#SARS2

[blindedbythedarkness]

"Haha look at these conspiracy theorists saying Covid isn't real and to stop being so afraid! What dumbassery!"

Okay but you're not wearing a mask. You understand how that's exactly what these people want right? You're giving them exactly what they want. For everyone to pretend there's no Covid anymore. Functionally, you are the same as this conspiracy theorist. Do better.

[pokabrows]

"Here’s the rundown: Experts are sounding the alarm about an uptick in SARS-CoV-2 activity in the US in the last couple of weeks. According to the CDC, hospitalizations are up by 25% and deaths by about 17% in the US since the beginning of June. Meanwhile, wastewater coronavirus activity—essentially how much virus is in poop water, which is currently one of the best ways to predict COVID spread—is “low” nationwide, but on an upward trend and considered “high” in 53 sites (out of about 1,400) in states including Florida, New York, California, Hawaii, and Utah."

"However, the risk of long COVID still looms every time you test positive, Dr. Chan says. Research suggests that repeat infections increase your chances of getting long COVID and could magnify the severity of your symptoms if you already have it."

"The basics still apply, though, he says. This means washing your hands when you get home from school or work and canceling dinner plans if you’re sick. Wear a well-fitting N-95 mask around others who are more likely to come down with a severe infection (like your grandparents, or your friend who has cancer) and in public places where you might encounter elderly people or more folks who have health conditions that weaken their immune system."

"If you have symptoms like fever, chills, sore throat, or nausea, it’s a good idea to get tested. The best time to take an at-home rapid antigen test is as soon as you have symptoms, but if it’s negative, retest two days later since false negatives are more common early on. (The CDC says that if you have symptoms but have had two negative antigen test results spaced 48 hours apart, then you likely don’t have COVID, but it’s not a bad idea to test a third time too.)"

Selections of important bits from this article which is a pretty nice up to date article kinda summarizing the current situation. The link will be in a reblog to deal with Tumblr weirdness.

[i-amusemyself]

so they've now found the New Improved monkeypox that WHO has declared a public health emergency outside of Africa- in Sweden and the US so far

heres me thinking we're facing down the next pandemic as This Current Covid Mess vs bird flu but now here comes fucking monkey pox with the steel chair

[socialismforall]

Weekly COVID-19 Update for 2023-12-24

COVID is still airborne, and COVID still very much isn't over.

Northeastern and Midwestern USA SARS2 virus levels in wastewater are *soaring*, Northeast is currently at 1500 copies/mL (~750 copies indicates a strong surge), and Midwest is at 1300 copies/mL. Southeastern and Western USA are maintaining relatively lower levels between 600 and 700 overall, but both are still climbing. See https://biobot.io/data for county-specific data as results can vary widely between locales.

How to reduce your risk of infection? The SARS2 virus is airborne and can spread like smoke, so #MaskUp with an #N95 or better, avoid superspreader events and locations, and stay up-to-date on your boosters. Do it for yourself, so you don't catch SARS-CoV-2, and for others, so you don't spread SARS-CoV-2. Even if you're fully vaccinated, your risk of developing #LongCOVID following an infection is lower but not zero, and multiple reinfections increase your odds of negative health outcomes. Plan A always should be to prevent an infection from developing by wearing a respirator with a good seal around your mouth and nose (FFP2, FFP3, KN95, N95, N99, P100, etc.).

Holiday tips:

-If someone tells you that COVID is over, you might ask them why, if we didn't consider COVID to be over in 2020 or 2021, when the COVID wastewater levels were lower, why should we consider it over now, when the virus is circulating in even higher amounts?

-"Fewer cases" doesn't mean much when most of the at-home rapid tests don't get counted in official records, and the most accurate PCR tests are neither freely available nor given to everyone getting on a plane or attending classes.

