#I have this cough (tested negative for covid) so I wear a mask to protect my patients

[amarantoestrella]

The way this man leans in so close (but not close enough) to hear me when I talk to himmmmmbsjfkskflsjfjslw

[greenenoughgrass]

I don't know which Internet abyss to vent to so tumblr it is. Long post ahead.

Started and ended the year 2022 with COVID-19 because people can't be bothered to wear masks in order to better protect themselves and their fellow humans.

I finally felt ready to take on a gig at a church after three years and that's likely where I got it. Should I have trusted that I would be safe? My roomie and I both wear two masks anywhere we go, but the other able-bodied maskers among us have trickled out. It's like they don't care anymore.

What's worse? On Wednesday, I was feeling like complete garbo and decided to test at home-- got a negative result. Great, because the next day was one of my loved one's birthdays and we were gonna have a drinking and board games night. I didn't wanna miss giving her gifts and laughing uproariously and smoking dabs with our D&D group and a few others.

Turns out, my test was a false negative. I likely did have COVID and I attended that gathering. Got five of my closest people sick. And this variant sucks. Feels like a nasty flu/cough/allergies. Body aching in waves. Difficulty thermoregulating. Can't eat more than a few bites of food per day. Constant nausea and pounding headache. This is a very different coronavirus than the one I had at the beginning of the year.

The only reason this fucking situation has gone on so long is because people have made the ignorant assumption that the pandemic is over. This is unbelievably harmful. Not to able-bodied people like me, but to those I've been working hard to protect. Thankfully, to my knowledge thus far, I have not infected any of my immunocompromised loved ones.

The general populace's compassion fatigue and lack of empathy are deeply disturbing to me. It is not hard to be aware of the current circumstances. We can't just ignore a pandemic. A potent virus haunts us and most people can't be inconvenienced to put a cloth over their pie hole while they're at the supermarket.

Boohoo, I had to back out of my fun solstice camping plans and I haven't seen my boyfriend in a week. These are comparatively very minor concerns. But it seems no matter where I turn, there is no way to rectify this, there is no answer, no way to make it right. There is nobody who is "at fault." It's yet another graceful blunder for c*pitalism.

At this point, I just want the people I care about and me to be healthy, but this is becoming increasingly hard to do even with proper precautions. I feel like my whole life has just been a marginalization marathon. I keep going and nothing gets better. Hope gets more distant. Finding a reprieve becomes less imaginable. I'm always well provided for by my community, but when do any of us get a break from survival mode and helper mode?

Please, I implore you. Wear a mask. Be safe. Be considerate. I'm gonna cry now about being hungry and sad and guilty and angry and lonely. Thank you for reading.

[sureuncertainty]

vent post ahead, cw for discussion of covid, anxiety and morality based OCD:

so my covid symptoms have almost completely resolved (I just have a lingering cough at this point) but I'm still testing positive on a rapid test (with a really dark line) so I'm extremely stressed about going back to work in a few days AND about the fact that I'm going out with my family tonight and tomorrow for my siblings' last days here, bc of how much they've been pressuring me.

as for work, i literally cannot NOT go back in to work i've already lost so much money and they won't let me stay out anymore anyway because their rule is 5 days after your symptoms start you go back and just wear a mask. and obviously i'll wear a mask but like. i feel so horrible about it. and as for going out with my family, they spent hundreds of dollars to fly down here and I promised them i'd get them into the parks and spend time with them and they've already been pressuring me a lot to do that the past couple of days and I was able to put my foot down then bc I still had symptoms but now that my symptoms are basically gone they won't accept 'am still testing positive' as a valid reason to not go out. and I just can't have that argument with them, not after the week I've had

so i keep going back and forth between 'i'm the worst person in the world for going back to my life before i have a negative covid test' and 'it's not my fault that there is literally no guidance anymore particularly regarding the new variant and everyone else has decided they literally don't care and there is no protection or safeguards to ALLOW me to keep isolating past five days like I did last time I had covid

i want to do my part to protect others as best i can but i feel like I can't (or that I won't and this entire post is just me trying to justify my horrific decisions) and it makes me so so so upset, and it frustrates me how other people get to just go do whatever they want and it doesn't matter, but i'm sitting here sobbing bc i don't wanna infect people but i feel like i have no choice but to go back out and keep living my life, bc of how our society just doesn't care anymore

