#mask up C19

[holostarz]

a lady commented on my mask at work today. she said "i hope theyre not making you wear that. i work in an emergency room and we dont wear them anymore"

and i had to fucking hold myself back from telling her she needs to become unemployed

[darkmaga-retard]

 Throughout her mystifying, skyrocketing political career, Kamala Harris has repeatedly demonstrated her fealty to the pharmaceutical, abortion, and transgender industries, using her position of authority to feed their unquenchable thirst for profit by promoting their manufactured demands for dangerous experimental vaccines, for their monstrous so-called “sex-changing” medical and surgical treatments for young people and kids, and for the devaluing and destruction of human life through abortion.

Harris, along with her newly picked vice-presidential running mate Tim Walz, are dangerous radical extremists, more beholden to lining the pockets of demonic so-called “healthcare” industries than they are to protecting the dignity and flourishing of American lives.

Harris: Fighting for Big Pharma profits, not public health

Harris has promoted the COVID-19 (C19) vaccine from the start and continues to do so as evidenced by an “up to date” vaccination requirement for all who seek employment at her campaign headquarters. 

Harris currently demands that those she employ continually update their C19 vaccination status, despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have admitted since August 2021 that the C19 jab does nothing to stop the transmission of COVID.

“Harris has steadfastly stood by Biden’s federal vaccine mandates, federal mask mandates, as well as lockdowns of businesses, schools, and places of worship all across America during COVID,” noted Nikos Biggs-Chiropolos of the Honest Media Project. “As someone who has spent her entire career trying to please Democratic Party elites and donors, rather than regular people, it is clear that her top priority is propping up powerful companies rather than fighting for better public health.”

[pandorafallz]

Lest We Rest Upon Our Graves | C19

It was odd.

Alma didn’t quite remember what had happened, she knew she had been staring up at the dancing woodsprites, grief in her heart and she knew she had gotten to her feet up but then she felt the sudden pain rage through her the back of her skull as if she had been struck with a sledgehammer but despite the pain and her head spinning, she knew she hadn’t screamed out about it, but Alma knew she had spoken her complaint…

Then the next Alma found herself sitting, or floating to be more accurately beside…herself.

Her body.

Alma didn’t quite understand but figured it was most likely OBE from her injury. She could see herself lying across the roots, Nalin bent over her and pressing her fingers into her neck, checking her pulse but… she didn’t know if she’d find something or not. It felt… odd to witness but felt no sensation from it. She almost expected to feel her touch at her neck.

She could hear nothing, even as Nalin’s mouth moved and clearly talking but there was nothing. Not the sound of her voice or even the trickling of water from the pond. The cave around was almost filled with darkness, some plants pulsing like glittering stars but the only real light was from the tree behind her back, a comforting light even that felt…like home. Welcoming. Like she could stay here forever basking in it.

“Alma.”

Alma didn’t jump at the noise through the silence, but her head turned from Nalin’s figure retreating from the cave sharply up before her eyes widened to the figure a few feet away, leaning against the tree and wearing a soft expression.

“Michael?” She found herself on her feet, reaching for his face. Michael looked just as she remembered him with a bundle of blankets in his arms. His face still looked so young, with dark skin, short buzz-cut brown hair, and wide brown eyes that were a deep brown and always held a lightness. They still had that, even now. He… was in his clothes he had died in, Alma realised. Blue pants, his favourite beige shirt with that shitty-patch job she had done after he burned a hole in it being an idiot.

“What is this?” She breathed, “I…I don’t understand.”

Michael reached up with a small adjustment to his blankets, a hand coming to touch her cheek. “I’m sorry, Alma. You’re… gone. Like me.” He was gentle as he spoke.

“Dead?” Alma turned down to the body, the weight setting in her chest as she realised… he was truthful; her body was… lying there and quickly being engulfed by the tree’s grassy tendrils, but the pale hue to her cheeks and the absent mask seemed to offer that to her. Nalin must have removed it. She should have been choking for breath…if she was alive.

There was nothing.

“What is this?” Alma whispered. “If I’m dead too, how am I talking to you like this? Out here?.”

“Your heart has stopped, but takes a little longer for the brain to follow.” Michael said, “To be more poetic… you’re a footprint on the beach, Alma and the tide is coming in.”

