I left or have had him seized at the NZ border.) I have kept every single one of these tests (as well as every single one of Chet's export certificates.) I'm looking at them like, why? Why did I keep these? But I know why. Someone, somewhere, in the future is going to want to see them as historical documents. But I don't need them in this weird little folder anymore and nor do I need my ten thousand boarding passes and train tickets and so many other weird little things I have for some reason carried out of Egypt. So I guess I'm just going to... make the most perverse scrapbook ever? Idk, it's just a weird thing and I've been a man without a country for so fucking long I don't even know how to adjust, really.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Sorry, new to this blog but wondering why you were so traumatised by the pandemic?

I moved to the UK at the end of 2017. I had made friends, but not deep social networks. For me the trade-off was that I was more lonley, but I was meeting exciting new people, going to exciting new places, and doing exciting new things. One of the things I realised quite early in the pandemic - is that it was heightening whatever was most stressful about your situation. For parents (and many other people) it was never getting a break. For me it was the isolation.

I lived alone. Initially, I went 11 weeks without having a conversation with someone in person. Then I met with one friend once a week - I had a little walled area outside the back of my flat and we sat socially distanced every week. There was a two to three month period where I did a little more - met up with other friends in their gardens or mine, went to the pub outside and did some traveling for work. But it was a level of isolation that I would have found unimaginable.

My team didn't meet regularly - I think we met about every two months. I didn't quite realise how unusual that was. And I was mostly grateful that I didn't have to deal with Zoom and Teams (which I did and do really struggle with). But what it meant was that each day I had to get up, figure out what work I could do, push myself to do whatever I could to meet my basic needs (which were never going to be met under these circumstances). I was profoundly alone.

Home was New Zealand - with everything that implied. My friends and family were safe, and before too long sending me pictures of a completely normal life on. But I had a job - it was due to end in March 2021 and I wanted to know what was happening before I made plans. It wasn't until November that I realised that I might never know and so I booked a ticket - still hoping that by the time it came to leave, I'd know whether or not I was coming back for my job or moving home. I booked my ticket for mid-January - if I was leaving for good I'd need to pack up over the Christmas break, I might need to go into work to finish tasks that could only be done in person once it was open again in January, and then I figured I needed two weeks after that to make sure I was well.

I started to read the Facebook groups from other New Zealanders heading home - to figure out what was involved. To come into New Zealand you had to spend two weeks in a government run hotel room - Managed Isolation. I'd booked my spot at the same time as I'd booked my ticket home.

The trees turned to sticks (it was only my fourth European winter; the barrenness still surprised me) and it got darker and darker. I still met my friend every week - sometimes in the snow, but everything else that I might have been able to do stopped.

I had to sot out my flat - I had to act as if I was going to be leaving forever, so that I'd be ready if I was. It felt impossible - feeding myself working and going to a stupid walk for my stupid mental health was taking everything I had; going through everything I owned as well seemed impossible. But I couldn't get any help - not for the sorting that took place inside my house - I had to do that myself.

Then things got worse. At first all we knew that infection rates were going up and up and up - then they started talking about the alpha variant. The rules started changing - at first just the rules in the UK. That added stress - I had to take everything to the charity shop on Christmas eve, because I didn't know if they would reopen again. There was another level of calculations to everything I did. What needed to be done today, because it might be shut tomorrow. It began to snow. I had never driven in the snow.

I realised I probably wasn't going to know whether or not I was coming back when I left.

Then, on the 3rd of January, New Zealand announced that anyone who was traveling from the UK needed a negative PCR test 3 days before traveling. I was traveling on a Tuesday - I'd need to get the test on the Saturday. None of the places that offered guaranteed turn around were open on the Saturday. Boots said that 99% of its tests were back within 24 hours. What would I do if I was in the 1%?

By that time, all the places in Managed Isolation were booked up. If I missed my slot the next available places were in March. If I didn't have a negative test, if anything happened with my flight, I would be trapped - having thrown everything I had at trying to get out.

Then they started cancelling flights. There were three routes back to New Zealand at that point, via Singapore, via Dubai and via Doha. Singapore stopped allowing transit passengers from the UK. The week before I was due to leave, Emirates cancelled their flights to Australia - with 48 hours notice. I was so afraid that my flight would be cancelled and I'd miss my spot in managed isolation.