anyway my brain is being really really mean to me about it (thanks OCD!) but it's extremely hard not to believe my brain that i do deserve to feel like an absolute piece of human garbage for starting to go out again, even if I mask up with a kn95. i'm doing what I can but I feel like I should be doing more, I should be putting my foot down i should be accepting the fact that I won't be able to make rent this month (my job wont' pay me for the time out I already missed so I'm already gonna be super tight this month) I should have done more not to have gotten it in the first place, and yeah. just spiraling about it and i feel like I"m going to live with the horrific guilt of this for the rest of my lif

and i KNOW that part of it is me being mean to myself but my religious and morality ocd is very hard to ignore, especially when it's being backed up by half the people on tumblr and twitter right now who act like if you haven't been isolating since march 2020 you're the literal scum of the fucking earth

i'm overthinking it i know i am sorry to make anyone read all this and i'll almost definitely delete it later i just had to get these thoughts out somewhere, thanks for reading

[lesbianmaxevans]

so I got sick in early november. I was double masked, out for less than 30 minutes (doing a necessary errand), but bc practically no one else in that space was masked, I got something. it probably wasn’t covid bc I took a pcr test that came back negative but I mean I never found out what exactly I had, so there’s always the possibility that it was.

while my symptoms weren’t bad while I had whatever that illness was (mostly just lack of appetite and fatigue), once I got over those symptoms, I had chest pain and shortness of breath. I went to a walk in clinic, got some meds. took another few weeks to clear that up (well, for the most part).

ever since I got sick I have been BEGGING my mom to stop doing things that are high risk (i.e. eating at restaurants, something she has been doing at least once a month). she refused to listen to my pleas. I start using our air filter machine 24/7. this pisses her off and most days we end up fighting over it bc she continually turns it off. I start wearing a mask when I’m outside of the few rooms of the house that she doesn’t use.

family comes to stay with us over christmas bc god forbid we continue to social distance and have it over zoom. I avoid contact as much as possible, wear a mask whenever we’re in the same room. they leave and after a couple weeks I start relaxing on my precautions.

my mom goes to meet a friend for lunch a little over a week ago. I’m still using the air filter and still keeping my distance, but I’ve stopped wearing a mask in the house. my mom has had a persistent cough since before covid, but it starts sounding worse. I can’t tell if it genuinely sounds worse or if it’s my paranoia.

she picks up take out a few days ago, and against my better judgement, I eat dinner with her, because I feel like there’s not really any safe place to go eat in the house unless I go upstairs and I don’t want her to yell at me for being rude. so I stay.

the next day I see a covid test in the trash can. I ask her if she’s feeling okay. she sheepishly tells me she’s not feeling well, something she probably wouldn’t have admitted if I hadn’t up front asked her. the test came back negative after all. I start masking again, fiercely hoping that I haven’t already caught what she has. I listen to her cough her way through a 45 minute phone call, terrified that this is probably covid. I tell her my fears and she yells at me insisting that it can’t be covid.

I do my best to never be in the same room as her, but my mom doesn’t care to share any of these protective measures, still wandering all over the house, not masking, coughing w/o covering her mouth, coming into rooms I’m in instead of waiting until I’ve left.

last night I notice I have a scratchy throat. I feel like I need to cough but my body just isn’t producing a cough. I’m mad and scared bc I don’t want to go through what I went through a couple months ago again. I pray that it’s not covid, but I don’t feel optimistic.

this morning my mom tells me she’s tested positive for covid and I develop a cough.

please wear your masks

[ghostsarecool]

my sister and her boyfriend went to a conference in DC the other weekend and for some inexplicable reason DID NOT MASK and now they have COVID, but also they’ve been sick for almost 2 weeks and my sister took 1 rapid test like the second day she felt sick and then they just tried to convince themselves they had colds even though they had sore throats, fevers, coughs and congestion, like every classic covid symptom. until finally her boyfriend took another rapid test yesterday conveniently forcing me to cancel my plans when it came back positive. but luckily they were quarantining (and wearing N95s when they did have to leave their room) almost the entire time they’ve been sick so my mom and I are negative, but it’s like. why did you guys not practice that caution AT THE CONFERENCE full of UNMASKED CROWDS during a TRIPLEDEMIC with a highly transmissible new covid variant? also they went from either wearing N95s to just not masking and it’s like, you could have worn surgical masks, you could have worn cloth masks, both would still have offered some protection if an N95 was uncomfortable to wear for a long time and are easier to remove to quickly eat or drink (she said she was “worried about getting dehydrated” as if 1 day of mild dehydration is worse than being sick for 2 weeks and potentially having actual damage to ur organ systems!!!!) like i wore just a surgical mask at my work most of last year because we don’t have air conditioning in the summer and it’s too hot to wear anything more and despite it being literally customer service i didn’t get covid that whole time, there is still significant protection offered from surgical masks, why would u be so all or nothing about it!!!! get out of my house!!!!!!!

