covid

So ~20% of people in this study who got Covid but not Long Covid are still experiencing sever cognitive impairment? That's not concerning at all!

Regardless of whether it's covid or capitalism, this just further increases my suspicions that people around me are losing their damned minds.

Sorry if I misinterpreted the study's conclusions. I tried my best.

I seem to remember there being some concerns, about covid increasing chances of Parkinson's disease, a couple years ago because covid was causing people to have sleep disorders.

This post bought to you by the tofu gang

An explanation for those not following: this is HICPAC, which advises the CDC on infection control policies. They’re trying to update a 2007 document on preventing transmission of infectious agents in healthcare settings, which will direct infection control practices across the US. One of the things they were going to recommend was that surgical masks are equivalent to N95s, and that surgical masks should be the default PPE for healthcare workers caring for patients with respiratory viruses. They did recommend N95s for viruses like measles and tuberculosis and “pandemic phase respiratory viruses,” including Covid. But not only does this fly in the face of what we have learned about aerosol transmission of respiratory viruses during the Covid pandemic, it’s also a weakening of the 2007 guidelines, which state “respiratory protection requires the use of a respirator…” and only recommends surgical masks for blood or body fluid exposure.

Couldn’t decide whether to post this in the dunk tank or here

And those same colleagues come in my space all the time, see me in an N95, see me with filters everywhere, and don't even fucking have a pause.

I DON'T WANT TO DO EXTRA WORK

68% of COVID-19 deaths during the first year of the pandemic were adults in low socioeconomic positions

University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi's research confirmed associations between COVID-19 mortality rates and socioeconomic position, gender, ethnicity and race.

Salemi's research shows:

• The mortality rate of low SEP adults is five times higher when compared to high SEP adults, and the mortality rate of intermediate SEP adults is two times higher.

• White women make up the largest population group considered high SEP. In contrast, nearly 60 percent of Hispanic men are in a low SEP.

• When compared, the mortality rate of low SEP Hispanic men is 27 times higher than high SEP white women.

"The degree to which it takes a toll on communities is very unevenly distributed and we wanted to call attention to that issue," Salemi said.

Reminder that crackers started storming state capitols demanding lockdowns end about a week after news reported covid was harming black people at far greater rates than anyone else.

The "return to normal" was driven by complete disregard to the lives of low wage workers and outright racism.

But I'm sure things are great now that the "pandemic is over". Genocide Joe and the party of science wouldn't lie to you. Capitalism wouldn't just sacrifice workers like that, right?

Looks like there's gonna be a lot more pneumonia this round.

Highly mutated COVID variant BA.2.86—close ancestor of globally dominant “Pirola” JN.1—may lead to more severe disease than other Omicron variants, according to two new studies published Monday in the journal Cell.

In one study, researchers from Ohio State University performed a variety of experiments using a BA.2.86 pseudovirus—a lab-created version that isn’t infectious. They found that BA.2.86 can fuse to human cells more efficiently and infect cells that line the lower lung—traits that may make it more similar to initial, pre-Omicron strains that were more deadly.

In the other study, researchers in Germany and France came to the same conclusion. “BA.2.86 has regained a trait characteristic of early SARS-CoV-2 lineages: robust lung cell entry,” the authors wrote. The variant “might constitute an elevated health threat as compared to previous Omicron sublineages,” they added.

We're up to 2000 a week dying from covid in the US, and that's probably an undercount due to lots of people, hospitals and states pretending covid is just a cold or doesn't exist anymore.

We did it!

https://nitter.net/luckytran/status/1742319364181787110

And we are probably a week away from the peak.

This is what we call an "exit wave", meaning we have reached super-herd-immunity!

Here's to another year of unpredictible worldwide waves and rapid mutations making vaccines obsolete before they are rolled out.

For financial reasons we shall now refer to it as an Endemic+ virus.

I look forward to having all mention of it in the news disappear as we get closer to next election.

spoiler

Was talking to a friend about wearing masks and they made the point that they “wish it would have become the norm instead of a side of a political battle.”

Making it political is just trying to explain away indifference to the moral and ethical implications of giving up.

It wasn’t liberal vs conservative, liberals were just as eager to go mask off as soon as possible regardless of the actual situation.

Im staying home and logged on to protest mass COVID spread.

Let this be a megathread for those resisting being a plague rat tonight, whether your staying home or masking at events. You all are the real heroes.

I don't have long covid, but I am chronically ill and this article really spoke to me.

"Every day we hear the story of how long COVID is affecting the way people can connect with others," says David Putrino, who runs a long COVID clinic as director of rehabilitation for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York. "This is a known phenomenon in chronic illness and disability [communities]: that when you first become disabled or experience a chronic illness, your world changes — it becomes smaller. And suddenly, friends and family members who can't easily interact with you stop interacting with you."

Protect yourselves when you can, comrades. It's not a fun life.

Title, family is very stubborn and while not full on unhinged, thinks masking and stuff is an overreaction and, uh, making it mandatory is “fascist”

Jon Favreau, Obama's speechwriter, complaining about the tweet...

Didn't realize this brand of person is still at it on here. Impressive stamina.

Just to follow up: the brand of person I was referring to is someone who tells people to fuck off if they choose to work from home while sick. I don't find that persuasive, I find it unhinged.

Long Covid is real, tragic, and deserves more attention (I had a post-Covid condition myself - not fun). Covid is still dangerous for a lot of people, especially older and immunocompromised. If you get even a mild case and feel too sick to work from home, you absolutely shouldn't have to. But advocacy for any of these issues isn't coming on this platform to swear at strangers for perfectly reasonable statements and actions.

It's counterproductive and absurd and I won't pretend otherwise. People suffering deserve better advocacy than this shit.

Nitter

I still haven't made my way through the whole episode, but I felt this section was really worth listening to if you don't have the time for the 2 hours that came before it.

Not the link in the post to the article: http://carlbergstrom.com/publications/pdfs/2023PNAS.pdf

According to this article there are now three large scale studies analyzing covid risk, and they all indicate that your risk of negative health consequences goes up every infection.

While this risk starts (relatively) low for most of us, particularly those vaccinated and in younger people or children, there are concerning signs it may not stay low. If each new invasion of our bodies allows this insidious virus a greater chance to cause damage, such small risks will eventually add up to a big one.

Even if you only experience the symptom of the initial infection mildly.

"Each subsequent COVID infection will increase your risk of developing chronic health issues like diabetes, kidney disease, organ failure and even mental health problems," physician Rambod Rouhbakhsh warned journalist Sara Berg in an American Medical Association podcast earlier this year.

"This dispels the myth that repeated brushes with the virus are mild and you don't have to worry about it. It is akin to playing Russian roulette."

Long COVID is defined as a multisystem disease that have a devastating effect on any organ system, with potentially lifelong consequences. Rates of long COVID among people who have contracted SARS-CoV-2 vary controversially between studies and regions, from about 10 percent to a staggering 50 percent of people who've had the virus reported as having long term symptoms.

We are basically ignoring the risks and hoping for a science miracle to save us before things get too bad. Same approach we are taking with global warming. What an interesting time to be alive.

Fuck contributing to the mass murder of disabled people going on right now through uncontrolled COVID spread. Lets resist the chain of infection by staying inside and logged on.

Yes this boycott won't end the pandemic. But fuck, if it prevents even one person from getting COVID that is a victory.

May be we should dunk on these anti-masker s in the meantime to make this boycott more effective. May be more people will mask at these "mask optional" socialist meetings if we go hard enough.