Hoping and trying to move for something better had turned a miserable, but bearable situation, into something that felt completely untenable.

I kept having to make calculations - if it snowed on the day that I needed to get my PCR test - which was riskier? Driving in the snow for the first time - or a 40 minute cab ride each way?

Each day seemed full of impossible things, but I had to do them. I wouldn't be able to sleep till 6am, and then I'd have an exhausted nap at 6pm. I would suddenly become very aware of my breath and unable to breathe automatically - I had to consciously take each breath.

I said goodbye to some people across a frozen parking lot. Most people I didn't say goodbye to at all.

I caught the plane. The workers at the hotel wrote a heart and 'welcome home' on the paper bag which held my first meal. I still have the bag.

My first experience when I came out of managed isolation was at Auckland airport - as I took my flight home. At hte food court, everyone was sitting and moving and interacting as if everything was normal. I felt like an alien who had gone through a worm hole to another civilisation. People were so close to each other. I cannot really put into words how unbelievably greatful I am that my friends and family were safe, that I was looked after in managed isolation, and that I got to return through the worm hole and begin to heal.

But it was only beginning. I still get flashbacks, particularly to those awful, desperate few weeks when it felt like I was crossing a rope bridge and each of the ropes were being cut one by one. I have had them from eating a churro, the government changing their policy in response to the delta variant, thinking about the existence of the audiobook of 'Venetia', watching the triathalon at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, listening to Grace Petrie's Northbound, hearing that someone wasn't able to get on a plane they really wanted to get on.

Right now I am in period where it feels like the emotions of that time are really close to the surface. I don't really know why. But I think the only thing to do is acknowledge that I went through something really awful and that it still hurts and feel the grief and pain when it comes - rather than push it away. I decided to answer this ask to see what writing some of it down felt like.

[flyonthewallmedstudent]

Disseminated Gonorrhoea

On the theme of disseminated infectious diseases. I've no idea why I've stuck with this theme. Maybe it was catchy.

Going with the topic of infectious diseases does make it easier to source from free resources.

Image from NEJM:

Basically, disseminated gono presents as fever, reactive arthritis (any arthritis that results from infection), tenosynovitis (inflamed tendons as well as joints) and rash. But use your epidemiology to consider this diagnosis - usually young people with relatively few comorbidities and are they sexually active. Usually. But use your judgement. The simplest thing is getting their consent to rule this out, given the extremes of complications of STIs. I've yet to ever see an ID physician ever squeamish about taking a sexual history because of how important this is. (Phrasing it this way as it's critical to be sensitive and compassionate - but I often find junior doctors over do this to the point where it's awkward for both them and the patient).

Patient in the image was in her 20s, presented with fevers, rash (pustular too) and a painful 3rd digit (tenosynovitis). A cervical swab/culture was positive for Neisseria gonorrhoea.

Investigations: Gram staining gives you pink cocci, or gram negative cocci - which are intracellular

Kinda easier to remember it's neisseria species, given most cocci are gram positives (staph and streps) and most gram negative bacteria are rods or bacilli (eg Ecoli).

First line investigation, however is the swab of affected or exposed areas for PCR or NAAT (Nucleic acid amplifcation testing) and culture.

Image source also NEJM

Complications in severe disease: Pelvic inflammatory disease and abscess, which can require surgery and drainage and at worst, infertility. Epididymo-orchitis.. I spelt it wrong, I know, but essentially it's painful testicles, ddx with testicular torsion. Rarely: meningitis, conjunctivitis and prostatitis.

Cause for joints being affected - unclear, but mech is due to immune complexes. So, think septic joint (fevers/acute, red hot joint and rash) and on draining the joint, expect a negative gram stain. It's an inflammatory reaction.

Long term - can develop inflammatory arthritis, e.g. long term arthritis and joint pain/disability, requiring rheumatology input and immunosuppression.

In most cases, gono is asymptomatic. Vaginal 80% and penile up to 90%. Hence the importance of routine screening. There is also higher risk of dissemianted gono in HIV patients.

