#there’s no herd immunity

[tawaifeddiediaz]

you know what boils my blood.

over the last 2 weeks, i've seen countless patients walk into my urgent care center, symptomatic for so many things, refusing to get tested for covid and flu, citing that they don't want to knowingly bring it to their holiday tables. i had a patient tell me, verbatim, "i don't want to test for covid, because i don't want to be the asshole who brings it on a plane."

i understand that - i understand that holidays are times where people look forward to meeting loved ones that they might only see once a year, or where they get a break from the hectic back and forth of their lives.

but here's the thing - whether they get tested or not, they will bring whatever they have to their holiday tables. it's pure recklessness to know that you're sick, and walk into someone else's house spreading the disease.

today, january 2, i saw 91 patients, many of them who have tested positive for covid and flu. many of these patients are the same ones who didn't want testing 3 days ago, until their events were over, and now, they will have to reach out to everyone they know to let them know that they were positive because they were showing symptoms well before their event.

the next week or two? we're going to see many, many more, all people with symptoms that started around christmas. these are the only two viruses we test for rapidly in our office, but they are potent and can be fatal in many people.

so here's why i wrote this post, and maybe it's a little late, but - if you care about your loved ones, please get tested if you know you're sick. it doesn't have to be at a clinic if you don't want it to, because the over-the-counter tests work just fine too (if you test within 5-7 days of symptom onset). just...please don't try to run from the knowledge that you might have covid, because immunocompromised people, elderly people, people with co-morbidities like asthma, pregnancy, diabetes, etc...many of them may not recover. and they may not be sitting at your holiday table in the future because of it.

[quixoticanarchy]

what’s really ironic about the “just let everyone get infected w covid!! herd immunity!!” arguments now is that letting the virus run rampant through the world has actually achieved the opposite: everyone may get infected, but then they’ll just keep getting infected. delta infections didn’t protect against the original omicron variant. omicron BA.1 doesn’t protect you against BA.2.12.1. none of them really protect you against BA.4 and BA.5. mass infection is not going to create mass immunity, it just means that with every infection you’re rolling the dice on what this unpredictable and very creative virus is going to do to you

[alanshemper]

9 April 2024

There are few groups so reviled in liberal circles as the anti-vaxxers. Seen as embarrassingly anti-science and anti-social to boot, the popular anti-vaxxer archetype is a shrill, loudly wrong grifter straight out of YouTube Medical School. They are not only uninformed, but dangerous. And their specific brand of ignorance invites a mocking condescension from those of us who self-identify as “educated” and “pro-science.”

There’s one big problem with liberal media outlets, individuals and institutions expressing this disdain today: they have, themselves, adopted many foundational beliefs of the anti-vax movement without even realizing it. While they express continued appreciation for vaccines, their underlying ideas about immune systems, illness, herd immunity, and the social value of public health have all aligned with anti-vaxxer ideology. I’ll unpack each of these foundational beliefs individually, but first I’d like to address why this has happened.

[...]

Herd immunity would mean long-term, durable protection from infection, like we have for viruses like measles, mumps, and rubella. This society-wide protection would then enable vulnerable people to rejoin society without constant risk of infection. But since reopening, COVID has circulated year-round at high levels and the population is continually getting reinfected. Both the Republican and Democratic strategies to achieve herd immunity were doomed from the start. There are a variety of biological reasons for this.

[stormsthatrage]

Hey folks. Real talk time. I've been seeing some discourse on the USAmerican side of tumblr that genuinely scares me, so I felt the need to put together a few reminders to hopefully spread around Tumblr. If you have the spoons, please create your own posts about these things so we can make sure as many people as possible are informed.

Tumblr staff did not just decide for themselves that certain accounts might be Russian trolls. US law enforcement agencies conducted a federal investigation, and found that Russian trolls were conducting Psy-Ops operations across multiple social media sites. The Russian trolls had the express goal of influencing the outcome of the 2016 election. If an account was banned for being a Russian troll, it was due to this federal investigation. It was not a false accusation from a tumblr staff member that didn't like what a liberal activist was saying.

It is highly likely that Russia has not stopped using this tactic.

Many of these trolls twisted the truth to split the Democratic party. I can't find it anymore, but there's an old post where you can literally see this in action. In the post, a Russian troll -- who had been pretending for a long time to be a liberal activist on tumblr, and was thus trusted by the community -- misquoted Hillary Clinton to make it seem like she was against free college and student debt forgiveness. The Russian agent quoted something Clinton said in a debate with Bernie Sanders: "I disagree with free college." Not included by the Russian agent was the vital context, in which Clinton argued for free and debt-free community college and public universities. This is the full quote the Russian agent didn't use, which was made in reference to private schools only: "I disagree with free college... I don't think the American people should pay for Donald Trump's kids to go to college."

The Republican party often struggles to win the popular vote in presidential elections. It is in the Republican party's best interest to split the Democratic vote.

In order to win the presidential election, MAGA needs to get liberals to vote for third-party candidates or to not vote at all. Please do not let them trick you into serving their agenda.

A third-party candidate has not won the presidential election since the 1800s.

If you do not have the spoons to read news articles or watch multiple news channels, it is vital to be aware that you are especially vulnerable to propaganda on social media. You do not get the full story from tumblr posts. You do not get nuance on current events from tumblr posts. You may be being straight-up lied to on tumblr posts. Remember to take things with a grain of salt. Remember that a lot of propaganda relies on inducing outrage and strong emotional reactions.

