outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

congratulations to the CDC once again

The other night, felt self-conscious for the first time about being masked up in an indoor environment (bookstore) where no one else was wearing a mask. I don't want to stop wearing one in circumstances where it's no trouble just for reasons of self-consciousness, but I wonder if it will get harder and harder. Then again, there have been lots of other occasions where I was the only masked person and it didn't feel weird, so maybe it was just the vibe in this bookstore.

They're liberals. Liberals don't catch COVID.

This guy in the supermarket
Made fun of me for being safe
it's ok
he was old anyway

i'm way less self-conscious about it now than I was not too long ago, but it helps to have satanic tattoos, a black KN95 that makes me look like Bane, and my father's bug-eyed glare.

in my local supermarket it's usually just me, half the workers, and maybe 1 out of every 8 or 9 customers who wear a mask.

love how i specified local there

here 11 out of every 8 customers wear a mask, some have grown multiple heads, it's weird

now is that your local supermarket, or non-local?

i go to the big lib market across town

I work on a campus where everyone is required to be vaccinated and boostered. And yet every other day, a student doesn't make it to a meeting because they have COVID or misses a deadline because their roommate is positive and they had to go get tested. In short, I'll continue masking up for as long as I have to, and I really don't care if I'm the only one who isn't willing to pretend that it's perpetually fuckin' Opposite Day. I mean, the only reason I'm still wearing a mask in mid-2022 is BECAUSE of the people who keep pretending as hard as they can that the pandemic is over.

Still wear a mask in any sort of situation requiring more than two people in a windowless room, and I'm the only one doing so. Still mask at Target and Publix, where, depending on the hour, I's say as many 50% of customers and staff still mask. I am, though, lunching at the occasional restaurant, preferably one with fresh air ventilation, because I need to for my equilibrium.

Still wear a mask in any sort of situation requiring more than two people in a windowless room

Same, just really wish this didn't describe the open office I'm in 100% of my work day. The mask wearers continue to dwindle, even the co-worker that just came back from having COVID isn't bothering to wear one at all (and they were on the COVID task force that made he rules!). It's frustrating most days.

part of the problem is how attitudes toward the pandemic have gravitated towards the absolute. Zero COVID vs "COVID is over". When it's a lot more complicated than that.

The Zero COVID folk are living in a fantasy world, don't understand science well, follow Eric Feigl-Dingleberry, and are largely a toxic group that direct their followers to harass or threaten actual scientists/health practitioners who "minimize" COVID, so in response, the other half takes the NRA argument of "Zero COVID is impossible so we should just do nothing" or "cOvId Is EnDeMiC" (Editor's note: Nope), and harass not just COVID zero people ,but others who are trying to negotiate some form of middle ground. When there's a fuck ton of mitigation that can be done while allowing society to function. which includes masks.

Omicron is so contagious that NPIs are less effective against it than any other variant, but "less effective" does not mean "not effective", or "shouldn't be attempted". masks still do work and have prevented friends of mine from spreading to family members when they caught it.

the problem as well is the fracturing of messaging. there's an overabundance of COVID news coming from every corner of the net, and people have (rightfully) lost faith in the CDC, so people I know who are well-meaning have outright RONG understandings of Omicron. One of my friends publicly said you "can't get Omicron twice", which....isn't true (and technically wasn't true of any previous strain either - reinfections just became MORE likely with Omicron as previous infection with previous strains didn't provide much cross-immunity against Omicron). and the ones that do mask often wear ineffective cloth masks, not because they can't afford the better kind, but they don't realize how futile they are against Omicron because they didn't read that info. (ones that can't afford the better kind, on the other hand, I'm completely sympathetic to).

I just finished a play and to get it to go up, our lead producer asked us all to test regularly (once every day or two days), and supplied free tests to the cast. and also demanded everybody that was acting wear masks at all times except when on stage, and crew at all times regardless.

Two of these cast members repeatedly refused to comply. Neither masked backstage or tested themselves at all. Neither of them COVID deniers, in fact, liberal minded folk who spent most of 2020-2021 screaming at the people who refused to stay home and mask up. The producer repeatedly repeated the requirement and they continued to not do it. I couldn't figure out why but it was maddening. fortunately none of us contracted it (well, among the remainder of us who did test).

even the co-worker that just came back from having COVID isn't bothering to wear one at all (and they were on the COVID task force that made he rules!)

see that's like my scenario, too. i think this must be some kind of manifestation of COVID fatigue to the point where it's the whole object permanence scenario, "if I don't think about you, you don't exist".