Alma stared down, yet she felt the ache of his words she didn’t feel the lie. Seven minutes, if that.

Her brain was still dying, this could simply be her neurons trying to scramble together a narrative as her brain began its shut down without an oxygen flow. Still, an observer wasn’t an angle she had wanted to experience again.

A tiny gurgle pulled her attention from the sight of her mortal body back to her late fiancé. In his arms was that pink bundle of blankets, a little moving hand in a tight fist that held a handful of his shirt. Her gaze dropped down to it and before she knew it, Alma had taken the blankets from him, settling their daughter into her arms. Michael remained close as Amanda’s fist remained tight on his shirt, unwilling to release him but Alma didn’t dare try and coax her to let go. Not now.

Little Amanda’s face was scrunched up, still with her cleft lip but she had a beautiful flush to her cheeks as if she was alive, not like the dead one she had held so many years ago. Real or not, she had this. She couldn’t squander this moment, real or not.

Still, she vaguely remembered her morning and what she did to her arm by mistake. “After…you died, where you there? Watching? I kept... hearing you. I thought I was going nuts.”

Michael let out a sheepish chuckle, gently pulling his shift free of the little fingers their baby had. “I’m sorry.”

Alma sighed but…it made sense now. Perhaps her mind had always been susceptible in the sleep-wake transitions. Why, after his death, she had forgotten he had died, why she had thought he was hiding and hiding their daughter from her; her sick brain had clocked on but… nothing else. She had recovered away from the possibility of death… until recently.

“Wha-what happens now? Will we stay like this? Do we…move on?”

“Well, Eywa hasn’t absorbed us into her network yet so I think she’s…leaving us—or you –a choice.” Michael said thoughtfully, his eyes turning to the tree thoughtfully. “No one gets a choice but this isn’t a typical situation.”

Her fingers touched lightly over her daughter's cheeks but…there was no warmth. Not really. Warmth was physical, she supposed. This need not apply to the dead and wasting. Wait…

“A choice? I’m dead, I have no other choices.”

“You died at the foot of a spirt tree and you rest over its roots. It connected to you before your heart stopped. Sure, it will absorb your remains but you still provided for a site of Eywa. It’s caught our spirits from the remains you buried too. But… the avatar you’re buried is still alive.”

Alma’s head turned towards her body. Her entire form was now encased in green like it was a shell, oddly with details to pick out edges of her hair, clothes and pouches. It looked oddly solid, not just grass. No doubt the tree would take everything her body was provided, as she had hypothesised. But the avatar bit surprised her; free nutrition right there and it was going for the dead thing first.

“How?”

“It’s still in a Tsalnu pod. You know what the Na’vi mothers do with that. In rare cases, I believe a mother would connect the child’s pod to Eywa if she’s unable to provide for it or anyone else to.” He sounded a little uncertain. “I suspect it’s being kept alive until you decide what to do.”

Alma turned her attention to the second site where she had buried the avatar. An empty fetal body but one still filled with life and potential. If her spirit was here… and her avatar was alive then…

“I could come back?” She wondered, “Another life…in an avatar body? Like Jake?”

“No, not like Jake.” He shook his head. “A clan guided Eywa to accept him in his entirety into his new body. This way is different. You died without a clan’s guidance. Practically alone with the Resistance Doctor at your side. You only have Eywa’s attention because your care here to this very tree.” He nodded to the tree. “This is the only reason you have this chance. A spirit can fill the avatar and bring it consciousness but that is all Eywa will do. It wouldn’t have your memory. A new start. A new life.”

Alma stared down, surprised it was even an offer. After everything she had done… she didn’t deserve a second chance. But… it presented an opportunity to come back and…fix the mistakes she hadn’t been able to see through with the Sarentu. Why not take it? Take it and be grateful Eywa was being kind.

“I would remember nothing? If I go back, I have to make things right with the Sarentu. I…I lost my chance with them. I thought I had time. I thought I would survive. Not die suddenly underground of the clouded forest.”

Michel pondered after a moment. “Your spirit could retain information but… only on a subconscious level at best. There will be no promises on that. I don’t know.”

The blankets wiggled again, turning her attention downwards to her daughter’s ghost fondly. Those wide brown eyes stared up at her still, oh so innocently. Despite her conflict, she couldn’t help but wonder the next question.