-"Fewer deaths" also means less when you remember that about 1,200,000 of the most vulnerable people already have died from it, COVID-19 remains the #3 cause of death in 2023 (behind heart disease and cancer, the risk of both of which may be increased by COVID), and the risk of a Long COVID/post-acute COVID syndrome (PACS) disability or other potentially life-shortening organ damage (brain, kidney, lung, immune, etc.) isn't measured just by the death count. Also, the USA's life expectancy still hasn't recovered from the drop it experienced following the start of the pandemic.

source: https://biobot.io/data

source: https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20231006/these-are-the-top-10-causes-of-death-in-the-us

source: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2022/covid-and-the-heart-it-spares-no-one

source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33914346/

source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/11/29/average-us-life-expectancy-increased-not-pre-covid/71738611007/

[slo2004blog]

Public Health vs the Pandemic

[medsocionwheels]

Did anyone else notice

The COVID19 tag was trending on here yesterday? 👀

It's like the pandemic still exists or something. Color me shocked.

Hopefully this means people are catching on. This breaking period has been a long and exhausting one.

[crytidsprinkles]

I will forever love Interview with a vampire for acknowledging so openly, sickness and the global pandemic as well as pandemics past, and in the year 2022. So much media ignores it entirely. And now, in 2024 it's a great comfort for me amidst all this mass abandonment, murder, death and illness.

[dsm-v]

the scariest thing to me that most people don't even realize is that the acute phase is not the disease. that's becoming conspicuously evident the longer this all goes on. but sure let's go partying every week because YOLO

[dbluegreen]

good info. reminder to check with your health care provider or even better your pharmacist because paxlovid is not safe for everybody because of drug interactions.

Opinion Here’s how to get free Paxlovid as many times as you need it

When the public health emergency around covid-19 ended, vaccines and treatments became commercial products, meaning companies could charge for them as they do other pharmaceuticals. Paxlovid, the highly effective antiviral pill that can prevent covid from becoming severe, now has a list price of nearly $1,400 for a five-day treatment course.

Thanks to an innovative agreement between the Biden administration and the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer, Americans can still access the medication free or at very low cost through a program called Paxcess. The problem is that too few people — including pharmacists — are aware of it.

I learned of Paxcess only after readers wrote that pharmacies were charging them hundreds of dollars — or even the full list price — to fill their Paxlovid prescription. This shouldn’t be happening. A representative from Pfizer, which runs the program, explained to me that patients on Medicare and Medicaid or who are uninsured should get free Paxlovid. They need to sign up by going to paxlovid.iassist.com or by calling 877-219-7225. “We wanted to make enrollment as easy and as quick as possible,” the representative said.

Indeed, the process is straightforward. I clicked through the web form myself, and there are only three sets of information required. Patients first enter their name, date of birth and address. They then input their prescriber’s name and address and select their insurance type.

All this should take less than five minutes and can be done at home or at the pharmacy. A physician or pharmacist can fill it out on behalf of the patient, too. Importantly, this form does not ask for medical history, proof of a positive coronavirus test, income verification, citizenship status or other potentially sensitive and time-consuming information.

But there is one key requirement people need to be aware of: Patients must have a prescription for Paxlovid to start the enrollment process. It is not possible to pre-enroll. (Though, in a sense, people on Medicare or Medicaid are already pre-enrolled.)

Once the questionnaire is complete, the website generates a voucher within seconds. People can print it or email it themselves, and then they can exchange it for a free course of Paxlovid at most pharmacies.

Pfizer’s representative tells me that more than 57,000 pharmacies are contracted to participate in this program, including major chain drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens and large retail chains such as Walmart, Kroger and Costco. For those unable to go in person, a mail-order option is available, too.

The program works a little differently for patients with commercial insurance. Some insurance plans already cover Paxlovid without a co-pay. Anyone who is told there will be a charge should sign up for Paxcess, which would further bring down their co-pay and might even cover the entire cost.

Several readers have attested that Paxcess’s process was fast and seamless. I was also glad to learn that there is basically no limit to the number of times someone could use it. A person who contracts the coronavirus three times in a year could access Paxlovid free or at low cost each time.

Unfortunately, readers informed me of one major glitch: Though the Paxcess voucher is honored when presented, some pharmacies are not offering the program proactively. As a result, many patients are still being charged high co-pays even if they could have gotten the medication at no cost.

This is incredibly frustrating. However, after interviewing multiple people involved in the process, including representatives of major pharmacy chains and Biden administration officials, I believe everyone is sincere in trying to make things right. As we saw in the early days of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, it’s hard to get a new program off the ground. Policies that look good on paper run into multiple barriers during implementation.