[atlanticcanada]

'We all need to stay vigilant': Medical professionals concerned about RSV, new 'Kraken' variant

Many people have experienced respiratory illness lately, which has some experts concerned that the surge in cases of RSV, COVID-19 and flu is creating a potential "tripledemic."

Dr. Scott Hadland, a pediatrician with Mass General Brigham hospitals in Boston, says medical professionals are worried about the three viruses in a “pretty serious way right now,” particularly when it comes to children.

“We’re seeing an indication that, yes, perhaps, flu might be levelling off or slowing down a little bit in eastern parts of Canada and Atlantic regions, but RSV infections remain really high,” he said during an interview with CTV Morning Live Atlantic.

“In fact, COVID seems to be resurging again … as folks return from after the holidays and have started to mingle again and in workplace and in schools. And there are new variants as there always seems to be with COVID that may be causing problems.”

While the Public Health Agency of Canada has said it’s too early to tell if the new Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 is spreading in Canada beyond scattered cases, Hadland says “Kraken” is particularly prevalent in the northeastern regions of the United States.

“Although it does seem to be causing less severe disease for many people, it seems to be highly transmissible; in fact, one of the most highly transmissible variants that we’ve seen to date and so it really is spreading quickly.”

The three viruses have similar symptoms, which can make it difficult for people to tell which one they are infected with. Hadland says it’s only possible to tell through testing.

“Although people should do a rapid COVID test to help guide some of their management about whether they should go back to their usual activities or not, in many cases, if that COVID test is negative you won’t know what virus that is and so we should sort of handle them all the same, and take the same precautions for all of them.”

It can also be challenging for people to determine how long they are contagious. Anyone with an active fever is likely to be highly contagious, Hadland says.

“But any time that you’re coughing or having runny nose or having active other symptoms, those secretions, that mucus, that cough often can have virus in it, so that’s a clear sign that you should ideally stay home. Get a test to figure out if you have COVID or not to help guide whether and when you can go back to work.”

He adds that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and flu is the “single-most important thing” people can do to avoid getting themselves and their children seriously ill.

“The bottom line is, getting these vaccines can keep you protected,” says Hadland. “And then the usual stuff that we know from the COVID pandemic – staying home if you’re sick, getting tested for COVID, and making sure that you’re wearing a mask if you’re out in public places, washing your hands – the usual stuff.”

While RSV and flu cases are expected to decline in the upcoming weeks and months, Hadland says medical professionals are still worried about COVID-19.

“This variant, this new COVID variant XBB.1.5, has us a little bit concerned about rates of COVID rising up again and so I think we all need to stay vigilant and yet can remain hopeful also.” 

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/SGwjPnM

[brightlotusmoon]

From Amy Wright via Facebook (corrected July 20 20)

"Chicken pox is a virus. Lots of people have had it, and probably don't think about it much once the initial illness has passed. But it stays in your body and lives there forever, and maybe when you're older, you have debilitatingly painful outbreaks of shingles. You don't just get over this virus in a few weeks, never to have another health effect. We know this because it's been around for years, and has been studied medically for years.

Herpes is also a virus. And once someone has it, it stays in your body and lives there forever, and anytime they get a little run down or stressed-out they're going to have an outbreak. Maybe every time you have a big event coming up (school pictures, job interview, big date) you're going to get a cold sore. For the rest of your life. You don't just get over it in a few weeks. We know this because it's been around for years, and been studied medically for years.

HIV is a virus. It attacks the immune system, and makes the carrier far more vulnerable to other illnesses. It has a list of symptoms and negative health impacts that goes on and on. It was decades before viable treatments were developed that allowed people to live with a reasonable quality of life. Once you have it, it lives in your body forever and there is no cure. Over time, that takes a toll on the body, putting people living with HIV at greater risk for health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes, bone disease, liver disease, cognitive disorders, and some types of cancer. We know this because it has been around for years, and had been studied medically for years.

Now with COVID-19, we have a novel virus that spreads rapidly and easily. The full spectrum of symptoms and health effects is only just beginning to be cataloged, much less understood.

So far the symptoms may include:

Fever

Fatigue

Coughing

Pneumonia

Chills/Trembling

Acute respiratory distress

Lung damage (potentially permanent)

Loss of taste (a neurological symptom)

Sore throat

Headaches

Difficulty breathing

Mental confusion

Diarrhea

Nausea or vomiting

Loss of appetite

Strokes have also been reported in some people who have COVID-19 (even in the relatively young)

Swollen eyes

Blood clots

Seizures

Liver damage

Kidney damage

Rash

COVID toes (weird, right?)