“Could…someone else take the avatar?” She wondered, “Could… Amanda?” Her daughter could live a life she was robbed of before she was born. The avatar’s brain wasn’t fully developed at its current gestation but could develop to take Amanda’s spirit.

Amanda could have a life.

“The choice is yours, my love.” Michael’s hand touched her shoulder. “If you want another lifetime, we’ll wait for you again. If Amanda goes, I’m sure we’ll both wait for her as well within Eywa. Greet her in her connection with the Great Mother when she understands.”

Alma frowned softly.

Her death would be nothing to the resistance. She knew that much. They couldn’t have her body, so she was still safe from desecration. The matter of the fact was…. she didn’t deserve a new chance at life, let alone in an avatar body. But she owed the Sarentu a debt. Could she dedicate a new life to repent her sins, and carry it over her lost one? Would they want her back if they discovered her true soul? Was it better to simply be a note at the end of the chapter? Lost and forgotten. Remembered only in Eywa. Would coming back be seen as selfish?

Or Alma could give Amanda a new lease of life, as a mother should for her child. A lifetime of new experiences, in a world where they might accept her from infancy and raise her as a Na’vi. A lifetime in a world she was adapted to belong. She could be loved and only be seen as the ‘Dreamwalker’s child’ by anyone who recognised the avatar’s face against her dead one. Which was far easier for the Na’vi to understand.

Alma closed her eyes, taking a redundant breath as she made her choice.

-

Under the topsoil, and within the safe, sterile water filled confines of the Tsalnu pod that was connected to the roots of the spirit tree, the little avatar twitched with new life.

-

Masterlist Google Poll: Alma or Amanda

[magdolenelives]

From @MaskTogetherAmerica (bolding mine): "IN-N-OUT’s customer service line confirmed that masks are banned for workers in AZ, CO, TX, NV & UT, unless they have a doctor’s note. Meanwhile, if you work for @innout in CA or OR, it’s up to you but you must wear only company-provided N95s if you choose to #MaskUp! (Different masks may be allowed with a valid medical note.) “N95 masks provide the highest level of protection for C0VID-19 and other viruses and are recommended by OSHA for other respiratory protection.” – the policy stated. @Forbes contributor Dr. Judy Stone shared valuable details in her story: In-N-Out Burger’s New Masking Policy Threatens Their Employees’ Health. Puzzling, isn’t it? 🧐 See CA & OR Mask Policy: https://bit.ly/3Q2LfNJ Call 1-800-786-1000 to let IN-N-OUT know how you feel about their 😷policy. Key points from Dr. Stone’s article: https://bit.ly/3XUR5CB 👉60% of people in the U.S. have underlying conditions that put them at increased risk for severe C19. 👉Forcing employees to disclose reasons for mask exemption likely violates medical privacy. 👉It’s unfair to ask employees to get a doctor’s note which would require seeing a doctor. 👉Requiring proof of a disability might be considered a violation of the ADA. 👉“Fast food workers don’t owe anyone their smiles.” —@jessica.wildfire.writer wrote in her commentary. Fast food workers certainly don’t owe anyone their lives, considering the risk of getting #LongCovid. 👉The CA OSHA regulations state, “No employer shall prevent any employees from wearing a face covering, including a respirator, unless it would create a safety hazard.” 👉The CDC states, “People may choose to mask at any time. Layered prevention strategies — like staying up to date on vaccines and wearing masks — can help prevent severe illness and reduce the potential for strain on the healthcare system. Wear a mask with the best fit, protection, and comfort for you.” 👉HHS tweeted, “The more often you get C19, the higher your risk of complications.” 👉Masking protects you from respiratory viruses as well as pollutants & pollen." PLEASE CALL THE CUSTOMER HOTLINE (1-800-786-1000) AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD THAT YOU DO NOT SUPPORT THIS POLICY AND WILL NOT PATRONIZE IN-N-OUT BURGER AS LONG AS THEY DO THIS. You don't need to be rude and keep in mind the customer service rep isn't the one responsible for putting this policy in place. ANTI-MASKERS, VIRUS-DENIERS, AND OTHER PLAGUE-RATS DO NOT INTERACT WITH THIS POST.

