That "coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, can have lasting effects on nearly every organ and organ system of the body weeks, months, and potentially years after infection (11,12). Documented serious post-COVID-19 conditions include cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, renal, endocrine, hematological, and gastrointestinal complications (8), as well as death.".

This is true regardless of symptom severity or health status, every person is at risk. I think most people really aren't aware of this, they absorbed the narrative that it's gone, mild, only kills/harms the vulnerable, etc. This isn't really their fault, there are a lot of factors that have led people to that belief, but people should know their lives and livelihoods are much more at risk now than 4 years ago.

And that this isn't inevitable, there are simple methods of disrupting transmission and protecting yourself and others. COVID-19 is here to stay (unless we do something about that) and it has impacts on every person infected and on society at large. That shouldn't mean folks accept illness and worse quality of life. We adapt and adopt precautions in our life to reduce long-term health impacts, like we've done before with many other illnesses that plague humanity.

Not the commenter you asked, but my understanding of this situation is that in response to a Hamas attack on the 7th Israel has, for the past week and a half, been bombing a captive population that is currently without electricity, water, food and medical supplies, and our government is supporting that.

What Biden could do, now, is say "Hey, we understand your fear and pain, but Palestinian deaths won't brings back those Israeli lives. Mass killing of civilians in the hopes of killing some of the people responsible won't bring peace, trust me we've tried too." From there he can engage in discussions about next steps, but this is the minimum fucking first step he refuses to take.

I don't think they're defending PRC, just pointing out there are others also deserving of your anger. The US not only did terrible at responding to the ongoing pandemic, they convinced people they didn't but if so to just blame PRC for it. Sure, be mad that they covered it up, but also be mad that our government mishandled things terribly too.

I think they expected to swap the hostages for Palestinian prisoners, since they've done it before.

When he opened his eyes, he was on the bottom of the pool, and there was beautiful music everywhere. He lost consciousness, but the music went on. He dimly sensed that somebody was rescuing him. Billy resented that.

Slaughterhouse-five

I read this a few years after I was in a near drowning accident, it was very surreal to read and has stayed with me since.

Have been masking since early 2020, haven't been sick with any contagious illness in 4 years. Infection is preventable, not inevitable, and I'll never willingly expose myself to it again. Sucks people were convinced otherwise, would be nice to not have overwhelmed health systems (not that it's new, definitely worse now though).

No, we don't have to just accept continuous illness and death. Why do you think that it's necessary for people to suffer when there are simple solutions? There are steps between nothing and total shutdown, read above for some of them.

Covid isn't like people going in the street risking getting hit. Covid is a communicable illness spread by others, not a personal choice someone makes. People can't just choose to never be exposed even if they wanted, we have to interact with others. Further, people can and do avoid being run over in the street by walking on sidewalks and crosswalks, riding in vehicles with protections, with lots of traffic safety rules in place to minimize accidents. Right now our covid elimination strategies are similar to that of traffic safety in the early days of automobiles when there were no safety regulations. Right now we have a bunch of people driving wildly with at best ineffective vaccines, we need a lot more than that if we want to stop repeatedly trying to dodge covid crashes and have any sense of stability in actually living with covid.

Depending on where you live, yes. We have a setup of 4 panels placed in the backyard connected to an inverter and some batteries. It's technically temporary so legal where we are, basically a large solar charged battery bank.

Same. I don't even know how to respond to questions like this. It's such a failure of our governments that people think loss of taste and smell from an infection years ago is the only lasting impact they're experiencing. It's a vascular disease that can damage every organ in the body and we're being forced to experience repeat infections. Unfortunately most won't realize what is happening until after it does, and there's very few treatments and even little care for prevention.