People testing positive for COVID-19 have been documented to be sick even after 60 days. Many people are sick for weeks, get better, and then experience a rapid and sudden flare up and get sick all over again. A man in Seattle was hospitalized for 62 days, and while well enough to be released, still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Not to mention a $1.1 million medical bill.

Then there is MIS-C. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired. While rare, it has caused deaths.

This disease has not been around for years. It has basically been 6 months. No one knows yet the long-term health effects, or how it may present itself years down the road for people who have been exposed. We literally *do not know* what we do not know.

For those in our society who suggest that people being cautious are cowards, for people who refuse to take even the simplest of precautions to protect themselves and those around them, I want to ask, without hyperbole and in all sincerity:

How dare you?

How dare you risk the lives of others so cavalierly. How dare you decide for others that they should welcome exposure as "getting it over with", when literally no one knows who will be the lucky "mild symptoms" case, and who may fall ill and die. Because while we know that some people are more susceptible to suffering a more serious case, we also know that 20 and 30 year olds have died, marathon runners and fitness nuts have died, children and infants have died.

How dare you behave as though you know more than medical experts, when those same experts acknowledge that there is so much we don't yet know, but with what we DO know, are smart enough to be scared of how easily this is spread, and recommend baseline precautions such as:

Frequent hand-washing

Physical distancing

Reduced social/public contact or interaction

Mask wearing

Covering your cough or sneeze

Avoiding touching your face

Sanitizing frequently touched surfaces

The more things we can all do to mitigate our risk of exposure, the better off we all are, in my opinion. Not only does it flatten the curve and allow health care providers to maintain levels of service that aren't immediately and catastrophically overwhelmed; it also reduces unnecessary suffering and deaths, and buys time for the scientific community to study the virus in order to come to a more full understanding of the breadth of its impacts in both the short and long term.

I reject the notion that it's "just a virus" and we'll all get it eventually. What a careless, lazy, heartless stance."

[lettersiarrange]

Covid things I can't believe I'm still saying:

Masks are ONLY effective when everyone is wearing them, everyone is at least 6 feet apart, and no one is exhaling forcefully

If one person isn't wearing a mask, there is a risk

If everyone is wearing a mask but you're only 5 ft apart, there is a risk

If everyone is wearing a mask and you're 6 feet apart but one person is shouting/singing/panting with exertion, there is a risk (your breath travels farther when exhaling forcefully, more distance is required)

Your mask needs to be FULLY on and ready to go before you leave your house/car

Not "I'll put it on when I get inside". Not "there won't be anyone at the park so I don't need it". Not "I'll slip it on in the parking lot." Unless you literally have a forcefield, there is a reasonable chance you will encounter someone before your mask is fully on, unless it is fully on 100% of the time you are in public

Children can still carry and spread covid. No, it is not acceptable for children to run around maskless in any public spaces, outdoor or otherwise

You can still get covid outdoors!!! The risk is somewhat lower but still very present.

You can test negative for covid while actively contagious. Most tests have a solid percentage of false negatives, and even if the test is working perfectly, it's best able to identify you as positive once you've started showing symptoms

It can take up to 14 days for symptoms of covid to appear. You are still contagious before your symptoms appear.

You could catch covid on a Monday, take a test Wednesday (while covid positive and contagious) and test NEGATIVE, then start showing symptoms on Sunday, and by the time you finally test positive the next Wednesday, you've exposed a week and a half's worth of people

This is why it's imperative that if you think you've been exposed to covid, you self-isolate for a full 14 days regardless of symptoms or test results

You can still be contagious even if you NEVER show symptoms of covid

Covid doesn't clock out because you're eating. Covid doesn't clock out because you're at the dentist. Covid doesn't clock out because you have a really, really, really good reason for taking off your mask. If your mask is off, or someone else's mask is off in a space you are occupying, there is a risk

Your best friend can give you covid. Your mom can give you covid. Your partner can give you covid. Your grandma can give you covid. The people in your life are not magically immune to infecting you just because you love and trust them. Unless you know with absolute certainty they have only interacted with people who have only interacted with them, there is a risk

I know it's inconvenient, but you really should not touch your mask, like at all. You shouldn't touch the front of your mask, because it may have effectively stopped covid from touching your face, and now that's all over your fingers, which are then all over your phone... you get the picture. You shouldn't touch the inside of your mask, because if you've touched anything with covid, you're now putting that right next to your nose and mouth. You shouldn't take your mask on and off, because while it's off, the inside may become exposed to covid. If you take your mask off, you really ought to put a new, clean mask back on. You really ought to wash your hands before putting your mask on and before taking it off, and you should only handle the straps. Do not wear a mask someone else has directly touched.