[spooniestrong]

In the U.S. where mask-shaming and spread of misinformation against mitigation measures were allowed, vulnerable people who need to stay safe face discrimination and bullying every day. We’re grateful to Jeanine Santucci, a national news reporter at @USATODAY, for showing solidarity with the marginalized community in @usatodayopinion.

#MaskTogetherAmerica & @spooniestrong highly recommend all politicians to read “A letter to my loved ones about COVID. You’ve moved on, but I’m still here.”

“…our country’s most vulnerable people deserve to be part of society. With the removal of mask mandates in health care settings and essential places such as pharmacies, public transit and grocery stores, #immunocompromised people are made outcasts. Telling #disabled and chronically ill people to “stay home forever” is cruel.”

Santucci, diagnosed with #T1D type 1 diabetes 11 years ago, a new mom, wears N95s, carries a portable air purifier, monitors air quality and tests her family weekly. She worries about #LongCovid. She is not alone. Santucci understands the despair and danger #spoonies with chronic illnesses are facing today.

We agree with Santucci that #Masking & #CleanAir are the most effective mitigation tools. It’s time for politicians to acknowledge that #CovidisAirBorne.

“I’ve kept up with vaccines and boosters – though even vaccinated people are reporting C19 to be the worst illness they’ve ever had. And my underlying condition might make it much harder to manage. What I’m more afraid of is what could happen to my body in the long term. I’m worried about health impacts that might crop up weeks or months later, and last for months, or even years…I’m worried about the impact to my short-term memory, vital for a parent.”

3 in 5 Adult Americans, ~200 million people in the U.S. need to avoid C19 infection due to the list of factors the CDC provided. We share Santucci’s fear. Immunity wanes. With C19 data lagging, precautions will save lives and prevent outbreaks. Let’s stay #COVIDSMART. If you are a hospitalist, please #keepmasksinhealthcare.

Link: http://bit.ly/3n8YqQH

[liminalweirdo]

TAKE ACTION:

• PHONE / EMAIL / MAIL: bit.ly/StopMaskBanNYAction has links to contact NY reps, scripts, and more • TEXT: Text SIGNPLNHSQ to 50409 • Use #NoNYMaskBan to share why you still wear a mask and stay tuned for further calls to action!

“This proposal will disproportionately harm the immunocompromised - which includes people living with HIV, cancer, Long COVID, and anyone who has had COVID, among other conditions. Instead of trying to ban masks, Gov. Hochul should be championing their use, especially as wastewater C19 detection levels exhibit a summer surge. We stand in solidarity with our comrades throughout the country who are fighting off mask bans of their own. History repeats itself - just as the use of condoms to stop the spread of HIV was politicized in the 80s and 90s, the use of masks to stop the airborne spread of COVID is now being politicized. The politicization and stigmatization of lifesaving PPE must end.” - ACT UP NY

[inlibrariusvenefica]

Another Update Solar Return 2023-2024

Well, the one thing I was worried about in my current SR chart happened.

SR Uranus is in my SR 4th house, which could show up as a change in a parent's health. Sure enough, my dad caught C19 while on a cruise.

I knew either one or both of my parents would get it eventually. Yes, they get their vaccines regularly but they've stopped masking and don't believe in how severe and disabling C19 is. I worry that he's going to develop LC bc he's the type of person who can't sit still, and scientific data shows that your chances of developing LC goes up if you don't take the time to rest, even when you think you feel ok. So I have to mentally prepare myself for that possibility.

I looked at the transits for my dad's chart and sure enough, transiting Uranus is conjuncting his natal Mars, which rules his 6th house of health. I'm hoping the transiting Saturn sitting on his natal 8th house ruler means nothing horrible, since I don't want to jump to the death portion of the 8th house (since it most of the time it means it in the metaphorical sense), but with my SR ascendant sitting in my natal 8th house of death and inheritances...I am getting a little nervous.

But I just need to keep my head and take things one at a time. His transiting Saturn sitting on his Mercury is more likely to mean he may be experiencing difficulties in thinking and communicating or be narrow-minded right now.

I would also need to look at Dad's solar arc and progression charts to make any other possible conclusions, but I still struggle with those.

Edit: Aaaand it’s both my parents. Again, not surprising after their cruise

[otatma]

emotionally, March 2020 doesn't end for me until we carry out a properly planned and comprehensive worldwide quarantine for at least three weeks.

