#post covid infection

[halorvic]

[depravedangelbaby]

oop this is a reminder to self/others to get up to date on the covid vaccine n stock back up on kn95s!!!!!

[centers-for-disease-control]

Alright, due to popular request, I bring you the break down of the Taiwan Disease Personifications. Also, just so y’all know, the official explanations for the designs are not easy to find, so a lot of this is just from what I notice and what I know about the diseases

To start off, we have everyone’s favorite disease: COVID-19

So, this is one of the designs where I could actually find the artist explanation, so I will be including that information plus a couple things I noticed and how I think it fits the disease. So let’s start with to crown. The reason for the inclusion of the crown is the reflect the name coronavirus, corona being the Latin word for crown. The face is partially obscured because of COVID’s tendency to hide itself. The bean bag chair that they are sitting on has many protrusions signifying the spike proteins. The different digital devices represent how the world went virtual during the pandemic and the news channels behind them represent the media’s freak out when COVID was at its height. The floor has an outline of the world because everywhere was affected by the pandemic. Also, if you look closely, they are wearing little Covid earrings.

Next up, we got Zika:

I could not find an official artist statement for this design, so take my explanation with a grain of salt. So first off the red waist band reminds me of the red stripe that goes down the abdomen of the mosquito species that spreads Zika after it has fed. Also, the white markings on the black are also a characteristic of this species of mosquito. In fact, the design is the stripes on the chest look like the markings these mosquitoes have on their back. She presents female because it’s the female mosquitoes that bite and spread diseases. Her sleeves look like mosquito wings once again a reference to mosquitoes being the primary vectors of Zika. The area behind her has palm fronds to represent that Zika is a disease typically found in tropical climates.

Next up we have: Hansen’s Disease (aka Leprosy)

This is one where I could find the artist statement due to it being a pretty recent one, however, I will say that at least the translation was a bit lacking in describing the reasoning of every detail. She is a mask maker because leprosy changes how people perceive those who are infected but it is something that can easily be removed with modern antibiotics. She has different accessories like the lion and crocodile headpiece that implicate the divine involvement because leprosy has been historically thought to be a punishment of the gods. The scales on her arm look like an allusion to the scaling pattern scars that those with leprosy would develop.

Next up: Rubella

After a lot of digging I found the official profile for this design but it didn’t really explain the design choices so we are going to do more analysis on my end. So the pomegranate and the red dots represent the red rashes that come with rubella infections. The glasses I assume are to show how Rubella can lead to Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) which can occur in children if their mother had rubella while pregnant. One of the symptoms that comes with CRS is cataracts.

Next up: the plague

I found the explanation on this and it just confirmed my own suspicions for certain design choices. So her design is very focused on death and mysticism because of how the Black Plague led to a lot of cultural focus on these two ideas. Behind her are old coins because of the economic impact the plague had on the civilizations of its time. The references to death are the skeletal pattern on her dress, and the scythe behind her and on her belt. The references to mysticism include the tarot cards she is holding and the crosses on her hat. On the tarot cards are designs referencing the three different forms the plague takes (bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic) as well as a posey which was used to try to ward of the plague in old times. On her hat is also a collection of plague doctor masks which is pretty self explanatory as to how that connects.

Next up: Ebola

I couldn’t find the official explanation for this disease, so this is mostly speculation based on my analysis. Her outfit is red because of the hemorrhaging that comes with the disease. Specifically he lips are red because one of the more unique characteristics of Ebola is hiccuping up blood. The accessories seem to be inspired by central and western african traditional jewelry. There appear to be tribal masks on the necklace, I am not well versed in African art unfortunately, so any deeper meaning of these accessories are unfortunately lost on me. There are bats on the headdress because of bats being the natural host of Ebola. Her design is rather demonic because Ebola was so terrible for the areas affected, that people thought it could be caused be some great evil. The skulls are because of the extremely high death rate that comes with ebola. The leaves and fruits shown come from the African jungles which is typically where Ebola outbreaks start.

Next up: Novel Influenza A Virus Infections

I actually found the artist explanation for this design! As a disease closely associated with birds, there are many elements linked to birds. There are many bird shadows, the hair that looks like feathers, and the beak shaped mask, feathers on his tie and a feather tattoo on right arm, and the “H-N” pin (H and N proteins of the influenza virus).