40% of grocery workers have caught covid

You can catch covid from surfaces. The risk is low, but present.

Masks with vents do not filter the air going out of them, making them completely useless at protecting other people from your potentially asymptomatic covid+ self. Masks are primarily worn to protect other people from the wearer, and just have the added benefit of providing a small amount of protection to the wearer, but a vented mask is effectively pointless.

The longer someone stays in one spot, the more saturated the air around them gets with their breath. This is why activities that involve staying in one spot with a bunch of people for a significant period of time are especially dangerous. See: concerts, church, bars, restaurants, spectator events, etc. Things become more risky if people are singing, laughing, talking loudly, screaming, exercising. Again, your breath travels further. A situation where everyone is moving around (calmly) is less risky.

If you have long hair, public health experts reccomend wearing it up while in public to reduce surface area upon which the virus could stick. (Consider how close your hair is to your face, and it's presence at the same height as everyone else's heads/mouths/breath. There is less concern about your jeans getting in your eyes/mouth or being coughed on by someone covid+).

Do not take your mask off to speak. Do not wear your mask below your nose. Do not reuse disposable masks (and ideally invest in a washable and reusable mask that you wash between every single use. Or don't even invest in one-- many places are giving them out for free.)

Just an "america is a capitalist hellscape" protip from someone who got charged $318 for a "free" covid test-- do NOT go to a privately owned healthcare provider for a test, and double check to see if there's a "*with most insurance" attached to that free test

Just because someone tells you a public space is safe to be in, does not mean it is safe. Think to yourself: does this person/organization benefit financially from me being in this space? Restaurants want your money. Airlines want your money. Stores want your money. They will do the absolute bare minimum necessary to follow any laws that might be in place and make their business seem appealing. This does not actually mean they care about your health or are actively protecting it. Ask yourself: do I trust these employees with my life? Do I trust the management of this company with my life? If I were working this job for minimum wage 40 hours a week, would I be taking every single precaution possible, for every single customer, every single time, on top of my regular duties, especially if management didn't require it?

Unfortunately, "people who benefit from you being in a public space but don't necessarily give a shit about your individual health" include politicians and governments. Just because spaces are legally open, does not mean they are safe. Just because the mayor/governor/president/prime minister says it's safe does not mean that it is

I'm not trying to suggest everyone is out to get you and you should be suspicious of everything, I just want everyone to use the factual, scientific information we have about covid to evaluate a situation and determine on their own, using science and logic, if a situation is safe. Because unfortunately, things other people say, even ones in positions of authority, are not always based on science or logic, as we should all know well by now.

Please add your own info or correct me if I've gotten anything wrong

*Bolding is to make the wall of text easier to read and does not correspond with importance

[nekoannie-chan]

Life update

Hi! this is Annie, maybe you’ve noticed I’m not being so active last days, well there’s a reason.

On Saturday 28th, May, Mr. Snake and I went to a pretty bad organized event to “meet Blue, the velociraptor”, so they’ve never said you must to arrive very early (before 6 am) to get a ticket, not to mention they never said we need a ticket, even if an event is free doesn’t mean should have a bad organization.

Anyway, we didn’t get the tickets, but we decided to take photos outside the event (a Blue made by Legos was outside so boyfriend took me some pics), also in other part there was a “car damaged by dinosaurs”, I think looked so real and more cool than the animatronic lol.

Unfortunately in my country, wear the mask in open spaces is up to you since last 2 months I think, lots of people don’t wear it anymore, no sanitary filters on the event, but my family and boyfriend’s family still wear the mask, we’ve always been so careful, specially my dad and boyfriend’s health are not so good, and yeah, we got a surprise...

Last Wednesday night, Mr. Snake started with COVID symptoms, he did the test last Thursday and was positive, he has his vaccine shots and one booster, he is okay actually.

Then on Friday dawn, I started with symptoms, when my parents woke up I told them, we went to doc to do the test. Fortunately, my parents results were negative, but mine was positive, so yeah, I have COVID, I’m okay, just few cough and sneezes sometimes, my oxygen levels are between 95-98, my temperature between 34.3°C-36.9°C (93.74°F-98.42°F). Doc said I will be okay because I have the vaccine shots and booster.