(thus putting an actual end to the biggest disabling event in human history.)

knowing that we could do this anytime, but our leaders and systems aren't willing to give the needed support, takes away almost all of my faith in humanity.

and as long as that's the case, it's still March 2020. still lockdown. I'm still masking and evaluating everything I do for exposure. as long as it takes.

that's practically guaranteed to be the rest of my life. I hate that, but I can live with it. it's better than worrying that I could spread the latest c19 to someone without knowing and fuck their whole life up.

but damn, I do miss hanging out with people easily. longterm masking and isolating does feel bad in a networking species like ours. yes, even for an introverted misanthrope like me.

at time of writing we're 1268 days into the hell month March of 2020.

I'm so tired.

[elevenfifths]

i’m taking what i think is the only risk ive really taken in 3.5years and am seeing The Used in an open air arena in like two weeks and I remember when i first met my wife and was trying so hard to get into them (because that’s the only way my autistic ass knows how to flirt—get really into a fav person’s music interest*) and, at that time, I couldnt do it. The cackling in In Love and Death irked me and i didn’t touch them again for another like two years until i was working some shit mail pushing job where i was filled with such rage and malice that the only thing that was keeping me sane was Lies for the Liars and it was all down hill from there. then my wife started tattoo school and needed the adrenaline kick of their old favorite band to get through the bigotry and mistreatment they were facing, so we ended up listening to a lot MORE music by The Used. and it just kept growing and now this band that like i didn’t really like has grown on me like english ivy on a wall and I Am Foaming At The Mouth To Fucking See Them Perform I COULD THROW UP i’m literally so fucking hyped i could die. i’m terrified of c19 but fingies crossed that a) open air arena, plus b) obv gonna fucking mask helps mitigate most of the risk.

if it’s the last thing i get to do before bouncing to canada, great. it’ll be worth it.

*they did the same and our first “date” was seeing mal blum perform in downtown together *cries in t4t*

[pbaintthetb]

Some other TB information because, International TB day,

TB is the second deadliest infectious disease globally

TB is in the top ten leading causes of death globally

TB is thought to be responsible for the deaths of 1/3 of the people with HIV/AIDS

MDR-TB rose for the first time since record keeping on MDR-TB began (c. 2004) in 2022

Covid-19 overtaking TB as most deadly diseasse is recent (as in months as I understand it)

TB cases rose during the pandemic

TB can occur pretty much anywhere, not just your lungs but it is pulmonary in something like 80%? maybe more, stats vary depending on source and if you’re talking adults, children or everyone, of cases, making the focus on pulmonary instead of extra-pulmonary reasonable but possibly a problem

US has never done routine vaccination for TB (there is a whole logic to this)

The BCG Vaccine ( Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) is not entirely perfect, unfortunately. Can also be used for Leprosy though. It was also some what discovered by accident, I belive. Calmette and Guérin were trying to do something else, and it involved potatoes and then realised they could potentially be onto something with a TB vaccine. Can’t precisely remember all the details but fun fact there.

There is written evidence thought to be referring to TB that is as old as 3,300 years in India

The age of TB’s ancestor is in the millions, TB itself is thought to be around 70,000 years old, but the term wasn’t coined until the mid-19th century- pushing out Phthisis. (Kind of, ‘Tubercles’ as a term is at least c18, but it’s not really being used specificially for TB as we know it)

There was a some thought that corsets contributed to a higher death rate from TB of women in late c19/early c20 Italy. (They also used that English women didn’t die at a significantly higher rate than English men and had mostly stopped wearing corsets at this point. Not to start up a corset debate though it’s just interesting.)

We all knew this, but mask wearing is not new. And we weren’t being told to wear them while in bed this time.

In New York in 1907 11.2% of all deaths were from TB (all forms). The highest cause of death was “all other causes” at 21.0% and the third highest was Pneumonia (all forms) at 9.8%. (I have another stat I like more but I can’t remember where I found it so have this less impressive one)

The big one we all know, TB impacted fashion trends, at least in Western Europe and the US, was thought to make you more creatively talented, and gave you a bigger libido. Or so they thought.

