The government is still screaming "French kiss every stranger you meet then spit directly in to their mouths", which is not helpful.
The wastewater numbers and test positivity in my area are both higher than previous troughs and trending up. Does that mean Covid is spreading more aggressively? Does it mean anything? The only data I have, and that as far as I know anyone has, is test positivity and wastewater numbers. I feel like I'm going fucking nuts because EVERYONE, including the fucking contagion dispersal cult, says Covid is over but the actual available data says it's trucking right along and nothing has changed.
I want to 
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Do medical professionals just not give a shit about Long Covid? Is that what this is, that post-Covid symptoms are not being in any way accounted for in evaluating risk to the public? Just not being considered at all?>
Because apparently Oregon claims you can go back to spitting in people's mouths after 24 fucking hours.
At that time, a large chunk of the population was testing positive all at once because of the highly contagious variant. Recommending that everyone stay home — and out of work — for 10 days would have brought the country to a halt once again, so the five-day plan was put in place.
Nice to see someone just straight out say that the 5 day bullshit was about money and not about human life. I AHTE AEJKL:jd;fgsajk df;gjlk ;ape[faerghjkl ;egras [ijopu
Do medical professionals just not give a shit about Long Covid?
Nope. Most of them don't give a shit. Very few MDs that I've worked with show any outward expression of understanding that they could be patients afflicted by what they are treating in the near future.
Yeah I just cannot wrap my head against medical staff not masking up. I was at the clinic a few days ago, some guy could not stop coughing, and I was the only person in the building masked up.
LIke what the fuck do they think he had? Do they think he ate a hot wing too fast or something? I don't get it at all. But then I'm also the guy who has spent his whole life bullying people to wear their seatbelts and PPE, so maybe I'm just built different/insane.
We are built different. I am definitely insane, though I think that's a product of being more safety conscious than most and constantly being bullied by them. In 2015ish a friend of mine told me I should speed so that we could get home faster. He advised 20 over the limit in a 75 zone where I was already driving 75 (which is faster than we should allow cars to drive imho) so that we could arrive home maybe 10 minutes earlier. I said fuck that and kept the CC set to 75.
Christ I hate speeders. I've done the math over and over again, the distance you need to be driving to make up any appreciable time means it's rarely ever worth it. If you're not transporting organs the 30-90s you gain isn't going to change your fate.
I'm all in favor of doing ludicrously dangerous things if there's a good reason. Really, I am. I've done some extraordinarily stupid shit. But only when there's a good reason, not just to shave a few minutes off a drive or because my safety glasses are slightly foggy.
what do I do with this
bear witness and hope you and your loved ones don't die this time
I bought a HEPA air purifier for my bedroom today since no one in household is doing any sort of prevention. Will it help? No fucking clue, but I'm clutching at straws.
Yeah, I have HEPA filters in the two rooms I spend the most time.
I just don't know how to assess the risk anymore, especially when wastewater is the only data left and wastewater says nothing has changed. What I think is likely is that there's a lot of asymptomatic Covid going around, but since no one is being tested and "Covid is over" no one knows or cares. But I don't know if that's a reasonable belief. I have no idea and every social institution that's supposed to help me figure this out has decided not to.
The government just keeps repeating that very few people are dying. I don't care that very few people are dying, I want to know how many people are being injured and disabled by Long Covid, and it doesn't seem like anyone is tracking that or even acknowledging that it's a risk.
They say like 96% of people donating blood have covid antibodies, but I swear to god I've read papers throughout the pandemic saying that Covid antibodies diminish after 2-6 months whether from infection or vaccine, so doesn't that mean the entire population either got covid or got vaccinated within the last 6 months? I don't know. I don't know. I don't fucking know.
Apparently there's research saying some covid antibodies persist for 16 months, But Covid strains don't persist that long so whatever caused those antibodies isn't circulating anymore and all the modern variants are extremely immune evasive in addition to directly attacking the immune system.
Just... sustained screaming idk what else to do.
gLURGJAGKSDRG;LKASDDAS
Just read an article that quotes a Dr. saying "Omicron is long gone" and shows numbers of currently circulating variants.
Then two paragraphs down, under a "Will new variants effect the vaccine?" header, the article implores you to get vaccinated, because it will protect you frome 🥁 drumroll 🥁 ... Omicron and Delta! Neither of which exist anymore!