Treatment: IM Ceftriaxone 1-2 g in severe disease and PO Azithromycin typically for chlamydia as they frequently are found together. 90% of chlamydia cases are asymptomatic.

Follow-up and contact tracing: No sexual contact for 7 days and no contact with partners from the last 2 months until screened and/or treated. Contact tracing key, i.e. partners within the last 2 months. Prior infection offers no immunity, so it's possible to get reinfected. Re test in 2 weeks for cure and in 3 months for re-infection.

Screen for other STIs (chlamydia - or assume it's there and treat), HIV and Syphilis.

Special group: pregnancy, which can threaten the pregnancy itself, cause other complications during and more memorable during med school - cause infant gono bacterial conjunctivitis during vaginal delivery. So widely, pregnant women are screened at perinatal clinic.

resources: the gold standard with Australian ID physicians: Australian STI Guidelines which are free.

CDC guidelines

[freebooter4ever]

FYI, if you’re using an at-home antigen test, those are not accurate enough to be used to rule out COVID. The false negative rate is very high. (They can be used to *confirm* COVID, but not to rule it out.) In early 2021, at-home antigen tests were only about 60% accurate compared to PCR tests, and the further mutations of the virus since then will only have decreased that number.

If you have COVID symptoms and it is possible to get to a PCR testing location, it’s a good idea to do that instead. In the future it may be useful to have a record of how many times you were infected.

havent you heard, the pandemic is over! our president declared it so and los angeles is following suit. if you tell your boss that you are waiting for one of those long lab tests, he will get mad. and you will get a reputation as not being committed to the job. not like your other male coworkers who are never sick and always stay till 8pm every day.

[beardedmrbean]

BEIJING — Cities across China further unwound COVID restrictions Friday, loosening testing and quarantine rules in the wake of nationwide protests calling for an end to lockdowns and greater political freedoms.

Anger and frustration with China's hardline pandemic response spilled out onto the streets last weekend in widespread demonstrations not seen in decades.

In the wake of the unrest across China, a number of cities have begun loosening COVID-19 restrictions, such as moving away from daily mass testing requirements, a tedious mainstay of life under Beijing's stringent zero-COVID policy.

At the same time, authorities are continuing to seek to contain protests with heavy security on the streets, online censorship in full force, and surveillance of the population heightened.

As of Friday, the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu will no longer require a recent negative test result to enter public places or ride the metro, instead only requiring a green health code confirming they have not travelled to a "high risk" area.

In Beijing, health authorities called Thursday on hospitals not to deny treatment to people without a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours.

In January, a pregnant woman in the city of Xi'an miscarried after being refused hospital entry for not having a PCR test result.

China has seen a string of deaths after treatment was delayed by COVID restrictions, including the recent death of a 4-month-old baby who was stuck in quarantine with her father.

Those cases became a rallying cry during the protests, with a viral post listing the names of those who died because of alleged negligence linked to the pandemic response.

Many other cities with virus outbreaks are allowing restaurants, shopping malls and even schools to reopen, in a clear departure from previous tough lockdown rules.

In northwestern Urumqi, where a fire that killed 10 people was the spark for the anti-lockdown protests, authorities announced Friday that supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, and ski resorts would gradually be opened.

The city of over 4 million residents endured one of China's longest lockdowns, with some areas shut in early August.

Home quarantine

An analysis by state-run newspaper People's Daily on Friday quoted a number of health experts supporting local government moves to allow positive cases to quarantine at home.

The shift would be a marked departure from current rules, which require that they be held in government facilities.

The southern factory hub of Dongguan on Thursday said that those who meet "specific conditions" should be allowed to quarantine at home. It did not specify what those conditions would be.

The southern tech hub Shenzhen rolled out a similar policy Wednesday.

Central government officials have also signaled that a broader relaxation of zero-COVID policy could be in the works.

Speaking at the National Health Commission Wednesday, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said the omicron variant was weakening and vaccination rates were improving, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

A central figure behind Beijing's pandemic response, Sun said this "new situation" required "new tasks.”

She made no mention of zero-COVID in those remarks or in another meeting Thursday, suggesting the approach, which has disrupted the economy and daily life, might soon be relaxed.

[skippyv20]

No shows are adding up!

