#pandemic policy

[communistkenobi]

I remember early during the pandemic when there were eviction bans and widespread closures of public spaces and vaccine mandates that the state ‘revealed’ itself to the public in a way that neoliberalism had previously cloaked it for decades. these things were not set in stone, people in power were not asleep at the wheel, these were not automated governmental processes that simply facilitated the market. the state could at any point exercise its power for collective public interest, it could flex its might out in the open outside the scope of police and military violence - and do good things with that power. I have not forgotten that, and it makes all these declarations about how this policy or that proposal are too difficult, impossible to implement, pie in the sky wishing all the more hollow

[thelastmemeera]

"The pandemic is over"

[snzluv3r]

wow you people are fucking weird not everything needs to be discourse??? just let disabled people have feelings and boundaries??? so weird to speak over a marginalized group on an issue you clearly know nothing about just because you misinterpreted the conversation in the first place. disgusting i’ve seen the language “moral panic” and “catastrophizing” to gaslight disabled people while simultaneously trying to say you “get we’ve been left behind in this pandemic”…as we try to speak about how this pandemic is affecting us

[dragonomatopoeia]

< guy who had to stop being an english instructor because the cruelties of usamerican academia crushed them into paste and they weren't allowed to help or support students in any meaningful way. lest they be fired from their position that paid less than a living wage

[br1ghtestlight]

the weirdest feeling is knowing that im trans for like uhhh almost a decade now but i didnt transition until later so i still feel like a baby trans person. BUT im not even a baby anymore. more than a year on hormones. i think im just regular transgender now

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

“they’re saying only 1% of people die of covid so why are you worried?” ok then. not looking at any sources, let’s go off that statistic for this post. note: we’ve lost over a million people and counting in the united states alone.

i’ve seen some estimates saying 10%-30% of people end up with continuing symptoms (fatigue, brain fog, etc) after the end of infection, which could mean tens of millions of people. however, if even only 2% had persisting symptoms and we go by that 1% death statistic, that could be 2 million people living with some form of long covid impacting their daily life.

don’t wanna listen about covid? ok, let’s compare it to another disease known for its lasting symptoms and its “long” form: polio.

polio could be asymptomatic, but symptoms presented as flu-like if there were any. all things considered, paralysis was rare in comparison to infection numbers. i’ve seen a lot of polio statistics, and some say only 1 in 1,000 (0.1%) polio cases resulted in paralysis, though this seems like a rough average between the three variants. still, there were tens of thousands of cases of poliomyelitis paralysis. 1952 alone had over 20,000 paralysis cases reported, and that’s one year of many polio outbreaks (the most well known u.s. outbreak was 1948/49-1952).

just because a percentage seems low does not mean the damage is minuscule. be knowledgeable about how information is being presented to you and what the actual impacts are. small numbers do not equal little harm.

[tomorrowusa]

Trump's most famous promise was to make Mexico pay for his squalid and corrupt border wall.

Amount collected from Mexico: 0 centavos.

Trump did give tax breaks to billionaires while giving COVID-19 to much of the rest of the country.

Trump's promises are as worthless as degrees from Trump University.

[auressea]

BAD Leadership and failed Policy.

Predictable and Preventable deaths...

Public Health failures. You've been sold a lie. the government does not care about you.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Starting Jan. 5, the federal government will require air travellers arriving from China, Hong Kong or Macao to provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test taken before their departure.

The temporary health measures, in place for 30 days, are a reaction to a surge in the virus in China and the limited epidemiological and other data available, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) announced Saturday.

The tests must be taken no more than two days before departure and can be either a negative molecular or an antigen test with documentation showing it was overseen by a telehealth service, accredited laboratory or testing provider.

Passengers who tested positive more than 10 days but not exceeding 90 days before their departure can provide the airline that documentation in lieu of a negative result. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[panicinthestudio]

COVID rapidly spreads in China as government eases strict quarantine rules, December 27, 2022

China is grappling with the rapid spread of COVID-19 after the government began rolling back its zero-COVID restrictions earlier this month. Now, cases are spiraling across towns and cities, hospitals are overburdened, medical staff are outnumbered and crematoriums are running out of space. Judy Woodruff reports.