Could be that, or just "fuck it, I've had it, no reason to be thoughtful about others anymore" selfishness. I don't know. It's a bummer for sure.

I've really been disappointed with my work in how they've handled things. They have effectively stopped messaging of any form, they completely stopped tracking any data at all (and have given really evasive, patently untrue justifications when asked about it) despite tracking diligently since April of 2020, and just generally decided that there's literally nothing they can do and we're on our own.

i guess you guys are going to hate me but where i live case numbers are low, i've had three shots, i've had actual coronavirus twice, and i have no vulnerable people in my life i need to worry about so i don't really gaf anymore

it was a funny moment to scoop up all the masks at the front door that i hadn't worn in like a month and put them into a tote bag and hang that bag up in the back of the closet. "hope i never see you again"

the drying up of data has been the most frustrating. a lot of the sites I depended on shut down, I'm left with the flawed CovidActNow.org and a few other sites. and the one person I counted on to constantly give realistic "state of the state" analysis of Florida and other states, regularly for a year, abruptly stopped posting about COVID altogether, and now posts mostly about crypto. I've had to start piecing together my own data and I'm not cut out for it.

though some of the fact that he stopped was also because ELECTED FL HEALTH OFFICIALS were harassing him every time he talked about Florida. People that were high ranking officials within the FL Dept of Health, not like...low level employees.

xxxpost

I'm doing an antibody test to see if I've had it. on about two occasions, I've had what seemed like symptoms showing up, only to disappear a day later. the latter scenario, 5+ tests showed up negative. the prior scenario was the one that I laid out here, where I tested positive one day, only to test negative on 11 tests of combined PCR/antigen nature over 5 days.

maybe I'm one of those people with the crazy T-cells, one could hope

I just really appreciated the hyper local stats our work shared on their dashboard and there is really no reason for them to have stopped, because they still provide the on-site free testing and no other factors have changed. Guess the message just came down from above that it is time to stop caring. But, yeah, when asked we got the, "well no one else is tracking anything" excuse.

i guess you guys are going to hate me but where i live case numbers are low, i've had three shots, i've had actual coronavirus twice, and i have no vulnerable people in my life i need to worry about so i don't really gaf anymore

If I hated you for that I would hate most people where I live, including my friends, and my friends are nice.

can't wait to see what we're posting about itt 7 years from now

"got COVID for the 713th time, this time the new Voltron variant. have to sell my tix to Ozzy, which I've had since 2019, and it was finally going to happen and now I can't go."

I mean I am in no way acting the way I would act if I thought it would be a serious problem for me to get COVID. I'm just eating at outdoor tables and wearing a mask in stores. But I'm not hiding. I guess I just feel like the minimal protective measures I'm taking are pretty much commensurate with the acceptable but not fully negligible consequences of getting COVID (long-term elevated risk of cardiovascular disease / diabetes / stroke, short-term risk of being knocked out of commission for a week.)

I've pretty much given up on judging people for navigating this right now. The notable exception being the previously mentioned coworker that had COVID, has been cagey about the timeline, came back to work seemingly early based on all shared evidence and still didn't wear a mask. Judging the fuck out of that person.

can't wait to see what we're posting about itt 7 years from now

"got COVID for the 713th time, this time the new Voltron variant. have to sell my tix to Ozzy, which I've had since 2019, and it was finally going to happen and now I can't go."

― Gymnopédie Pablo (Neanderthal), Wednesday, June 1, 2022 2:22 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol I hope so, imagine the pent-up Ozzy demand

I feel bad for my more outgoing friends - they're still generally limiting risky behavior but they're starting to crack hard. I struggle with making myself go out to meet them for a barbecue or sitting on a patio since getting a little high and droning on a guitar alone for two hours became a completely normal way to spend Friday nights for a while there.

Xxpost

One of the shows at my festival had an outbreak in the cast. They decided to trot the two infected performers out on day 5 or 6 of infection, still testing positive, wearing those flimsy tiny plastic facemasks that don't do shit to block droplets or coughs or anything.

And didn't tell the audience. I reported them but nothing was done because lol festival had no coherent "your performers are sick" policy this year.

Another acquaintance got COVID and attended shows maskless in the middle of his infection.... without telling anybody.

All of those fuckers can burn in hell

Gah, that's maddening. Though I guess a natural outcome of the "welp, who cares" attitude from the top on down, no incentive for people to give a shit or do the right thing.