Anyway TB isn’t gone

[medsocionwheels]

Mask Week of Action 2023 - Recap

ICYMI we called on healthcare workers to mask up and protect patients last week. Here are some highlights from my own "Mask Week of Action" posts promoting the push to keep masks in healthcare (and bring them back in places that dropped them long ago).

[chalkrevelations]

Ugh, some woman at the laundromat KEEPS coughing away and doesn't have a mask on, of course. Yes, lady, I am standing here in my mask, judging you. As someone who had an exposure this week from a patient who unexpectedly popped up C19-positive when we couldn't figure out what else was going increasingly wrong with their breathing (which a) means a visitor likely brought it in to them, since they didn't test positive in the ED and visitors are notoriously bad about keeping their masks on in the rooms, and b) THAT'S always a fun time, when you've already spent half a day with a patient before they get put on airborne precautions and we start dressing out in full PPE with them), I am standing here in my mask in a public laundromat watching you repeatedly hacking without even really covering your mouth, just turning it into your shoulder, and I am JUDGING YOU. Even if you don't care about COVID, it's officially flu season, plus RSV is EVERYWHERE right now. If you're going to be spraying spittle and mucus out of your face, you could at least have the common decency to wear a mask.

[darkmaga-retard]

Peter Halligan

Aug 06, 2024

The Nassau Country story has much less violence associated with it:

Nassau County, NY Bans Face Masks in Public Spaces. Mask Activists Forcibly Removed from Meeting – Liberty One News

“The Nassau County Republican party recently made headlines for passing a significant piece of legislation known as the Mask Transparency Act, which effectively bans using face masks in public spaces.

This move is rooted in their commitment to public safety and determination to address crime during protests.”

Masked bank robberies bad! Maks you wonder about the level of masked bank robberies during C19!

Here’s a story from Ireland:

Ireland’s balaclava ban should be introduced and enforced in UK - LBC

“The Irish government, prompted by disorder in recent years, has decided to legislate against this problem.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has announced that balaclavas and face coverings worn ‘to intimidate’ will be banned at protests.

Earlier this year, the UK government introduced a similar law to ban some face coverings at protests. People in Britain found guilty of wearing an intimidating mask while protesting face a £1,000 fine or a month in prison.”

Here’s the February 2024 UK law referred to in that last sentence.

New protest laws on face coverings and pyrotechnics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

[trukker94gurl]

Congress Gears Up for Spending Fight as Government Shutdown Looms

Congress Gears Up for Spending Fight as Government Shutdown Looms https://link.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/us/congress-gears-up-for-spending-fight-as-government-shutdown-looms-5482567?utm_source=andshare

Every year they add spending that is just junk and non essential. I would rather see it shut down due to the fact Biden has sent billions of dollars to Ukraine...our tax dollars are funding a war we never voted on, now he wants more money for the Election Eurocron variant which is just another way to shut us down again. I'm Anti Mask, Anti Vaxx,Anti mandates and Anti Establishment....Fuck Biden and his lies of C19

[skin-slave]

I love the ppl who think if someone doesn't die dramatically right in front of them, gasping for breath, then they didn't die. 60% of ppl die at home, Marvin. And the second most popular place to die is a hospital. And then the bodies go to a morgue or funeral home or refrigerated trailer or crematorium or mass grave on Potter's Field. The bodies aren't stacked in the streets bc that's not how we do things, ya walnut.

C19 is not "just like the flu," and I can't believe this is still a conversation anyone is having. The 18/19 flu season claimed 34,157 lives in the US, and we're currently up to 132,000 for C19. We've had 2.93 million confirmed cases of C19, vs 35.5 million symptomatic flu cases last season. According to my calculator, that means a 4.5% death rate for C19 and a .096% death rate for the flu. So we've had 4x the number of confirmed deaths, and a symptomatic person with C19 is almost 47x more likely to die than a person with last year's flu strains. How is this comparison still being made? Just stop. The horse is dead.

Laying next to it is the Death Counts Only horse. Bc C19 is not a coin that lands on either death or the sniffles. It's a spinner and there are all kinds of prizes that matter just as much, and maybe more. Some ppl end up needing lung transplants. Some have permenant lung damage that is closer to COPD. Some have neurological issues, either from the virus passing the blood/brain barrier and wreaking havoc, or from a stroke. Some have autoimmune issues. Some are sick for months and lose their jobs. And anyone who sees any kind of treatment gets a 'Merika-sized medical bill. That alone is a serious issue, especially since the hardest-hit demographics are already poor. All of those ppl are (eventually) counted as "recovered." The idea that "recovered" means "all better, no big deal," is wrong. "Recovered" can mean unemployment, organ failure, permenant disability, chronic illness, and massive debt. Those are also things that matter.