Those involved are actively identifying and addressing these problems. For instance, a Walgreens representative explained to me that in addition to educating pharmacists and pharmacy techs about the program, the company learned it also had to make system changes to account for a different workflow. Normally, when pharmacists process a prescription, they inform patients of the co-pay and dispense the medication. But with Paxlovid, the system needs to stop them if there is a co-pay, so they can prompt patients to sign up for Paxcess.

Here is where patients and consumers must take a proactive role. That might not feel fair; after all, if someone is ill, people expect that the system will work to help them. But that’s not our reality. While pharmacies work to fix their system glitches, patients need to be their own best advocates. That means signing up for Paxcess as soon as they receive a Paxlovid prescription and helping spread the word so that others can get the antiviral at little or no cost, too.

{source}

[pokabrows]

The senate hearing on long covid is Thursday January 18 starting at 10 am EST. (Right now!) Link in reblog because it's being streamed. People are sharing their experiences of becoming disabled by covid.

[pandemichub]

ID: Tweet. US CDC quietly changed its position on Covid yesterday. Now says it is a year-round threat and advises multi layered protection, including clean air.https://t.co/x057jYIYnB (CDC link)

— Lisa (she/her) 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (@Sandyboots2020) July 4, 2024

Note: For at least the last couple of years it was known that without consistent and effective mitigation as well as a long term strategy, and changes to public health, a overall rise in deaths, excess deaths, disease, and raised baseline of illness would be the result. Based on data and patterns. A concerning development is the baseline continues to climb. - Admin

ID: Estimated COVID infections/Day US Based on wastewater data from Biobot.io and NWSS (CDC). Estimates daily infections 100,000 to 1,600,000 between February 19th 2020 to February 11th 2024. Biobot and NWSS (CDC funded).

- 5,111,633 infections, range Sept. 4th 2021 to Feb. 2022.

- 3/1/22 124,592 infections. 1,281,837 infections, range Feb. 2022 to Oct. 26th 2022.

- 1,302,041 infections, range Oct. 2022 to Dec. 2022 or Jan. 2023. 185,204 February 20th 2023.

- 718,367 infections, range Feb. 2023 to Oct. 17th 2023.

- 1,503,071 infections, Feb. 11th 2024.

*When I can translate the data I will include it in its entirety.

This post was originally written July 4th 2024

[crytidsprinkles]

ID: Retro anthropomorphic butter, popcorn, candy and soda illustrations dancing down a red carpet advertising refreshments GIF

There has been a existing trend which has grown quite a bit in recent years. Screening films well after they're theatrical runs. Some are older, others more recent. The experience of being able to watch one again, or for the first time in a cinema, is cool as hell.

Streaming at home is the way many watch new releases. It is partly out of convenience yes, but what is being missed is the major chunk of the population avoiding indoor places and all the airborne and fomite transmission of viruses and bacteria. Oh and don't forget the bedbug concern.

I have been a film fan since I was a small child, they are a love of my life and a part of life that still brings me joy and helps me keep living. I miss going to the movies. But not enough to risk my health and well being. Just like other gatherings and events, these are petri dishes for airborne and fomite viral and bacterial spread.

Perhaps these theaters think they can get by just gine continuing to leave out people like myself. They're wrong. I will say it is very difficult reading all these announcements of so many films returning to theaters, and I can enjoy absolutely none of it. Being robbed of participation in society and a lot of enrichment is depressing, angering and heartbreaking.

I've considered more and more trying to bring my opening a drive-in dream to life. If these businesses want to keep ignoring and discriminating against me, those like me and anyone who wants to protect themselves and their communities, I have no problem filling the void. Art including entertainment isn't just a luxury, it is essential and greatly improves people's mental and physical health and well being.

We deserve that as much as any non disabled or careless person does.

[i-amusemyself]

I can't with all the leftists who haven't masked for 3+ years suddenly up in arms about trans rights. 46% of trans people report long covid after SARS2 infection. Put your damn money where your mouth is and wear a fucking mask.

yall are taking the easy route ranting and raving about what trump is doing to trans rights whilst never examining your own harms. just because you can spot blatant fascism doesn't make you exempt. If youre walking around spreading a virus that more or less has a 50:50 chance of disabling us, YOU are part of the problem.