If you are upset about the Gaza-Israel situation, and it is going to affect your vote, you must read news articles -- not tumblr posts -- about what Biden has done, what Biden has failed to do, and what Biden's opponents' plans and stances are. This is an area where the propaganda is going to be strongest, and if you want to do right by the citizens of Palestine and Israel, you have to research what's happening. Do not act based off of information from social media, because so much of it will be biased if not downright false. If you don't have the spoons to read or watch the news on these things, I urge you not to vote based off of just this issue, because it would be so easy to vote against your own morals if your only info is from tumblr. And if you think the situation is important enough to determine your vote -- well, then it's clearly important enough to research properly.

Again: In order to win the presidential election, MAGA needs to get liberals to vote for third-party candidates or to not vote at all. Please do not let them trick you into serving their agenda.

Anyway, please reblog or create your own posts on these topics. Let's work together and aim for herd immunity against propaganda.

[lynxgriffin]

I know that ER!Kris has ER!Ralsei, but what happens if ER!Kris catches either a cold or the flu?

Also, can I see ER!Kris playing a guitar with long hair?

They would probably have to stop and wait for Kris to recover normally. Ralsei doesn't have healing magic, so that would probably include illnesses.

That said, Kris is likely never going to have to deal with human illnesses in the Dark World...there's almost no other humans around to spread them!

[clownalley]

I, nor anyone, should feel like their health is at risk while out seeing a movie, or doing anything, really! The person to my right in ATSV had a really chesty cough, they weren’t wearing a mask, & I had to sit there worried that if I took my mask off to eat popcorn, I’d get sick. Please, PLEASE stay home if you’re sick, regardless of if it’s not COVID, and PLEASE wear a mask otherwise, even if you’re only sick “a little”. Also, please get vaccinated, herd immunity is very important.

I didn’t really intend to go on a rant here, but please don’t disregard the health of disabled people. Let me eat my popcorn without worrying, please.

Edit: this is not directed at people with chronic, non-infectious coughs, I’m someone with a chronic cough, this is directed at people who might just shrug off wearing a mask/not take it seriously or knowingly go out while sick. this is also just about how anxious I got in this particular situation, worrying I could get sick.

[awesomecooperlove]

🧬💉⚰️

[dilfsisko]

99% sure my area is gearing up for a measles outbreak

[rebellum]

concept: me, several months ago, going to get my second monkeypox vaccine, and tbh putting it off for a few months because the experience of getting my first dose was so uncomfortable. I walk up to the first person I have to pass by. when she says "UM you KNOW this vaccine is JUST for gay men, RIGHT?" in a really judgemental way, instead of the real awkward response I gave, I instead say "oh, yeah, my boyfriend calls me a faggot during sex, it's all good."

[thelittlespanielthatcould]

Me buying myself a new video game before my international flight: I am giving the human a novel puzzle toy to ease their stress about the change in their environment

[angiethewitch]

for fuck sake I have covid again. i wish my immune system would fucking act like one. it took me a year to recover last time because covid trashed my already fragile immune response, I can't do that again. I can't fuckinf afford to

[trump666traitor]

[officialpenisenvy]

i still haven't gotten the hpv vaccine

[neige-leblanche]

as much as ppl making fun of be gay do crimes corvidcore queers rlly does feel exactly like middle school preps picking on the weird autistic kids one thing that does specifically piss me off is when someone from that sorta subculture makes a post like "omg they put cordyceps in this food/vitamin i guess they didn't know the spooky thing it does to ants!!" like. cordyceps has been cultivated (!!!) in asia & used as traditional medicine for ages and if it did That to humans literally everyone on earth would know. or are you just interested in fungi and/or parasites for clout👀

[unethicalexperiments]

it’s december 22 there’s a huge rise in covid and flu cases and i’m the only person in the entire stl airport wearing a mask

[eaglesnick]

“Compassion is the basis of morality.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer

Helen MacNamara, revealed at the UK Covid inquiry yesterday that after speaking with Department of Health officials 10 days before lockdown, Boris Johnson and his cronies in government had “no plan” for the pandemic.

We now know this was because Johnson and his government were following a policy of herd immunity, whereby the weak, elderly and sick were to be allowed to become infected and die.

Realising that Johnson had no plans to counteract the pandemic Ms MacNamara said:

"It was a very, very scary experience. I felt that it wasn't in any doubt in my mind at that point that we were heading for a total disaster.” 

Knowing that disaster was coming she warned senior officials and Johnson’s chief of staff that:

 "we are going to kill thousands of people".

And of course that is exactly what happened, leading to this damning headline:

“UK now has the highest Covid death rate in the world. Nearly 1000 people are dying each day on average in the UK. Meanwhile, New Zealand has not recorded a single death since September.” (Independent: 25/01/21)

Johnson’s excuse for being prepared to let tens of thousands of elderly Brits die from Covid-19 was to “protect the economy".

Ironically, the New Zealand strategy of total lockdown and zero tolerance of Covid-19 was not only described as “one of the worlds most successful” with regard to saving lives - actually increasing life expectancy during this period - but with regard to the economy:

“Protecting public health has been good for protecting the economy, resulting in relatively good economic growth and low unemployment." (Guardian: 05/04/22)

If only we had been blessed with such humane, insightful and caring politicians.