Dad is taking care of Ryo, I prefer not interact to him while I’m sick, friendly remember he has some illnesses, so I wanna protect him.

So reading weeks masterlists will be little delayed.

[foster-the-world]

Sickest

Baby boy just woke himself up coughing. Poor guy's a mess. It breaks my heart. I was telling my husband I think this is the sickest one of our kids has been. He hasn't had a high fever (luckily none of them ever have) and he's breathing is not terrible labored but it just feels bad. I'm realizing this is the first time in a Covid world one of them has had an illness that lasted more than a day. Now instead of assuming it's the flu we have to worry that it's covid - which could bring on so many other things. He tested negative three times so it's probably not. The teacher in Bee's class tested negative two days in a row and on the third day tested positive - hence why I'm still wondering. I think will home test him again trmw and then go see if one of the many mobile testing sites will test someone younger then two.

He'll be two in June. I guess we need to start working on mask wearing. Blah. I can't imagine he's going to like that. *I love masks/protecting others but I'm not excited about teaching a sensory seeking kid to wear one.

Also, still not feeling good about selling the house when I should be very excited. Wondering if those feelings are telling me something. Should we not sign? Our lawyer sent out the contract today. Their lawyer is reviewing it. In theory, we could back out. I would normally feel horrible but these people went back on the offer they originally accepted so I'd be fine with it. I keep having paranoid ideas that one or the other option is going to be a really big deal. EG: we sell, the recession hits, and house prices go way down. Which means it was a great idea to sell. Or we sell and another virus/pandemic hits. This time we don't have a place to escape to and terrible things ensue. Neither option makes much sense. No one predicts the housing market will go down much anytime soon. If another virus hits we can drive to my parent's house. They have plenty of space and would be super helpful with the kids.

In my dream world the buyers sign the contract and then back out. We'd get to keep the 10% and the house. No reason to believe they'd want to get out of buying it. Plus, they are rich so I'm assuming their rich person lawyer has a way to get out of paying the 10%. Anyway a girl can dream.

[mwahahahahahahaa]

Really sucks that even though we are still in a pandemic, sick policies have not improved at all. I have a horrible cough cold, negative covid tests, but not good, and I have to go into work at a nursery tomorrow. So I will be potentially spreading this to other workers and the children there.

I was told basically come into work no matter what, they don't even let you stay home if you have covid anymore. And like, I get that it's hard to find replacement workers kn short notice and they need enough adults to supervise the kids but... Do you really want me spreading this around everyone else?? My throat is agony, I can barely talk, and I'm sniffling every 5 seconds. I'm not exactly in a good start for working. I'll be wearing a mask (possibly two if I can) to try and protect others but.

Capitalism is a nightmare. It shouldn't be like this.

[swordhare]

Scared

Probably TMI regarding my complicated family life, feel free to skip 

My dad is being reckless and unconsiderate and the moment I am genuinely scared for my mom’s (and my own) health.

My dad tested positive to COVID about 5 - 6 days ago and so far he has done NOTHING to protect himself and others. If something happens to us I am blaming him directly, and I want a record of this somewhere. I really hope I’m overeacting.

He does’t cover his mouth when he coughs or sneezes because “it’s my house, I have a right to do what I want here”

He refused his booster shot (and prevented my mom from getting hers) back in december because he couldn’t “go without his holiday drinks”, no other reason.

He went to work today, ignoring our doctor’s advice to isolate at home for 10 days untill the test comes back negative. His reason? “I can’t stand being locked up for so long” and no, we’re not hurting for money at the moment.

He only wears a mask when he feels like it, I’ve seen him take it off when talking to people because “the other person is already wearing a mask”

He refuses to take preventive antibiotics or antivirals, all against medical advice, because he thinks tea and chicken soup are enough. 

Idk maybe I am overeacting but there have been 2 million deaths in this country because of people who refuse to follow protocol. If we get re-infected, or if anything serious happens to us I’m blaming him. For not following medical advice and acting according to his own convenience and his own convenience only.

[fuck-customers]

You can't be a proud American when you're FUCKIN' DEAD!

Who would have thought a simple cough can give me one of the biggest scares of my life? Thankfully I was tested negative for COVID and the cough is starting to reduce. But living in a country where we have the most highest deaths due to the virus, can you blame me for panicking?