I'm a disabled organizer focused on covid issues, and every day I hear constantly from people about the barriers covid has to their lives. Some are new barriers like new health conditions, increased precarity, and rising debt. Others are finding existing issues that were already hard to navigate become near insurmountable. Many of us haven't had regular healthcare in years due to lack of covid safety or the system's complete overwhelm. So many of us are fighting to just see a dentist without getting covid, and it's nearly impossible.

And this is just from the folks who are aware of why covid should be avoided and what the current situation is, every day I talk to people who have long therm health issues from covid that now have to navigate a world they thought wouldn't affect the. Covid has and will continue to impact every aspect of everyone's life and it sucks seeing so many ignore it.

Edit to add- and yea, at least 7 million people died worldwide with over a million of that just in the US. The amount of people forever missing loved ones is hard to grapple with. A quarter of a million kids lost one or both parents, it's had profound impact to their life trajectories that we'll see for decades, and that's not even accounting for the health implications they'll endure along with the rest of society as we have continued repeat infections.

Yes. All our relationships changed and I don't know if they'll ever recover. I'm disabled and from the start it's been a struggle. I remember in early 2020 a family member sharing a post on fb that said only the vulnerable were dying to covid and reminding them that's me and the ensuing kerfuffle. Several family members got it, were hospitalized, and refuse to get vaxxed later on.

What's caused the most upset to me and my partner though is my in-laws' reactions. My FIL has copd and MIL has cancer and received a transplant last year. They live near my SIL and her family. They've all had covid multiple times, 3x last we heard. FIL was hospitalized, MIL was in hospital for a year after her transplant due to one complication or illness after another. Her health is very delicate and no one seems to care about protecting her (or themselves). None of them mask not even around her. We've tried talking about it a few times, cancer patients have been masking and being cautious about illnesses long before covid and we have such a better understanding of mitigation tools after these last few years. But they just do not care, nothing to be concerned about. My partner is so worried about her but at this point is ready to hear the worst should it come. It's just baffling to me.

People care because we're people and don't like to see unnecessary suffering, especially if we're able to change it. In western countries, our governments (and taxes) are supporting this, we have significant power to influence the outcome.

We also understand that our struggles are connected. The problems in my community are tied to the US support of Israel and their ongoing violent oppression of Palestinians. They cannot be separated, and to create any lasting change we must address the issues in whole, which requires examining how they relate and working to break those connections. The "popularity" in the media is a moment to facilitate doing the good you're talking about, that's why so many long time organizers in social just areas are doing exactly what needs doing, seizing the moment.

After all the news recently about lab grown meat the last half of the title really took me a moment to process.

Yes, this isn't an unusual type of pain with someone with a back or spine injury. Like others said, see a doctor asap as they may be able to help. You might need physical therapy along with medication, and it's better to start sooner rather than later when it could be less treatable.

Actually I'm proposing life is valuable and we should protect it.

The vaccines don't solve the problem and the solutions do not require massive change, but they do require people reflect on what's important and adjust their behavior accordingly. I think that living a good life is important so I believe we should do things to better those odds, like reducing the amount of damage covid does to the body. Choosing continuous illness and your worse years coming much sooner sounds closer to suicide to me. Masking, improved ventilation and filtration, paid sick leave, and other simple steps are not absurd and shouldn't be temporary. We know easy ways to reduce massive suffering, it's ridiculous to me that people oppose it.

But he wasn't hiding, he was lost and needed help being found. If the cops had listened to the mom he would've been found sooner without the unnecessary invasion of privacy.

The 5-year-old was honking the horn on the bus for help when he was found, she said.

And also, no they aren't available at any pharmacy for free. They're available at some pharmacies, if covered by insurance or you've applied through the bridge program, but still unlikely to be administered in a covid safe setting. If the vaccine is nearby and covered but I'll get covid while there, that is not accessible. The existence of the vaccines is barely anything towards actually controlling covid and reducing its impact on society and the ability of people who don't want to get it to access society.

And let's remember, the vaccines help prevent the worst case scenario of hospitalization and death. They do not prevent infection, stop you from spreading the virus, or nullify the damage covid does to your body.