Hi Skippy & Friends-Pilgrim here just reminding everyone there is a reallly big deal happening at the Marriott Downtown in Indianapolis this Tuesday night…Yes-tables are still available to reserve it seems, according to the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana site. According to this Marriott they have rooms available for Tuesday night and Wed too.  But beware my friends, there are royal pain in the ass rules to abide to…

-Everyone will need Covid Vaccination proof or a negative PCR test within 48 hours of the dinner. -Photography or any recording of this event is strictly prohibited. -This event is closed to the media. If you are non-media guests, you have to sign off with this statement: “Neither myself nor any of my guests are attending this event as members of the media.”

What I am wondering is…if no media is allowed there to report and interview with TV filming crews for the late night news broadcasts, and no one is allowed to take personal photos…then how do we know if she ACTUALLY was there? I can’t imagine Duchass of Overseas showing up for another 7 minute “me me me” intro like Manchester in such a down to earth kind of place, unless there is a big payoff. Netflix seems to be done filming….she does not need more fake events as film filler.

Can you imagine the all the young girls getting ready to meet a “famous for all the wrong reasons” actress and non-royal person and not be able to have their photo taken with her? Planning their outfits, their hairdos, their lines, to be told NOT ALLOWED!

Meanwhile on Tuesday night these events are also happening in the same city: major football game of the Colts vs Pittsburgh steelers; World Cup Watch parties in pubs-USA VS Iran; The Nutcracker Ballet; wine & wreath making workshop; Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening; Jazz Orchestra-Holiday Big Band Series- just to mention a few…hmmm…another no-show? Over and out from soft, quiet Cape Cod.

Great post Pilgrim!  Another no-show?  Hmmmm…😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[babs-zone]

a covid conscious road trip diary

los angeles to portland and back, no viruses allowed | april 2023

by babs ✨

hi yes good to be back n writing here on tumblr dot com, and what better place to start than with a little joy? in this series (a companion guide to my tiktok vlogs) i'm going to share how my partner and i traveled from LA to PDX and back without contracting the novel coronavirus.

click here for the full playlist on tiktok. click here for the above video.

⏤

who this is for:

people still using mitigation against SARS-CoV-2 looking for ways to get out and have a lil adventure without throwing caution to the winds

people who stopped using mitigation and are tired of getting sick

people who stopped using mitigation and want to start again

anyone else that finds it interesting ;)))

who this is not for:

people who don't think SARS-CoV-2 is a big deal and don't care to have an open conversation about why that is

people who want to police others behavior— i understand that we may not always see eye to eye, make exactly the same choices, etc, but there is a way to have those conversations while still acknowledging the reality that i have never knowingly been infected with SARS-CoV-2; while there's no accounting for luck, there's got to be something to what i'm doing

on that note, let's talk about my covid reality so we have a baseline knowledge of where i'm coming from:

29 / have fairly stable lupus and sjogrens syndrome / white (ashkenazi background is the lineage to carry the autoimmune diseases with 3 known cases in my fam) / (F) on medical charts but she/they to y'all tytyty / queer

my most *acutely* debilitating recurrent symptom is head and facial pain, which can be (though isn't always) triggered by mask wearing. i experienced this pain prior to the pandemic, but as time has gone on, i've had multiple episodes of pain directly connected to the pressure of a mask on my nose/sinus area (kind of in the same place as the malar rash), that extends into my eyes, up/over/around my skull, and into the clothes-hanger area of my bag, which can then in turn irritate my ribs (though not always, chronically ill people know how these things can cascade). this pain leaves me with intense sensory sensitivity (so in the dark, quiet, unable to do a lot of things), and can also include vomiting. for this reason, i try to spend as much time outside as possible.