I HATE PUBLIC HEALTH I HATE PUBLIC HEALTH I HATE PUBLIC HEALTH!
And the vaccine coming out this fall was made from XBB1.5, which is already a small minority of infections. FUCKING YEAH I LOVE THE 21st CENTURY!
I'm in Florida, so YMMV, but Wastewater is definitely rising around the state significantly worse than the "off season" of March to May-ish. But again, it's incredibly difficult to tell how much of an off season we had when we're only monitoring 9 out of 67 counties. I can guarantee there were small spikes going unmonitored during that time, but nothing to back it up. I mean, the counties we are monitoring never get close to zero anymore. I think it's best to just accept that those days are behind us and we have to always be on guard. Which fucking sucks. I was just thinking how fucking depressing it is that I've gotta purify my own room and prioritize my own well being because my family has no concern for theirs or mine. It's not a healthy mindset to have to maintain.
According to posts on Twitter Japan was getting hit hard, and dunno if its related but the news over in the UK has finally acknowledge a new variant called 'Eris' ctrl-f, 0 results for masking.
I got my last vax in november of last year, not sure if I should try to get a shot now (no healthcare, little money) or wait till the new one releases. either way, I'll continue n-95ing it around people indefinitely. But tbh, except for family and shopping, I pretty much avoid people.
I've had the same thought about either asymptomatic COVID or also people are just straight-up ignoring their ailments a lot more now, I think. They're sick but "sure it's not COVID" while not testing or anything.
Yeah, or the people who test once, which has at least a 3 in 10 chance of throwing a false negative even if they do it correctly.
got vaccinated within the last 6 months?
Can definitely scratch that theory out.
i had a sore throat this week (tested neg twice) but felt like i would be judged for choosing to work from home and not risk contagion to others. the vibes, they're fucked
Did you swab your throat for the rapid test (30 minutes without eating or drinking)? Rapid tests in your nose don't really count, you have to be mega-positive for the test to notice
Those instructions were written for pre-omicron variants that collected in your lungs, so nose worked. Those instructions are outdated, omicron and onwards collects in your throat.
Like this:
Show
Article about the difference: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-throat-swab-for-omicron-at-home-experts-2022-1
The FDA has authorized just one method of taking a COVID-19 rapid test: swabbing the inside of your nose.
But ever since Omicron came into force in the US in mid-December, some people have noted on social media that their rapid tests only come back positive after adding saliva to the mix.
Medical journal article: Saliva swabs are the preferred sample for Omicron detection
Rapid tests in other countries call them nose and throat kits now, because they're not behind like the FDA is.
It's almost like we don't want people to know if they have covid for some reason.
Some PCR tests let you do a saliva sample instead. But since most PCR tests are still nose-only, that might artificially lower PCR test positivity rates, as well.
my parents removed my tonsils in the 90s when i was a kid because they got sick of my snoring since we had to live in a one bedroom crack den.
Swabbing the sides of your throat is fine.
From the UK's DHSC's instructions:If you have no tonsils rub the swab on the sides of your throat.
I just want to say I'm glad that you guys are still taking this shit seriously. This is pretty much the only place (online or irl) where you can discuss covid seriously. Everybody else is pretending that it never happened.
If you check out the linktree for this Twitter account, they have a Google doc which contains various sites and groups for people who are still COVID-cautious and are a nice respite from all the ableist/COVID-minimizing bullshit.
https://twitter.com/covidisntover
I started being active in some of those communities at the end of last year and have made several online friends and now also know some people in my area.
It's summer in the northern hemisphere, and with record heat waves in industrialised nations, many people are probably spending more time indoors in poorly ventilated rooms with the aircon on full blast. This is probably what's leading to the uptick in COVID infections. So avoid aircons and public crowded indoor spaces.
I'll continue to hang out with the same several friends once a week mostly outdoors and limit my interaction with public places to kn95-masked grocery shopping while my despair meter rises at a slightly increased rate and i fantasize about how much easier it would be to be either a total dumb ass or to not have a conscience.
Boss isn't bringing back wfh so I'm gonna pretend its not happening to preserve sanity points
(Sorry I don't have a better answer :( )
If the wastewater data goes above 600 copies per mL, I'm gonna start masking up in public indoor spaces again. I can understand anyone who sets their analysis at 400... or even 200.
That's really the most I can do. There's a threat level in lots of things, and I feel like this is an appropriate individual response.