Next up: Dengue Fever

Another one with an artist statement! Since only female mosquitoes bite, the character is set as a female. Her dark red lips represent mosquito’s instinct to bite, and she is holding a poisonous thornapple flower. She has mosquito wings tattooed on her back and thornapple flower tattooed on her arm. I have spent a long time looking into how the thornapple flower relates to dengue, but I haven’t had a lot of luck. From what I have seen is that the roots, seeds, and leaves are used in some traditional medicines, including treatments for malaria, but I have not had luck finding how it is connected to Dengue specifically.

Next up: Japanese Encephalitis

I found the artist statement for this disease as well. The disease is visualized into three characters that form a pop group, with their names reflecting the 3 main Culex mosquito species that spread Japanese encephalitis in Taiwan, which are Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Three), Culex annulus (Ring), and Culex fuscocephala (Shiro). They wear black and white, like the colors of the Culex mosquitoes. Red accessories represent their love for blood. I don’t have much to add outside of the artist explanation.

Last one for now is: Rabies

I found the explanation for this one, but it is not descriptive at all, so I am going to be going into every detail because this is Rabies. The spikes on the jacket and pant legs represent the protein spikes rabies uses to infect nerves. The blue jacket and gloves are representing water as one of the unique characteristics of rabies is hydrophobia (physical repulsion to water). The claw marks on the shirt show the animalistic tendencies the virus brings out. The violin players in the animal mask show how the virus can hide in these animals. The personification of rabies is holding a conductor’s wand showing how rabies controls those who are infected. The teeth necklace shows how it spreads through bites and they are standing on the brain because that is what rabies infects. He has a chain with mammal skulls once again tying back to rabies being a fatal mammalian disease. The belt buckle has a bone on it as bone are associated with bones and rabies is associated with dogs.

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

fauci saying “vulnerable people will fall by the wayside” and that some will die but that’s ok because we’re not going to see the “tsunami of cases” we’ve seen before is so dehumanising. so babies with no immune system, elderly people, disabled people, and people without adequate access to healthcare can all die of covid. but it’s ok guys because actually they’re just falling to the wayside and everyone else will go back to normal and be fine (sarcasm).

my death or the deaths of my family or friends wouldn’t be us “falling by the wayside”, it would be us being failed by our government, healthcare systems, and communities who have refused to take coronavirus seriously despite mounting anecdotal and scientific evidence of the harm this virus does. fact that people can accept the deaths of vulnerable groups just because they want to eat in a restaurant or don’t want to wear a mask is horrifying

[mixelation]

Once again I am Posting to give you all a friendly reminder that most popular Covid-19 posts on this site contain some level of misinfo. Common types of misinfo include:

"heard from a friend of a friend" medical advice, including "twitter thread of things a nurse told me" or "opinion of a random unverified doctor on social media"-- NEVER follow this type of health advice without checking with proper sources first

anecdotal data provided as fact

misunderstandings or misrepresentations of what disease agencies like the CDC are doing, should be doing, or what it would even be possible for them to do

assigning numbers and statistics to things OP just made up. this ranges from saying something like "only 2% of people mask" to mean "anecdotally i see only a very small number of people masking in my community"* but the actual number is misleading to seem to seem like a real statistic.... leading all the way to people just making numbers up

overly dramatic language**

assigning moral values to things which have no moral weight (e.g., "I haven't gotten covid because I'm a good person who....")

misrepresenting the conclusions of current research. this one is tricky because you'd think linking a study in a high-tier medical journal would be a good source, but I frequently see the following mistakes: overly definitive language, including asserting causation when causation has not been established, or claiming a single study definitively has definitely proven something; not understanding appropriate extrapolations from a study's design (something that happens to cell in a petri dish is NOT definitive of what happens in a body); incorrect biological conclusions/assumptions, or else oversimplification that loses nuance; cherrypicking studies. Remember that Covid-19 is still a very new disease and the research is still evolving. A study that seems extremely important in one year might turn out to be bunk later, not because the study was poorly designed, but because we were missing key info. There is a lot we simply do not know and cannot know and we need to careful of our language when reporting on it.

just straight up made-up facts

Please keep this in mind if you choose to interact with a covid-19 post. Remember to click through on any sources to verify them, to be wary of a lack of verifiable information, and that a post making you feel overly emotional is a sign to double-check the facts and message.

*Clarification: assigning an estimated number to things you see is an innocent rhetorical device in terms of informal communication, which is what tumblr is for. I say things like this in casual conversation too. It only becomes an issue when whatever post is mass reblogged. I'm not saying don't post like this..... I'm saying know to recognize this in things you choose to interact with.

