#Next-Day-PCR-Test

[tjerra14]

hm. likely got exposed to Covid earlier this week and feeling off now, I don't like this

[pepprs]

going to reblog some non covid stuff now or maybe play a game bc i know stressing out isn’t helping anything. but im just so angry

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Neil,

With the upcoming filming for Good Omens S3 slated to start next year, I was wondering if you knew if there would be similar mitigations on set as there were for the filming on S2, such as masking? I was also curious as to what other mitigations were taken during the filming on S2, such as testing, air filtration, etc?

Thank you!

There was daily testing for everyone, masking and social distancing mostly. And we were incredibly lucky.

I doubt that Season 3 would have similar rules -- we don't have the money in the budget to have our own labs and do PCR testing on everyone every day, for example.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

@ that guy who tried to argue that "most people are vaccinated" the other day.

By Courtney Friedman

Local infectious disease doctor said this continued trend is putting people, healthcare system at risk

Most Americans haven’t been vaccinated this year, and health experts are worried about outbreaks of COVID, flu and RSV.

“We’re seeing lower numbers of people going out to get their vaccines for COVID, for influenza. And over the last couple of years, we’ve seen that,” said Dr. Jason Bowling, infectious disease specialist with University Health System and UT Health San Antonio.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that only about 37% of adults have received a flu shot, while just 19% have received the updated COVID vaccine.

It’s even lower for children at 33% for flu and just under 9% for COVID.

These numbers climbed around 2% higher than last year.

Bowling said part of that is likely due to vaccine fatigue from the pandemic, but not all of it.

“I think we’re getting a little too comfortable with COVID and flu, but we’re still seeing people get very ill with both of these and RSV,” Bowling said.

RSV cases have already spiked this year, hitting the vulnerable hardest.

“We now have vaccines available for RSV for people that are at highest risk. So people that are 75 and older, adults (who) are 60 and older and have medical conditions, and then, also, it’s protection for infants,” Bowling said.

He said the rates are low for that vaccine, too, and have been since it was released last year. Part of that, he believes, is awareness.

“It is a new vaccine. So we want people to be aware that this vaccine is available,” he said.

As for the flu, cases are picking up by the week.

“Ninety-two cases just last week of flu, and that’s up from 57 cases the week before. So it was a 65% increase just week to week. And that’s just confirmed PCR tests. So there are way more out there,” Bowling said.

While COVID numbers are currently low, Bowling said they’re expected to spike again soon.

“At the end of this year or early next year. And there’s data now that shows that people (who) are vaccinated have lower risk of long COVID, have less severe symptoms,” he said.

Misinformation and doubts over the COVID vaccine have hampered those numbers, bringing experts to emphasize that it’s trustworthy and helps cut down on long COVID diagnoses.

“COVID vaccines have been studied more than any other vaccine in history. We really have a lot of safety records, and they’re continuing to monitor for side effects, too. So it’s not as though they did the monitoring and they stopped,” Bowling said.

Healthcare workers also are trying to remind people that the perspective is wider than just each individual.

“For some people, it might be a mild illness that lasts for a few days, but for other people, they could end up in the ER, or worst, case admitted to the hospital,” Bowling said.

Even in mid-December, it’s not too late to get your vaccines.

“This is a perfect time to get it because a lot of people are going to be traveling in the next couple of weeks. So if you get that vaccine now, it gives your body a couple of weeks to generate antibodies, provide that protection, and keep you having fun with your family and friends, (but) maybe not in urgent care or the hospital,” Bowling said.

San Antonio school districts even see this trend of lower vaccine rates by way of the exemption form parents fill out and get approved by the state of Texas if they want to waive their child’s vaccinations.

Two of the largest local school districts replied to KSAT’s request about the subject on Monday, confirming that trend.

North East ISD:

“We have seen a little steady increase in the number of incoming kinder with conscientious exemptions. In 2017-2018, there were 37 students with exemptions to all vaccines. There were 78 kinder students last year and 90 this year,” the district said.

The district said they see exemptions less in other grades because parents have generally already made those decisions about vaccines by then.

The percentages break down to:

2017-2018: 0.9% of kids had vaccine exemptions. 2023-2024: 2.4% of kids had exemptions. 2024-2025: 2.7% of kids had exemptions. That means vaccine exemptions are up 0.3% from last year.

San Antonio ISD:

The district said they are “seeing numbers of parents opting out of vaccinations trending slightly upward.”

Vaccine exemptions by school year:

2024-2025: 368 students. 2023-2024: 301 students. 2022-2023: 297 students. 2021-2022: 219 students. 2020-2021: 164 students. 2019-2020: 197 students.

