The Pirola variant is spreading, covid monitoring & data gathering has been stripped back, #vaccinationis getting under way but is limited by capacity & demographic(s)... no social measures (#masking, #socialdistancing) are as yet being publicised.
Could this be about to be a very difficult #winter? The trouble is as yet we have no good way of knowing until well down that road!
Last week I asked about #masking policies at #synagogues for the upcoming high holidays.
Yesterday I found out that one my own rabbis won’t be leading #RoshHashanah services because she has COVID. She’s already dealing with long COVID, as well.
If you’re attending services this weekend, regardless of policy, wear a #mask. We’re in a surge, and we cannot allow these most holy days to super spreader events.
Actor, producer, director, and writer Will Keenan was attacked last week for wearing an N95 mask and may never regain vision in his left eye.
"For the entirety of the pandemic, I became known as the lone masker. I wore a mask all the time because through my research I believe doing so protects my infant, now toddler, daughter..." Keenan told Newsweek.
Anecdata: when my bus let out at Harvard this morning, there were 6 of us in the back and four of us were wearing masks (3 (k)n95-style, 1 seemingly thick reusable). #COVIDIsNotOver#Masking
My kid told me that other students have been asking her why she's still #masking at school. So I showed her this, and then we sat down to pick colors for her next #mask order.
@adelinej I made the move to self-identify the moment I became aware. I’ve been through coming out as #LGBTQ and #BDSM, so I have no interest in further enduring the self-harm of the #closet or #masking.
I've been wondering what (if anything) the Asch conformity experiments might tell us about Covid-era mask-wearing
A few people have told me they decided to stop wearing masks, even in busy indoor spaces, not based on assessing the risk to themselves or others but because they felt stupid or weird being such an outlier
Obviously there are other factors: decrease in acute cases, inept official messaging, etc. But the need to fit in can feel overwhelming for people
I'm lucky not to feel this pressure much (always had a non-conformist streak) and these days am usually the only masked person in a crowd, e.g. at a large, packed theatre recently. Meanwhile, Covid keeps spreading, causing suffering, and disabling people
@alexisbushnell this reasonates with me. The feelings I’m having while beginning to #unmask feel a lot like #ComingOut. We’re increasingly become aware of all the ways #masking inhibits/ed us and stumbling through how to express ourselves now that we know we just can’t live that way any more. Learning how to clarify our needs with people who mostly never realized how their behavior affected us. #ActuallyAutistic#AuDHD@actuallyautistic
"HEPA filtration is beneficial in reducing bioaerosols, including SARS-CoV-2, as well as other respiratory pathogens in the hospital environment. It should be used in combination with other prevention strategies, including improved ventilation; appropriate isolation; and, during periods of high community transmission, widespread testing and N95 masking...
In BC, public health policies such as universal masking and universal admission testing are no longer in effect. We know from other jurisdictions that discontinuation of universal admission testing was associated with a significant increase in hospital SARS-CoV-2 transmission and that nosocomial transmission remains common in the Omicron era, with infections that carry a 3% to 13% mortality risk. Updated, evidence-based, and precautionary provincial guidance is urgently needed to improve indoor air quality..."
🧵To this day, I am still somewhat in shock at how much #COVIDdenial within my immediate family has impacted how I interact with them.
Some context: My family all lives back east. My hometown is small and conservative. I've always been the person in my family who is a "rabble rouser" so to speak. I was raised in a catholic conservative household, and although my siblings and I have abandoned both of those things at varying levels much to my parents chagrin, I've always been the most "radical" of us all.
However, when #COVID19 came to the U.S. my family was 100% on board with the science. They masked, they locked down, and they took it very seriously in the beginning. My parents worried for their community members as well as family and friends.
I love my family - but I simply cannot trust them with my well being if they won't do something as simple as putting on a mask in public.
My mom is coming in 2 weeks. My family bought her a plane ticket as a surprise for her birthday. She's staying in a hotel, and I'm planning lots of outdoor activities. I am excited to see her but I don't know how to have the covid conversation with her when she won't take it seriously.
I want to ask her to do some #covidtests (3 rapids spaced 24 hrs apart) before she leaves and when she arrives. I want to ask her to test again when she lands. I want to send her high quality masks and request she wears them on the plane.
But I'm afraid it will lead to conflict.
I'm of course still going to - and I'm hoping my sister can help with the rapid tests. I'm crossing my fingers that me covering the cost of this all will encourage her.
Even if she agrees though, I have no reason to believe she will mask properly on the plane.
Of course this is why I will be #masking indoors when I'm with her and requesting she do the same.
It is just wild how much this has changed our relationship.
If you’re in the #Halifax area, and you’re still #masking, and you want to meet a friend for a coffee ☕️ but it’s not patio weather: Glitter Bean Café on Spring Garden Road. Masked staff, space between tables inside (and a patio) and The Has Bin consignment shop upstairs for a browse afterwards. If you know another café with a mask policy in HRM, let me know! I gotta get out more.
This Ottawa-based science fiction convention has consistently had stronger COVID policies than most #medical conferences since the start of the #pandemic.
They survey people (prior to each convention) interested in attending, and cater the policies to what people want. You may be surprised. In light of new variants and what might be around in the fall... Some highlights:
"The clearest message we received was that mandatory #masking was an absolutely necessary part of having a safe and welcoming environment."
"There was also mixed support for ensuring that attendees are vaccinated, but since provincial governments have stopped supporting the various #vaccine verification systems, we don’t want to promise something we can’t deliver. Can*Con will encourage all attendees to be up to date on their vaccines and boosters." #SF#sciencefiction#CanCon#mask#IDmastodon#medmastodon
One thing that nearly all #autists have in common is a deep commitment to #honesty! It shows in different ways. Maybe the main way is that we won't and don't lie. If we do (e.g. #masking) it makes us uncomfortable and stressed...
To everyone at conferences and conventions: for the love of fuck, wear a mask. There’s a new COVID variant going around and even if you’re vaccinated and only get a “mild case” it can literally make you disabled for life.
This previous weekend, the #gamers had a huge convention in #LasVegas. I understand that almost 10K people supposedly attended.
One jerk (who later came to be known as #TyphoidTimmy in the online gaming community) attended various events at the convention, KNOWING full well he was sick at the time. Admits he did not test prior to attending.
Many people there neglected masking.
Now, literally HUNDREDS of the attendees have tested positive for #Covid.
Our family avoided #covid for 3.5 years. It took my dad in the first wave before #vax in 2020, but we've been #masking, careful, vaxed. But it only takes once. We were at a friend's unmasked indoor party on Saturday, he tested positive Tuesday, told us Wednesday, and my wife was positive when we tested. Kid and I still negative, but in-home isolation is a pain. So disruptive to not have #mom. Fortunately, like a bad chest cold so far, and just got antivirals, and getting better. Stay safe folks.
Downtown #toronto outdoor #masking is effectively zero right now.
A few holdouts still masking indoors, sub 5%.
Let's see what happens when four years of variant evolution crashes into vax and relax "it's over" as the only mitigation strategy in the building next wave..
If we put our thoughts in writing, we have more time to examine our words, to try to anticipate the way(s) NTs could misunderstand our intended meaning. It's still v. hard, though... Like #masking, I suppose?