I work fulltime as a vet tech assistance, but I did food deliveries on my days off just so I can build up my emergency stash. Ever since the pandemic started, I reduced my hours on my delivery routes. I always wore a mask. I always used hand sanitizer between each location I stop at. Most of the time the drop-offs were non-contact but once in a while I had to hand it to them in person. I usually didn't think they're much of a problem because even though none of them wore a mask, there's no skin contact, the hand-off is just a split second, and it's always one person that greets me. But there was one interaction that made me stop delivery completely.

It was a huge order. It was for a bunch of construction workers building a house or an apartment complex. When I got there I was internally freaking out in my car. I saw a big group of guys, standing around VERY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER WITH NO MASKS! JUST TALKING NORMAL AS IF THERE'S NOT A FUCKIN' PANDEMIC GOING AROUND! Only 1 guy came to get the food but since it was a big order it took at least 10 seconds to give him all of it. The next day, I started coughing and all I can think about was that I got the virus from those construction workers.

You know, if you look at other countries, they have very little to basically zero deaths due to COVID. So why is America having a hard time controlling it? It's all in the ego. Most especially if you're white. America has been constantly building up that we're the most developed and privileged nation that white Americans makes this excuse that wearing a simple cloth to protect other people is against their civil rights (our clinic had our share of those kinds of people). Caring about other people's safety needs to be drilled in their brains.

[nonamejustafanofeverything]

Just be kind and help!

Chicken pox is a virus. Lots of people have had it, and probably don't think about it much once the initial illness has passed. But it stays in your body and lives there forever, and maybe when you're older, you have debilitatingly painful outbreaks of shingles. You don't just get over this virus in a few weeks, never to have another health effect. We know this because it's been around for years, and has been studied medically for years.

Herpes is also a virus. And once someone has it, it stays in your body and lives there forever, and anytime they get a little run down or stressed-out they're going to have an outbreak. Maybe every time you have a big event coming up (school pictures, job interview, big date) you're going to get a cold sore. For the rest of your life. You don't just get over it in a few weeks. We know this because it's been around for years, and been studied medically for years.

HIV is a virus. It attacks the immune system, and makes the carrier far more vulnerable to other illnesses. It has a list of symptoms and negative health impacts that goes on and on. It was decades before viable treatments were developed that allowed people to live with a reasonable quality of life. Once you have it, it lives in your body forever and there is no cure. Over time, that takes a toll on the body, putting people living with HIV at greater risk for health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes, bone disease, liver disease, cognitive disorders, and some types of cancer. We know this because it has been around for years, and had been studied medically for years.

Now with COVID-19, we have a novel virus that spreads rapidly and easily. The full spectrum of symptoms and health effects is only just beginning to be cataloged, much less understood.

So far the symptoms may include:

Fever

Fatigue

Coughing

Pneumonia

Chills/Trembling

Acute respiratory distress

Lung damage (potentially permanent)

Loss of taste (a neurological symptom)

Sore throat

Headaches

Difficulty breathing

Mental confusion

Diarrhea

Nausea or vomiting

Loss of appetite

Strokes have also been reported in some people who have COVID-19 (even in the relatively young)

Swollen eyes

Blood clots

Seizures

Liver damage

Kidney damage

Rash

COVID toes (weird, right?)

People testing positive for COVID-19 have been documented to be sick even after 60 days. Many people are sick for weeks, get better, and then experience a rapid and sudden flare up and get sick all over again. A man in Seattle was hospitalized for 62 days, and while well enough to be released, still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Not to mention a $1.1 million medical bill.

Then there is MIS-C. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired. While rare, it has caused deaths.

This disease has not been around for years. It has basically been 6 months. No one knows yet the long-term health effects, or how it may present itself years down the road for people who have been exposed. We literally *do not know* what we do not know.

For those in our society who suggest that people being cautious are cowards, for people who refuse to take even the simplest of precautions to protect themselves and those around them, I want to ask, without hyperbole and in all sincerity:

How dare you?

How dare you risk the lives of others so cavalierly. How dare you decide for others that they should welcome exposure as "getting it over with", when literally no one knows who will be the lucky "mild symptoms" case, and who may fall ill and die. Because while we know that some people are more susceptible to suffering a more serious case, we also know that 20 and 30 year olds have died, marathon runners and fitness nuts have died, children and infants have died.

How dare you behave as though you know more than medical experts, when those same experts acknowledge that there is so much we don't yet know, but with what we DO know, are smart enough to be scared of how easily this is spread, and recommend baseline precautions such as:

Frequent hand-washing

Physical distancing

Reduced social/public contact or interaction

Mask wearing

Covering your cough or sneeze

Avoiding touching your face

Sanitizing frequently touched surfaces

The more things we can all do to mitigate our risk of exposure, the better off we all are, in my opinion. Not only does it flatten the curve and allow health care providers to maintain levels of service that aren't immediately and catastrophically overwhelmed; it also reduces unnecessary suffering and deaths, and buys time for the scientific community to study the virus in order to come to a more full understanding of the breadth of its impacts in both the short and long term.