**Again, emotive language is fine for blogging. It's a natural part of human communication, and I do it too. I'm not criticizing that. I'm warning you to be aware of it as a potentially misleading rhetorical device before you hit reblog.

[onbearfeet]

Roommate Cryptid has the plague and maybe I do too?

Welp.

So I got a text this afternoon from a friend, informing me that, after 4 years of dodging the bullet, she developed covid symptoms the day after she gave me a lift home from a 4th of July barbecue, and had now tested positive. I tested immediately, and was negative.

Roommate Cryptid tested positive. Later in the day, he developed mild brain fog.

This is a little odd because, while he was also at the barbecue, he left before Covid Friend arrived. It's possible that my negative is a false one and I gave him the plague despite still being asymptomatic, but we're currently playing a somewhat grim game of I Got It From Agnes. Results so far:

The hosts of the barbecue on the 4th: negative, asymptomatic

The hosts' children: asymptomatic, probably too young to provide a good sample for a home test.

My mother, whom I saw unmasked on Saturday the 6th: negative, asymptomatic

My friend T, for whom I did a favor on Sunday the 7th while she wore a surgical mask and I wore an N95: negative, asymptomatic.

RC's and my friend J, whom RC saw on Friday the 5th: positive, asymptomatic.

RC's sister, with whom he had dinner Friday evening: negative, asymptomatic.

Everybody in the grocery stores I visited on Sunday while wearing an N95: I'll never know.

Everybody in the Target RC visited on Sunday while not masked: ditto.

So maybe RC got it from me, and I'll test positive tomorrow. Maybe I'm actually negative, and RC got it from J, and the timing is a coincidence because there's so much plague about. Maybe somebody else at the barbecue was passing the plague around and RC caught it that way. I'll update this as I get more data if anyone's interested.

Any which way, this is your irregularly scheduled reminder to wear a fucking mask and get your jabs if you can because actual systematic anti-covid measures make Economy Jesus cry or something, and you never know when Roommate Cryptid will be asymptomatically buying USB sticks in your local Target.

[wowbright]

Because I keep seeing people mention how it's important to get COVID vaccination because it lessens the severity of infections, a reminder: it also prevents infections. Not 100% of them. But vaccination makes you less likely to get infected, particularly with the strain you were vaccinated for. So, when you get the newest COVID vaccination, it's really good at preventing infection with the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant, and almost as good at preventing infection with closely related strains. It becomes less effective at prevention the more a strain differs from XBB.1.5, but can still reduce the rate of infection, and it's still good at lessening the severity of disease.

So, if you get vaccinated, you are less likely to get infected with COVID-19. That's prevention!

[disasterhimbo]

If I try hard and want it bad enough I should be able to just get past and ignore my disability, that’s how it works, right?

[ejacutastic]

in case you were wondering, COVID IS NOT FUN

[dykeogenes]

i don't hate anyone as a matter of principle but if you're coughing on public transit without a mask on you are testing that principle in the strongest possible sense.

[comfortstars]

okay im DONE. back to the covid posting

[sleepinglionhearts]

Sometimes it's like. Ok, cool, small town, I can usually get a doctor's appointment same day, real quick and easy

And sometimes it's like well shit, small town, everyone is fucking sick, busy signal 4 times I call, get through and "oh, sorry, the earliest I could get you in is on the 22nd"

It is the 12th

[explode-this]

The phrases “during covid times” and “during the pandemic” drive me bonkers because hi babes, it’s not over. If you mean the lock down period, say that. But covid is still very much around and mutating like a motherfucker, so if you care about the immunocompromised people in your life for the love of god take some precautions and stop acting like it’s done. The effects of covid are far-reaching (for e.g., I’ve been told I have to be “past this covid cough” to have abdominal surgery or I’ll “tear everything open,” like sir, I don’t really have much of a choice in what my lungs are doing now or how long it will take for them to calm down, if ever). Those of us with shitty immune systems aren’t “scared” for no reason. If you’ve ever gone from “perfectly healthy” to “need a steroid shot to not die” then you’ll understand.

FUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

[ohhiplumbob]

🎅🎄

[ohello0]

I consider most concerts to be superspreaders but I’ve never seen the level of disregard taylor swift has for herself and her fans

Thousands of fans in different locations going online saying how sick they feel after the concert and now multiple videos of miss swiffer wet jet herself pulling mucus from her nose while performing and continuing anyway

[so-much-for-subtlety]