[darkmaga-returns]

The C19 disease caused by the airborne SARSCOV2 virus is reported to have killed 7 million people from 700 million “cases” over its five years of existence.

Coronavirus Graphs: Worldwide Cases and Deaths - Worldometer

We now know that the number of “cases” is a fiction, borne of a bogus RT-PCR test – probably more than 90% of case diagnoses were false.

Countries like Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Japan managed to avoid the first year of the scamdemic, 2020, by restricting all social interactions – denying life to their citizens. Germany and Japan chose not to use end of life treatments to euthanize those identified as “cases“ with “treatments” like Remdesivir, Midazolam, morphine and fentanyl – and the ventilators/respirators that prevented the “infected” from breathing on medics.

The number of C19 “cases” and deaths with C19 present exploded from 85 million at end of 2020 with around 2 million deaths reported in 2020 - with C19 present using the bogus RT-PCR test.

Note the WHO issued instructions – based on the bogus RT-PCR test – to treat all deaths with a positive test as a C19 death.

Our World in Data reports that 80% of the world’s 8 billion people received 13.7 billion injections.

[superfluffychickens]

And to top it all off, on top of the stress of maybe having Marek’s or Leukosis in my flock, it seems like I caught a cold 😭🤒🤧

Plus, it seems like the unidentified feather picker in my flock is on a rampage - usually, whoever-she-is just eats Jack’s beard and is satisfied, but now Socks is missing half of her beard and Blackbird has bald spots all over her neck! They’re all probably just bored, since it’s been so snowy and cold I haven’t been letting them outside. Looks like I’ll need to get some flock blocks or something.

Anyway, as much as I’m paranoid with worry about my birds, there’s really nothing I can do while I wait for the PCR test kits to arrive. I’ll just have to hunker down and get over this cold (hopefully that’s all it is), time to spend the next few days buried under my new weighted blanket and playing RDR2 I guess.

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled chicken pics!

[golbrocklovely]

haven't done one of these in months, so i thought it was the perfect time to bring this back

here’s some of colby’s tweets from 2021.

if it’s bold and italicized, it’s someone’s tweet to him.