I reject the notion that it's "just a virus" and we'll all get it eventually. What a careless, lazy, heartless stance.

For those of you who think this entire virus pandemic is political and will be gone after the election, I pray for you and your families that they stay safe.

[Please reblog and share.]

[melancholicumsomnia]

A COVID-related Story

Ever since the pandemic began last year, I've been overprotective of my 89-year old Dad. There's nothing he loves more than to go out and wander around and play Bingo. The fact that he is prone to respiratory diseases makes him vulnerable to COVID-19. So, I had to make his health a priority. Sadly, being confined at home weighed considerably on his nerves.

When the vaccine rollout began in the Philippines, he and the other seniors in this house didn't want to get vaccinated for fear of side effects. They'd rather wait. My Dad changed his mind though when his cousin passed away from COVID-19 just 3 days after being hospitalized. Because of the very limited vaccine choices as a result of our incompetent President's "love" for everything Chinese, my Dad got his first jab of the Sinovac vaccine.

A few days after that vaccination, my Dad "escaped" my protective custody with a distant cousin to sell junk at a junk shop. They stopped by that cousin's house, whose mother, unknown to them, was already sick with COVID-19. Suffice to say, my Dad ended up getting exposed to COVID. He claimed to be distant from her, BUT he had put down his face mask.

I was furious because this meant that there was going to be a delay in his second jab. Despite his arguments, I quarantined him for two weeks and forced everyone in the house to wear masks indoors.

The following day, that distant cousin brought his mother to the hospital where she was diagnosed to have COVID. Five days later, she was dead. My cousin and his family were required to have a nasal swab test and they ALL proved to be positive and even showed symptoms.

My Dad though remained asymptomatic for the entire two weeks duration of his quarantine. He had no colds, no fever, no coughs. He was constantly puttering around in the garden. I made him do a nasal swab test and he was NEGATIVE.

I know that there are persistent arguments on whether to get vaccinated or not, on whether which vaccine is effective or not. I certainly don't want to get into any arguments of this nature. I'm depressed and I can't deal with highly opinionated and angry people.

However, given my personal experience with my Dad, I believe that getting vaccinated is the best decision you can make. If there are limited choices and supplies, get vaccinated with the vaccine that is available. Even with Sinovac, which is looked down upon globally, my Dad had protection against COVID, which my cousin, his now deceased Mom, and his family didn't have because they too chose to delay getting vaccinated.

Needless to say, I'm following my Dad and hopefully get vaccinated this week.

[tallshyjock]

One of my closest friends and a former workmate is an essential worker in California. Dealing with customers face to face always concerned her, so she followed all the protocols to keep herself from catching the virus, including investing in N95 protective mask. Someone at her job tested positive for Covid-19. The company closed for nine days to sanitize the operation while the entire staff had to get tested. She had to wait 12 days to get her results, because our federal government only allowed her test to be processed in one location and they were back logged. She tested negative. She was doing her best keeping distance and constantly washing her hands and using sanitizer. She mentioned to me that back in July some guest got in her face and was yelling and accused her for being a leftist for wearing a mask and not loving America. The guy words were literally spraying saliva particles in her face and eyes when he spoke. She went and got tested 2 days later to make sure she did not contract the virus. In quarantine and was unable to go to work, she had no symptoms and thought she was in the clear. After six months, of no organization from the Federal government’s incompetence in testing it took 16 days to get her results. On July 22, she got a positive test result and assigned antibiotics and steroids which she completed, but then started showing symptoms; dry cough, headache, fatigue, shortness of breath and lack of appetite. Her O2 saturation was 92-93.

Sunday she was driven by ambulance to 40 miles away, because the local hospital no longer had any available equipment to care for her. Her O2 dropped to 86 and her condition is deteriorating. She is now fighting for his life. A single mother of 2 at the age of 43. All I can say is fuck all of you assholes who think that this is some sort of hoax and have turned this into a partisan issue. I have never been a spiteful person, but I sure hope there is a very special place in hell for you all who think you have a civic right to not wear a mask and think it is okay to get in someone’s face the express your conspiracy laden and false patriotic opinion to someone who is wearing a mask, social distancing or doing the humane thing in keeping all you fucking Idiots from catching this shit.