You do not know if you're an asymptomatic carrier. That's what asymptomatic means. Like the guy who comes to work and says his kids are sick, and he's not sick at all, but then Sara in reception gets sick with the same thing. Maybe you're not the guy. But maybe you are. And unless you're getting a swab jammed up your nose, you'll never know. So taking precautions is the responsible, mature thing to do.

Social distancing and masks are both necessary bc they don't have the same results. Masks keep your spit at your face. Social distancing keeps your spit from contacting someone before it settles. Social distancing is great on a walk down the street. Your spit doesn't touch anyone before it drops, and it drops on the curb, in the sun, where no one is gonna touch it while it's still viable. Masks are for close quarters, where social distancing isn't possible, and communal spaces. Even if you could social distance in the grocery store, your spit is settling on objects inside of that 6' bubble. Groceries. Your spit is landing on groceries, that someone is gonna touch and take home. That's pretty gross to think about, even when the bugs going around are ones our bodies have seen before and are fairly ready to fight off. But that's not what we're worried about rn. So keep your spit to yourself.

And yes, masks help keep your spit to yourself. Pull your t-shirt over your mouth and exhale. Humid, right? That's your spit, baby. Every little droplet that you feel is a droplet not going out into the room. And that means the stuff inside the droplet is staying put, too. (And no, keeping your spit to yourself doesn't make you sick. You can't give yourself an illness you don't already have, bud.) See, viruses are smaller than the weave of fabrics. So are lots of yeast spores and bacteria. But they aren't floating out of your face on little Mary Poppins umbrellas. They're inside droplets of spit. The more spit you keep, the more bugs you keep. Is it 100%? No. Nothing short of a hermetically sealed plastic bubble would be. But it is better than not controlling your spit at all. "All or nothing" is for kids.

"Every man for himself" is for kids. "If I don't see it, it doesn't exist" is for kids. "Not touching you, can't get mad" is for kids. "I'm not doing it just bc you're making me" is for kids. "Haha, look at the scaredy-cat" is for kids. Don't insult yourself by pretending you don't know any better. Put on your grown-up pants and a mask.

[spooniestrong]

[Picture of brown-haired, blue-eyed, pale skinned woman with rainbow glasses, wearing an N95 mask, against light blue wall.

Text: “The headbands aren’t rubber so they don’t pull at your hair. It’s also very roomy; you don’t feel as confined when you take a breath. The downside is you look like a duck 🦆 with this N95.” Behind the Kimberly-Clark N95 pouch respirator is Stephanie, Founder of SpoonieStrong. 💙🥄

A childhood cancer survivor and chronic illness warrior, Stephanie was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2013, after her 30-year journey to seek a diagnosis. She created #SpoonieStrong, a health blog, to build a community and motivate everyone to band together and stand up for each other!

“I wish people would understand how a small gesture like wearing a mask would save so many lives. Be a superhero to someone else: wear a mask!😷💙🥄”

Even though Stephanie has received the bivalent booster, she can still catch the virus and get very sick because of her immunocompromised state. She wears N95s to protect herself and keep her family safe.

“Mandate or not, masks are necessary, especially for the elderly and members of the spoonie community. No one likes wearing masks, but our collective action is critical.”

Based on the rising reported C19 deaths, experts have confirmed that XBB.1.5 can equally hospitalize and kill #elderly and #immunocompromised people as other Omicron variants did.

World Health Organization (@who)says #XBB15 is the most antibody resistant variant to date. #ɢᴇᴛᴠᴀᴄᴄɪɴᴀᴛᴇᴅ and boosted, mask, test, ventilate, distance, isolate when sick. The Layered Approach in mitigation measures is recommended by #WHO.

Thank you, Stephanie, for being #MaskTogetherAmerica’s #MaskedHero of the day.

BTW. Stephanie posted more details of what she is wearing on Amazon. Something about a sale."]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MaskTogetherAmerica (@masktogetheramerica)