if it’s in (), that’s just me commenting lol

added bonus: if they have a * next to them, that means it’s been deleted

~~~~~~~~~~~

April 1 - just wanna make things right

April 4 - happy easter i’m hungover goodnight ?

@/mannymua733: 30 flirty and thriving

happy birthday!!! @/mannymua733: thank you my love!

fan: all manny wants from colby is this (video of colby grinding)

@mannymua733: that’s all i’m asking for colby if this is your b day wish i gotchu

hey if any of you guys have a semi truck could you please run me over with it thanks

@/deefizzy: Can i join the more the merrier !

April 7 - watch the time go by

there’s an angry squirrel in our backyard that tries to kill me every night

April 9 - i can admit that i have big commitment issues when it comes to relationships

April 11 - to the two girls i just met at chipotle … you made my day thank you for lifting my spirits i’m so grateful

April 13 - sometimes life just feels like a big dream to me it’s so hard to explain.

April 15 - who’s your comfort person?

April 19 - it’s hard to find things that excite me as much as they use to and i find that kinda sad. i miss being stoked about every little thing. wanna get that back

learning to let go

no matter what changes in the future .. just know i’ll remember the past

April 20 - i know you don’t believe it but i’d do anything for ya

April 27 - @/ohkailno: when im vaccinated im coming for u @/ColbyBrock

😈

May 2 - i got a PCR test yesterday that literally felt like they were trying to tickle the back of my Cranium

May 11 - fan: So you just gonna leave us hanging like that @/ColbyBrock (photo of him with the caption "it's time")

😏🖤

May 13 - @/katstuartmusic: should i make colby bald

no

May 17 - i hope you’re happy today i love you

May 23 - someone broke into our rental car in San Fransisco and they stole everything. but i’m most upset about my journal i’ve been writing in daily for the past 6 months… all my emotions, memories, details of life just gone. my 2021 story i can’t get back .. i’m heartbroken

@/lukewaale: duuude what :( that's messed up man, i'm sorry it’s all good man 💔 thanks for sayin something. gotta look at the bright side .. everything’s replaceable

May 28 - you can’t miss what you forget

(it's so clear to me now that this man was clearly going thru so much. this is when things really changed for him and how he interacted with us. it's sad to look back on this now)

June 19 - feels good to be back.

June 28 - fan: I FORGOT @/ColbyBrock IS AN UNUS ANNUS FAN SIR EHAT WAS UR FAV VIDEO

the one where they have a staring contest ! hahahah

[nico-nico-suavecito]

Trans Year of Gratitude

Despair mitigation in the face of unceasing tragedy - a reflection on the last year following the Club Q shooting.

One year ago on Trans Day of Remembrance, I was scheduled to speak at my friend’s church about the nonprofit I work for. I was going to talk about queer joy and trans youth and all the work the church has supported us in doing. Then, I was going to pick up my partner and we were going to drive to Phoenix to visit my chosen family there, with a stop in Santa Fe.

I woke up that morning to a deluge of text messages and notifications, asking me if I was okay. I couldn’t tell you which headline first crossed my vision that finally pieced it all together. Just the flash of words. Club Q. Shooting. Injured. Dead.

In the months before this, I’d been in a state of trans revelry. I was back on testosterone. I was experimenting with self-expression and letting myself be the alt boy I never got to be in high school. My friends and I were going out dancing each week. I’d just entered a T4T relationship and was head over heels in love. I’d just restarted the queer open mics in October after a covid hiatus and was excited for them to be a regular event again.

I still went to church that Sunday morning, for possibly the first time in years. I struggled to be present — I kept scouring social media for news, reading my friends statuses and comments. “Has anyone heard from…” “Can someone confirm if they’re safe…”

I still went up to speak. Through tears, I wondered at our holidays. Trans Day of Visibility. Trans Day of Remembrance. I felt so much rage, the kind of rage that is love at its fiercest. We deserve better holidays than this. We deserve trans days of joy, and love, and everything beyond survival.

When I sat back down in the pew, I opened my phone. I saw that Daniel, who had been to my house multiple times for hair cuts and parties and who I admired as an out and proud trans man in our community, was gone.

I broke down in the pews. As the congregation sung “We Are the Ones” by Sweet Honey in the Rock, I started to write a wishlist of everything I wanted for trans people instead of what we were given. I wished us everything from bleeding bigots to coffee in bed with those we love. That’s how trans day of i love you was written.

That day, as people were sharing my post to their story, I started collecting people’s additions to the poem because they gave me hope and gratitude.

On the way to Phoenix, my partner Brin and I cried, wondered at the future that was feeling ever more uncertain, and we sang at the top of our lungs with Say Anything - Alive! Alive! Alive with love!

That night, when we made love in a Santa Fe hostel, I felt a certain urgency. Life felt so precious, so fleeting. I wanted to devour her. I wanted to be swallowed up by beauty.

She woke up the next morning with a cough and chills. One positive covid test and a six hour drive later, and we were back in Colorado Springs.

Like last year, I am in my house today, quarantining because of covid. This time, it’s been near impossible to find a PCR test to confirm it. My rapid test was negative, as it often has been when I’ve had covid. Still, in trying to keep my community safe, I can’t go to any memorials. I’m writing this instead.

In the months following, I was often asked, in interviews, by allies, in loaded how are yous, about how things are for queer people in Colorado Springs in the aftermath of Club Q. Whether things were better now that Colorado Springs has double the rainbow flags on display than it once had.

I think people want to hear that things are better. Increased support for the queer community in the aftermath would help our human desire for life to have a narrative in which tragedy serves a greater purpose. But it doesn’t. People are dead who should not be dead. They should be here, living their lives, with countless moments of joy before them. People are alive and still suffering their wounds, both physical and mental, with insufficient support. The needs of survivors have been buried beneath greed. Queer- and transphobia continues to be alive and well.