Yes.

able·ism /ˈābəˌlizəm/ noun A system of assigning value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. This systemic oppression that leads to people and society determining people's value based on their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, "health/wellness", and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, "excel" and "behave." You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism.

This is also tied to healthism/health supremacy, recommended researching more about these topics to better understand how they impact everyone's lives, disabled or not.

My partner and I started playing Palia this week and like it so far. It has some issues and I wish there was more co-op, but it's a nice relaxing game that's been fun to explore.

Genetics has far less impact on health disparity among race and ethnic groups than social determinants of health, things like acces to care, finances, living situation, etc. Relevant article from the Mayo Clinic - Why are people of color more at risk of being affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)?

These misunderstandings about covid are what I mentioned in my original post. Covid is currently killing fewer people than it did the first few years, it already burned through the most vulnerable and you can only die once. But illness is not rare at all. Aside from the rampant acute illness, Nearly One in Five American Adults Who Have Had COVID-19 Still Have “Long COVID” and about 10% of infections results in long covid. We don't even know what the long term effects are, we do know it's already having impacts on people's health and on healthcare services, and that there is no lasting immunity. People used to suffer and die from preventable diseases, a lot. We didn't say oh well, sucks to suck. We learned and adapted, that's what we need to do that again.

You mentioned costs and freedom, what does freedom mean to you in this context?

Oops, meant to respond to the commenter above you.

Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care

If you've been ill for just a few days and it's available to you, get a COVID-19 test and seek Paxlovid. The new variants are about so many are sick with it and Paxlovid is effective at reducing illness severity. Same is true of Tamiflu for the flu but it's likely to be COVID-19 at this time.

There's a lot of dis/misinformation on them, but those sites are also useful tools for organizing around issues and getting the correct information in front of people who otherwise would never see it and unfortunately there aren't great alternatives available.

I'm sorry you're experiencing this, it's terrible and should not be something you have to deal with. Not sure if this counts as medical advice but asking in case it's been overlooked, do you have access to telehealth options or have you sought a care coordinator through your insurance? Those may be helpful in finding a different doctor, it won't help with the existing debt though. I'm disabled and unfortunately very familiar with medical debt, if you'd like any information on ways to try to lessen that debt feel free to dm me. There's also a lot of organizing around medical debt, this group is one I've been involved with, if that's of any interest to you (or anyone else reading this).

No, I'm continuing the original statements I made. That covid is causing long term health issues, and while vaccines can lower the odds of long term impacts they do not prevent them. The only way to prevent long covid is to not get Covid.

I agree masks are cost prohibitive, I support free distribution of n95s or elastomeric and fit testing in communities, but how are they limiting where folks go? When we had widescale masking I was able to go the places I wanted, safely. I disagree that asking people to stay home while sick is a drastic reduction in freedom, I actually believe people's desire to go in public and spread disease that can cause serious problems for them is a much great reduction in overall freedom. Another drastic reduction in freedom is what people who don't want to get covid have been experiencing, which is being cut off from all public life. One-way masking is not enough, it's like wearing a helmet in a monster truck rally, helpful but insufficient. Even hospitals are not places one can go without getting ill.

I can't convince you to care about yours and others wellbeing. I believe that freedom is something we share and create for each other, not simply being able to move about and do whatever I want as an individual. I truly hope you educate yourself on the risks of covid and take proper care to avoid it. Peace.

Yes, the rampant spread of covid will make it difficult to make the case it was caught at work, unless the work is somewhere covid is known to be like healthcare or where an outbreak is known. Unless and until we have sufficient infection control measures in most places it will continue to be difficult to know where one was exposed.

Unfortunately it's already the norm in many workplaces to not inform employees of outbreaks. There's little to no requirements for reporting cases so businesses have no responsibility to keep covid out of the workplace and people are getting sick at work. This ruling is a result of that reality, not a precipitator.