10a-6p day job in communications where i work in person ~twice weekly at minimum (gotta Make Content and photos), as well as freelance photography, so my work is hybrid. in 2021 when i returned to work after i got vaccinated, i was still working the same food service job i'd been at since 2016. i ultimately quit that job in september of 2021 when i wasn't able to take enough time off to safely travel to photograph a wedding i'd committed to (driving takes way longer than flying), but had that not happened, i could've easily continued in that position despite the risk, as i'd structured my freelancing around that service job.

polyamorous and live with 2/3 of my partners (one works hybrid, one in service so all in-person), but we all have our own bedroom (even if we sleep in each others sometimes)

our household is in a pod with our other partners' household, which is three people in two bedrooms, all of whom work from home

my entire pod masks indoors outside of our homes unless the environment is intentionally controlled (prior testing, planning, etc); this has been a basic rule of thumb that has not changed the entire pandemic

a few of us, myself included, have access to tests through our jobs, so my household ~usually~ gets two PCRs and two RATs per week

both households have at least one HEPA filter (though all the filters need changing ngl)

both households have one aranet4 CO2 monitors, which is passed around based on need

we've had two covid positives in the pod: separate incidents, both in 2022, where both individuals were successfully isolated before further spread. blessedly, no longcovid symptoms from either of them.

so going into this trip, we brought

a good plan based on the swiss cheese model (above)

lots of different kinds of masks, as switching up the way pressure hits on my face can mean longer time able to mask

a bunch of covid tests

that's it

we considered taking one of the HEPA filters, but, as mentioned, they need changing and we just didn't have time to do so

likewise, didn't bring the CO2 monitors so others could use

ok, i think that's good background, now on to the fun!

⏤

day 1 - LA to silicon valley

after packing up the car, our first stop was coffee at the palm in burbank (which has online ordering and a walk up window), then we drove drove drove.

next stop was for lunch in bakersfield at vida vegan eatery, which has outdoor seating, but it was covered on three sides with plastic. we could've asked the folks working to lift the plastic, or we could've just taken the chance and eaten outside there regardless, as we would've been the only ones out there, but we chose to eat in the car, because this was a driving day anyhow.

drove drove drove some more thru gilroy, the garlic capital of california, where we masked up to stop at a lil farm stand.

made it to silicon valley, where we stayed at the sunnyvale ramada. we looked at a lot of chain options in the area, and chose this one not because it necessarily had the best reviews, but because it clearly had rooms that opened to the outside as well as the AC unit visible on the window, so the room takes in fresh air.

when we arrive at hotels, we mask up while do the requisite once-over (check for bed bugs, etc). we turn the ventilation up real high, open any windows, and prop the door open. masks stay on til we get all the bags in, when we usually settle in.

on this night, we threw on some nicer clothes and took a rapid test (negiii) before heading out to grab my cousin for dinner. they mask regularly, and also rapid tested negative before we headed over. even so, we keep masks on and windows down when we share the car with anyone outside the pod.

ended up on a nice pedestrian street in mountain view for dinner outdoors at yugen ramen and it was so quiet; we truly had the place to ourselves. finally, topped off the night with a quick pop into the patisserie down the street, maison alyzée. it was close to closing, so mostly empty outside of the unmasked proprietor, but, to be frank, we went into this trip assuming we'd be the only ones masked anywhere.

alright that's all for day one, eleven more to go!

[ceterisparibus116]

You’ve mentioned before that typically the lawyers for a criminal defense case are responsible for trial costs (I think that’s what you called them. I’m referring to things like psychological tests.) What about on the other side of things? How does the process work for the prosecution to get permission for and fund the same? 

Also, semi-related, who is the ‘prosecution’ for an appeal (the people arguing that the convicted person should not get a reduced sentence)? And how are they bankrolled?

These are great questions!

So if the prosecution requests tests and evaluations and things like that, it's generally done at the expense of the government agent that the prosecution represents. So if you're a city prosecutor, it's the city; if you're a county prosecutor, it's the county. And so on. However, sometimes the prosecutor will ask, as part of sentencing, that the defendant reimburse the government for the price of the evaluation.

Alternatively, the defendant can request specifically that the evaluation be done at the government's expense.

Ultimately, it's up to the judge to decide who they think should pay for it. A good judge will account for the defendant's employment status (and will especially account for the possibility that the defendant will be imprisoned and not able to make money).

To your second question, there are (at least???) two ways a defendant can try to get a better outcome even after a conviction. One is an appeal, and one is a request for post-conviction relief (PCR). The two overlap in some ways but not others and it's really complicated and kinda confusing tbh. But basically, an appeal is saying, "The judge ruled incorrectly." Whereas PCR is saying, "My rights were violated in some way [most often by ineffective assistance of counsel or prosecutorial misconduct]."