I don’t go dancing without knowing the emergency exits. Hiring security is now an essential part of hosting queer open mic, and this precaution is also salt in the wound.

What I can also say is that this community is so strong. The queer people of Colorado Springs continue to organize, fight, and live with a vibrancy that inspires me every day. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Still, following Club Q, the world feels more uncertain than ever. It’s an uncertainty that’s been growing — long before Q, long before covid, long before Trump.

It’s hard to look at the shooting in a vacuum. After all, every piece of anti-trans legislation that was introduced this year feels like salt in the wound that Club Q tore open. How can anyone heal when every day there is a new headline about a new group of people who want to legislate against you and people like you.

These years have begged so many questions, questions that many people in this country have been asking for decades: What does America hold in store for us? This country that cares so little for all its people that it would feed them to the maw of capitalism, a hungry god that can never be satiated? A country that let us down to the tune of one million covid deaths and counting? A country that shows time and time again how little it cares for the most vulnerable, with every mass shooting, every piece of anti-trans legislation, every new covid case, every instance of police brutality against people of color, every gallon of petroleum that will push us over nature’s tipping point, every dollar funding the genocide of Palestinians?

Recently, a friend of mine posted on Facebook asking how anyone can feel any peace and joy in the world these days.

I’ve spent the majority of this year trying to figure that out after years of burnout that, despite the fact that I have so much to be thankful for, had embedded a deep exhaustion in me that left me often anhedonic and withdrawn from, not only the world, but myself as well. I worried that this exhaustion would mean the end of my life-long career in activism and organizing at best, and the ultimate succumbing to despair at worst.

I am a person prone to despair, and have been since I was a kid. Not just sadness, but despair — a helpless emotion, a sadness without hope. I’ve always taken the world very personally. The first time I met depression and suicidality were in middle school when I watched An Inconvenient Truth. This started a year-long spiral, during which I was convinced that human beings were parasites destroying this earth, and as a human being, there was no way I could logically justify my existence. Despair has accompanied me since, even when I eventually realized that people are capable of immense love and beauty, and that the real drain on this earth is capitalistic greed and fascism.

I want to share here what has helped me as the case for despair has only continued to grow, in the hopes that it may offer a way forward for those who, like me, struggle at times to get out of bed, and who feel like they are often at the precipice of being consumed by said despair. And, as with everything I write, this is also a series of reminders to myself, as knowledge doesn’t always equal practice. I have been in a very despair-forward place lately, so I am hoping I might course correct myself in writing this all out.

I believe the three prophylactics against paralyzing despair are gratitude, hope, and action. I believe them to be three sisters unified in a dance, their chalices held to the air in service of joy. When I speak of joy, I don’t speak of the mythology of capital-H-Happy. I don’t think there is such a destination. I think of joy as a tool of resistance. I think of it as that which fuels us forward, in even the darkest of times.

If I am to continue to be an engaged and active resistor against that which seeks to annihilate all of us - corporate greed, bigotry, fascism, I can't be overcome by despair, despite being very prone to despair, as I've been for as long as I can remember. In that way, joy serves a vital purpose in the revolution.

Gratitude is a muscle I am trying to work out every day. I think we owe it to this world, this world that continues to be so full of beauty, despite all of the terrible things that happen within it, to try and be grateful for what is here and good right now. These moments — my boyfriend bringing me coffee in bed, the bird stopping by my bird feeder, sitting on the dock of the lake by my house, every time I go out dancing at the gay bar and nothing bad happens — these moments feel more precious than ever. I try to savor them, despite the knowledge that 1. terrible things are happening or can happen at all times, and 2. these good moments are likely to become more and more scarce for all of us if fascism and climate change progress at the rate they are. If I become overcome by despair with this knowledge, the reserves of my hope go unfilled and I can’t be of service to this world. So, I have to be grateful. I have to savor what’s good.

Gratitude also provides the foundation of hope. Hope is an intentional choice, and not one made easily.

“People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises for another go.” — Tweet by Crowsfault

Without hope, there is nothing to fight for. There is nothing to build toward. We have to have a vision of what can be. So many forces seek to take imagination from us, but we have to be able to imagine the future we want to build, not just the systems we want to dismantle. Admittedly, my imagination isn’t what it used to be — chronic stress has weakened it, but the gratitude that I am present with helps rebuild my imagination of what could be.

I am grateful when I see my trans friends happy and safe. What if all trans people got to be happy and safe. What if we could live their lives without an ounce of fear. What if we got to dance with abandon, without thinking of the emergency exits.

I am grateful when I see my trans friends have access to gender affirming health care. What if all trans people had access to gender affirming health care. What if it was free, and easy to access. What if that was the case for all health care for everyone.