Ableism is so ingrained in our society that folks have trouble even recognizing it. OP is absolutely experiencing ableism, being dismissed and treated differently because of their health issues, recognized and intentional or not, is ableism.

Your example is a very legal perspective of ableism that barely scratches the surface of ableism and makes it difficult to address wider impacts. This is a similar thinking to racism only being legal segregation and the KKK, when it shows up in everyday life in far broader ways.

Thanks for the link, it's a good piece. And I definitely agree on it being an intentional path by our government not a failing per se. It's not just the disabled that are and always have been afterthoughts, it's everyone. Covid's lasting damage is well-known, but that's your problem not theirs, they have mitigations in place for themselves and the best care available if needed.

It's very little but if you're US based and want to remind your state officials that they're killing people with their negligence, a group I organize with has a letter to send them about masking in healthcare. I really hope that this year we see actual progress on addressing covid instead of just ignoring it. We're in the second highest ever surge currently, a lot of people are going to be sicker by November.

Books Fiction, Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut. I first read it in high school and even then it hit very hard. I had friends going off to war at the time and it was a very different perspective than the pro-war media I had been immersed in to that point. I've read it every couple of years since and find more I love about it every time.

Non fiction, The Future Is Disabled by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. It's a beautiful piece that felt less like a book and more like a conversation with a friend. It helped me imagine what a world centered on care could be like.

Movies Gaza Fights for Freedom. It's a few years old now but extremely relevant, a documentary about the 2018/19 peaceful protest in Gaza and Israeli response. It was horrifying to watch and realize many things, and the horrors in it pale compared to the last few weeks. I think about it a lot right now.

Would you like help researching those things? I'm a stranger on the internet but I'm happy to help or point you in some directions.

All of the things you mentioned require extra work from an individual that inevitably means others who don't receive those things will be left without. No one should have to jump through those extra hoops and many just can't for various reasons. And people should also be able to "wander into a degree", lives and plans change. Sometimes people have to switch tracks or leave and return to college and there shouldn't be repercussions for that.

Ah, yea the UK is very strict on Paxlovid eligibility. Glad you're up to date on the vaccines, if it is COVID that should help with initial illness and resting as much as possible can help with reducing Long COVID development. I may have missed others make this suggestion but a good heat pad or similar for aches can be wonderful. Hope you feel better soon.

Yes. Why do you think this terrorist group is there and constantly attacks?

I highly recommend doing research on the situation that isn't filtered through Western propaganda or a zionist lens and doing some introspection on why you believe the people being caged, controlled, and experiencing ethnic cleansing for decades are nazis.

Thanks for asking. A covid safe setting is one where mitigations are in place to contain the spread of covid. This includes but is not limited to: universal masking in n95/kn95 masks, sufficient ventilation and filtration of the air to reduce the virus floating around, limited time indoors to reduce exposure, workers staying home when ill. So, pretty simple things that have together reduce ones chances of getting covid.

Most places have not achieved this, or stopped doing so if they did. I'm glad you and you're pharmacists mask, but that is bare minimum and sadly not a universal experience. Many people live in places where there is no masking from others and any requests for it are denied, even though that's illegal under ADA. Masks are also just one tool that can be used to stop spread and should not be the primary method used.

Because Israel is the occupying force with a full military and international backing currently bombing a captive population compromised mostly of children. Why is that hard to understand?

we have no way of knowing the full true picture of why these civilians are dying

Let me clear this one up for you, they're dying because Israel is killing them.

If Israel hadn't blockaded Gaza for a decade and a half, or occupied Palestine for 75 years, or or or. We can play this game for eternity, or look at the reality that people, actual people not abstract arguments, are dying. And that needs to stop.

No, this is created obfuscation in an attempt to justify what's happening. Ask yourself, if Isreal wasn't continuing this onslaught, would these people be dying? That's the clarity.