[dsm-v]

what endemic DOES mean: a pathogen that spreads at a stable rate (where for each infected individual, they pass on the pathogen to about 1 other individual on average)

what endemic DOES NOT mean: a pathogen found every-the-fuck-where, that grows and spreads exponentially. the word you are looking for is "pandemic"

[willowreader]

@donford says this A very clear demonstration on the initial stages of syncytia formation...

Almost all cells do this naturally, COVID hijacks this process and melts cells together.

All cells can do this, but not all viruses can force cells to do it.

Syncytia formation starting at ACE2 is what makes it top level dangerous... That starts a chain that allows it to make syncytia out of any cell group.

Each type of cell can do this with different cells, and starting with ACE2 creates an equation that can include ANY cell type.

Most of our scary viruses or bacteria are syncytial but with far less range than SARS2 meaning fewer cell types can be added to the super cell structure.

Click on View on Twitter for the full explanation with pictures.

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

well, the new year is in a bit depending on where the fuck you are.

but what is everyone’s hopes for next year?

mine is much of the same,

“plz no more epidemic of the sars2”

“Plz can we have peace in our lifetime as promised by everyone”

“Plz can the government stop being bad”

“I hope crypto and NFT’s go defunct without people losing their life savings”

And probably shit tons of crying.

this year has been awful!

the next one we haven’t yet seen.

but I wish everyone a happy new year. (Tho Chinese new year isn’t until later, I can’t wait for it!)

let’s hope this one is marginally better!

Yay, 🎉 (:celebration emoji)

[IMAGE ID: a tiny tabby kitten with impact text that says, “I’m actually not even close to my limit, it takes a lot more than this to knock me down" END ID:]

woo, so much shit has happened this year.

yet we are still alive and we are still here, this is awesome fucking awesome!

shout out to our beloved moots

@crippled-peeper for being cool <3 you made us not hate ourselves because of being disabled you deserve the best, from one to another. next year will hopefully be better, and it will !!!!

@aguineapigcouldntdothis for supporting this blog tirelessly, and being genuinely so cool be proud of yourself! happy new year

@icedragonaftermath for supporting this blog and being cool

@aloeverawrites for everything your awesome

@snekdood for changing my (pop) thoughts on veganism and for being awesome

@blacktipreefsharkwizarding for coming back after being lost in the account move <3

@problematicpooch for supporting the blog!

@t-is-tobi for being genuinely so cool

@roots-system even though we don't talk much you guys are awesome

@75screamingtoads for being the coolest

@rin-and-jade for being one of the best peoples out there, you guys deserve all love !

@iosonounapersonamiao for being so kind and awesome! your the best

@valcaira for being awesome and supporting the blog <3 and just being around, your cool!

@ex-alias for being a huge supporter of this blog, shout out!

@asterz-playz-official for supporting the blog!

@emery-reblogs for supporting the blog!!!!

@sweaty-confetti for being a huge supporter of this blog!

@fishyyyyy99 for supporting the hell out of this blog!

@myhomeisamongthetrees for supporting the blog!

@adderall-jockey for supporting the blog!

@ultimatenutshackfangirl for supporting the blog!

@spark1edog for just being here, it's a joy to see you round!

@theelectricalcity for being a HUGGGGGE supporter

@head-of-sea-foam-the-system for sticking around you guys are the best

@shitpostingsystem who has stuck through thick and thin, you guys deserve the best, thanks for sticking around <3

@anarchywoofwoof hope next year is better, your the best

@atypi-cals you guys are great! <3 thanks for supporting this blog !!!

@pigeon-system-boys for sticking around and supporting the blog <3

@polychaeteworm for supporting the blog!

@todayisdeadinside for supporting this blog!!!!!

@midnight-soulless-system for supporting the blog!!!!!!!!

@solitairesys thank you for supporting this blog!!!!!!

@boxedupcryptixbeing for supporting this blog!

@tokyoterri2 for supporting this blog! your awesome!

@island-76 for tirelessly supporting this blog!

@808-bantar for supporting this blog!!!!!

@olivertheballer idk who you are, where you came from but you are the chillest guy, and we love seeing you around. your a joy <3

and many many more who I have zeroooooo energy to write.

I wish all of you a happy new year, and best wishes.

from the us-the-voices system,

may next year be kind on you!