I'm in a similar spot as Tracer, levels have been pretty low here for a while, so I only ever wear a mask if I go to a business that requires it. My personal policy is that I'm going to follow the local risk level, if it remains low, I won't wear a mask, if goes up, I will adjust according to the city's recommendations.

I'm wearing everywhere mostly cos Florida is popping off now, but we seem near a peak/plateau. hopefully.

(basing that on Orange County wastewater dropping)

To me COVID gets back to the broader issue of systemic injustice, like with environmental issues. Am I carbon neutral? No. Am I an easier target than the people who are the major drivers of climate change? Yes. At this point I am complying with safety precautions largely performatively, to be honest, and so my compliance wavers with my ability and willingness to perform. The people I hang out with are more likely to shame non-compliance than they are to shame compliance. I have immunocompromised friends who are immensely frustrated about the whole situation and my willingness to wear a mask in public (if i'm not outside or eating, which is most of the time I'm in public) does, in fact, make them one whole iota safer, but I really _don't_ want to comply with the idea that public shaming is a substitute for actual justice. I have to work to control my desire to express hostility towards folks who treat this whole thing like it's a result of poor individual decisions rather than a deliberate and normative culture of narcissism and abuse.

on that last note, John Burn-Murdoch reacted to an emotional, fact-free response to one of his well-researched tweets pointing out that views on COVID have started to be gripped tightly like religious beliefs now, and he's not wrong.

My take on where the current stage of the pandemic is in the USA.

On the good side: The virulence of the symptoms people commonly experience is clearly not as bad as with earlier variants. The infection fatality rate is way down compared to the start of the pandemic. Anti-virals seem to help a lot, if you get on them immediately after the first positive test. The knowledge base about the disease has grown tremendously since 2020 and we have vaccines, which is huge.

On the bad side: I've seen one virologist compare the R(0) of latest variant of omicron as being 'getting up around the level of the measles', which is just about the most contagious disease out there. The incubation period is so rapid that as the antibodies from a vaccine or a recent infection decline after a few months, re-infection is likely to become common, especially because NPIs like masks and distancing have been discarded by a large majority of people. Case numbers are still extremely high, and home testing occludes any clear view into the true numbers. And while the medical system here isn't in acute crisis mode any more, there is chronic burnout among caregivers. Long covid is still a mystery we probably won't know much about for several years.

I'll be masking up in public places for some time to come.

Fwiw it looks like the current wave has just peaked nationally in the US

Until the next one, etc.

And while the medical system here isn't in acute crisis mode any more, there is chronic burnout among caregivers.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless)

welp, time for corporate to send out another email calling everybody "heroes" and providing links to more online resources to webinars about burnout

the mention of zero COVID made me go look up new Zealand's stats and it went from double figures to 1.5 thousand deaths IN TOTAL only very recently. UK was getting that every single day during the worst and is still around that every week.

lol

NEW: @WhiteHouse COVID Coordinator Dr. @ashishkjha expects #COVID19 vaccines will become available for youngest kids starting June 21, and that every family who wants a vaccine for their children should be able to get one in the weeks that follow

— Kayla Tausche (@kaylatausche) June 2, 2022

don't worry everyone; florida is now open for business

SCOOP: The State or Florida threatened the Special Olympics with $27.5 MILLION in fines because the organization had a vaccine requirement at its games in Orlando this weekend.

Late yesterday, the Special Olympics pulled the requirement. 1/3

— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) June 3, 2022

to think the Jeb Bush years are now the salad days in comparison.

fuck I hate this place.

I suppose the international participants required to get jabbed in their home countries will be safest.

Unless DeSantis threatens to suck the vaccine out of them.

Keeping an eye on local rates (reported always lower than actual, as state public health officials have repeatedly mentioned), I waited 'til my county went back into deep red, got second booster on May 31rst (first booster was in Oct.): efficacy est. 4 months, so that'll get me to this Oct., when there may be another vax or update of this one or booster or something, according to CDC (right?) I continue to mask, especially indoors, outdoors if in crowd, which hardly ever happens. Not a crowd fan anymore anywhere, because of gunplay (not nec. mass shootings) as much as Covid, or almost as much.

Got the second booster this morning, gang! I can feel the magnetism!

that's because the heavy presence of magnets is highly correlated with good health and wellbeing. that's why i skip the pseudoscience vaccines and instead apply heavy magnets around my 3rd chakra

Tanning my balls just in case, but I do that anyway.

i'm sexy and i know it

Omicron thrashing Austin right now, I know half a dozen people who caught it in the last week not including myself. Ditched my cloth masks and I'm going 100% N95 going forward.