Appeals are heard by an appellate court. The person who files the appeal (usually the defendant) is now called the "petitioner." The person responding to the appeal (usually someone from the government) is called the "respondent." Depending on how big and fancy the prosecutor's office is, they might have a whole appellate division with people who only do appellate work. For smaller offices, whichever prosecutor handled the initial case will be unlucky enough to also be the respondent if there's an appeal.

With PCRs, as far as I know, the same prosecutor who handled the case will basically always handle the PCR. Also, PCRs are determined by the same judge who handled the underlying case.

During my time as a law clerk, I worked for a district judge. District judges function as appellate courts for magistrate judge, and so I got to review two appeals of a magistrate judge's decision. I also got to review several PCRs. It was all pretty fascinating to see how the legal process can continue even after a sentence.

Thank you so much for the ask. 💚

[argumate]

Shijiazhuang, the capital of northern Hebei Province, has become a trial zone of sorts for China’s move away from zero-COVID. The city curtailed COVID testing and stopped demanding negative PCR tests as a precondition for entering restaurants, offices, and the subway even though it is currently dealing with an outbreak. A community official in a Shijiazhuang county told The Financial Times: “On the one hand, we were told to relax the overly strict Covid prevention rules. On the other hand, we could still get fired for not stamping out cases on time […] Our policy goals conflict with each other.” The changes in policy have triggered unease in the city, as many residents do not know what to make of the change in policy.

contradictions!

[krill-joy]

Medical Masks Versus N95 Respirators for Preventing COVID-19 Among Health Care Workers

Abstract

Background: It is uncertain if medical masks offer similar protection against COVID-19 compared with N95 respirators.

Objective: To determine whether medical masks are noninferior to N95 respirators to prevent COVID-19 in health care workers providing routine care.

Design: Multicenter, randomized, noninferiority trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04296643).

Setting: 29 health care facilities in Canada, Israel, Pakistan, and Egypt from 4 May 2020 to 29 March 2022.

Participants: 1009 health care workers who provided direct care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.

Intervention: Use of medical masks versus fit-tested N95 respirators for 10 weeks, plus universal masking, which was the policy implemented at each site.

Measurements: The primary outcome was confirmed COVID-19 on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.

Results: In the intention-to-treat analysis, RT-PCR–confirmed COVID-19 occurred in 52 of 497 (10.46%) participants in the medical mask group versus 47 of 507 (9.27%) in the N95 respirator group (hazard ratio [HR], 1.14 [95% CI, 0.77 to 1.69]). An unplanned subgroup analysis by country found that in the medical mask group versus the N95 respirator group RT-PCR–confirmed COVID-19 occurred in 8 of 131 (6.11%) versus 3 of 135 (2.22%) in Canada (HR, 2.83 [CI, 0.75 to 10.72]), 6 of 17 (35.29%) versus 4 of 17 (23.53%) in Israel (HR, 1.54 [CI, 0.43 to 5.49]), 3 of 92 (3.26%) versus 2 of 94 (2.13%) in Pakistan (HR, 1.50 [CI, 0.25 to 8.98]), and 35 of 257 (13.62%) versus 38 of 261 (14.56%) in Egypt (HR, 0.95 [CI, 0.60 to 1.50]). There were 47 (10.8%) adverse events related to the intervention reported in the medical mask group and 59 (13.6%) in the N95 respirator group.

Limitation: Potential acquisition of SARS-CoV-2 through household and community exposure, heterogeneity between countries, uncertainty in the estimates of effect, differences in self-reported adherence, differences in baseline antibodies, and between-country differences in circulating variants and vaccination.

Conclusion: Among health care workers who provided routine care to patients with COVID-19, the overall estimates rule out a doubling in hazard of RT-PCR–confirmed COVID-19 for medical masks when compared with HRs of RT-PCR–confirmed COVID-19 for N95 respirators. The subgroup results varied by country, and the overall estimates may not be applicable to individual countries because of treatment effect heterogeneity.

Primary Funding Source: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, World Health Organization, and Juravinski Research Institute.