PBS NewsHour

There is no nuance left in politics or public health policy when there is either an absolute and strict inflexibility of zero COVID or wholesale dismantling of safeguards before the healthcare or support systems are prepared for the waves that have been forcibly suppressed. The political insistence on using their own less effective, non-mRNA vaccines based on the original strains rather than Delta or Omicron, coupled with a low vaccination rate of the vulnerable and elderly is not helping easing the transition at all.

The way they’ve been counting mortality from COVID diverged from nearly every other country since early 2020. A death had to be directly attributable to SARS-CoV-2 eliminating cases of many preexisting or undiagnosed conditions, chronic illnesses, and other high risk factors that may have been exacerbated by the virus which became listed as the direct cause or if they simply tested negative in the few days before dying. The policy as of this week will further limit the count only to deaths caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure after contracting COVID, in addition to dropping much of the remaining inbound quarantines and regular case counts becoming even more inconsistent with lived reality.

It appears the PRC was prepared to stay in suspended animation within an onionskin of self-isolation layers indefinitely, maintaining the appearance of control and adherence to policy that was left to different local officials to execute. Downgrading the classification removes the local, emergency-style powers to lockdown and quarantine which were used capriciously. Residential buildings, offices and commercial areas such as malls, and even theme parks could be suddenly cordoned without warning, causing panic due to the stringency of testing and knock-on effects if a positive case was found rather than fear of having contacted or contracted the virus. Becoming listed as a close contact or a complete stranger’s positive result could mean further quarantining and repeated testing, as well any change in one’s COVID passport status severely restricting mobility for work or education, travel, or even basic necessities. The protests spread because “dynamic zero” was anything but dynamic, refusing to change or amend course in preparation for a transition to an endemic or post-epidemic state. People were simply fed up and the building momentum was becoming a potential danger to a regime that had just renewed its own political mandates.

These things aren’t happening in isolation, China is also changing tact on its travel restrictions domestically and internationally. The Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau have been trying to reopen ports and travel with the Mainland for years now for travel and economic reasons. Both were forced into accepting one-way policies where it was difficult for their citizens to enter China or even between one another, while rules were softened for travelers and politicians entering from and returning to the Mainland for short trips with the reason that the pandemic was less well-contained than within the Mainland.

As news of the highly visible current outbreak within China is continuing to emerge, the Hong Kong SAR is now proudly announcing agreements have been made with the Mainland to drop their travel restrictions posthaste. It’s being reported that many are travelling specifically for mRNA vaccines which are approved in Macau and Hong Kong.

[tittyinfinity]

I don't think that kids should be exclusively homeschooled, but I also don't think that kids should be going to a building with hundreds of people 5 days a week during a pandemic. It's one of the main reasons why it keeps spreading so rapidly and won't go away. They don't take any preventative measures at schools anymore (at least not around here). You got kids? You're getting sick. Your coworker has kids? You're getting sick.

Schools are back to counting attendance. You can't even keep your kid home long enough to recover from covid before sending them back. They literally send a "truancy" (police) officer to your house if you keep them home too often.

I feel like we could be doing something better. I'm not entirely sure what the solution is. But this isn't it.

[rhizomehaunt]

never not wild to me how people are risking covid infection and resulting life long illness/disability that as a sick person I would love to exist just a day without and they’re doing it all so they can eat at a mediocre restaurant

[dihalect]

my department is apparently no longer hybrid, but “on-site with ad-hoc remote work”. i’m just gonna see how long i can get away with ignoring that

[satellitedyke]

apparently my fucking coworker came in to work yesterday w/ covid (masked! but still) & i swear to god if i get covid a second time b/c of her. i'm gonna start killing

[rotzaprachim]

ok some seriously chewy thoughts I’ve had before about kaz breakers out-of-narrative white quasi Western European privilege

[sakebytheriver]

I'm supposed to get the covid booster today, but my insurance has just decided to not cover it for whatever reason and so the pharmacy wants to charge me $190.99 to get it

This is literally extortion

People should not be priced out of getting a fucking vaccine

Why the fuck is this booster almost $200 when we know for a fact that the manufacturing cost is a fraction of that?

Absolutely disgusting

People die in this country every day because we've turned medicine into an industry and have let the insurance companies become a legal mob running protection rackets on the entire population