I am grateful when I get to be in nature and feel how I am part of it, how I am, in the words of Alan Watts, “the universe experiencing itself.” What if we all felt that way. What if we all realized we create ourselves in the forge of how we love the world around us.

I am grateful for the organizers, the activists, the changemakers, the artists. What if the world was guided by people like them, people who lead with such a fierce love?

When I feel overcome by dread, it is their words that buoy me. One poem I return to often is Ross Gay’s “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude.” If I go outside and listen to it and watch the birds, and the clouds, and the people pass by, I can mainline enough hope into me that I can at least do what must be done. Work. Love the people I love. Create. Organize and advocate. If I’m lucky, there will be enough beautiful things that happen that day that I can find more gratitude and hope to keep me going.

Hope and gratitude would be empty platitudes without action, the truest triumph over despair. I think that we all have roles to play in this world inundated with pain. I think we as a community are in the process of learning the power of our voices. The ways that we can amplify gratitude, and hope, and action in all we do, all we share, all we write, all we create.

I have started to see it as a cycle. Act. Act until you must rest and remind yourself of a future you can hope toward to motivate you. If you can’t envision a future you can hope for, be intentional in being grateful for what is so that you can see what can be. If you need to be reminded of what is, seek and create moments in your life that kindle the flames of your gratitude.

I say all this, and still, there are some weeks I can barely leave my bed. I always try my best, but my best isn’t what it used to be. But I have to try and try and keep trying. And gratitude, hope, and action, however foolish and futile they might feel at times, are the best ways I’ve found to try right now, so that we might be able to continue to fight like hell for the people we love, both dead and alive.

P.S. A note for you, reader. I am grateful you’re here. What if the world had more people like you? What would be possible then?

[vr-trakowski]

What bugs me the most is that they made it so hard to do the right thing

I got sick this week.

High fever, fatigue, chills, shortness of breath, loss of appetite. Some kind of virus. A lot, in fact, like the time I got COVID a couple of years ago.^

My OTC test popped negative. But - it took two days to go positive the last time. And I know the OTC tests aren’t always accurate with the newer strains anyway.

So I thought I’d better get a PCR test. Where to start? Why, with my state’s testing centers, of course. My wealthy, blue state.

Found the page. Link to the search is dead. The phone number’s disconnected.

Okayyyyy…on the county.

County site says “call this number”. Which is the CDC.

CDC at least gives me a live person. Why aren’t you asking your primary care physician? she says. Well, for starters, because I don’t want to walk into a room full of people most likely not wearing masks and potentially give them what I’ve got, even though they’re idiots for not wearing masks in public and particularly at a doctor’s office?

All right then, here’s a site where you can search for places offering the test.

They’re all pharmacies and the like. Apparently there are no testing sites left, at least in my area. Oh well, one of them is my pharmacy. Nice and convenient, even if it presents the same risk to others as the doctor’s office. Not like I have a choice at this point.

I go online and make the appointment. I’m very clear that I want the PCR test, not the OTC one. At least I can get an appointment later the same day.

Arrive for appointment. Breathless walking in from the very small parking lot, even with cane. Took ibuprofen to break my (almost 104) fever because an hour and a half of shivering with chills is ridiculously tedious, so I’m now soggy with sweat. Check in; have to wait about ten minutes but at least there’s an unoccupied corner.

Medical professional takes me into the appointment room and opens up the test…which is the OTC version.

No, I say, I wanted the PCR version.

Oh, you have to make an appointment for that.

I did make an appointment. I said so when I checked in. I specifically wanted the PCR version.

We go around this circle a few times and get no forreder. Finally I tell her I’ll take this test, in part because it apparently checks for a couple of varieties of ‘flu as well and I’ve already paid for it, but I want the PCR test.

Test done, she sends me out to wait for a bit, then calls me up to the counter. Spends about seven minutes on the computer (not her fault that I can barely stand at this point - standing is always harder than walking) and finally confesses that she can’t make me an appointment, there’s something wrong. Here’s a corporate number I can call, they should be able to help.

(This test comes up negative too, on all counts.)

Next day: I call the number. It’s one of those artificial person phone systems that’s designed to make it nearly impossible to reach an actual human, but eventually I do. I explain the whole mess, she’s sympathetic but I’ve ended up in the wrong area, she’ll transfer me to the correct one.

Which turns out, of course, to be where I’d originally gone in. This time I get to a point that tells me the only way to make a testing appointment…is online, or in person at the pharmacy. Not over the phone.

Somehow I resist throwing my poor phone at the wall.

The sites have failed me, the pharmacy has failed me. I call my primary care doctor. Sorry, they don’t do COVID tests.

The only other thing I can think of is urgent care. I call the one near me. Yes, they do PCR tests. I can even get a same-day appointment. Of course, my insurance hates this brand of urgent care, so I’ll have a copay and then a stiff bill later, but what choice do I have?

I manage to clean myself up a bit, and go. Traffic’s appalling (about two miles out of my way due to mismarked detours), my blood sugar’s in my socks, and the online check-in (on my phone, whose stupid idea was that, typing on the phone is slow and miserable) is absurdly repetitive. Certain information has to be entered at least three times and the choice of “have you been exposed to COVID-19” is limited to “Yes” or “No”, no option for “I have no fucking idea because people are stupid”.

At least they don’t make me switch out of my Flo Mask, which I appreciate deeply.

Finally, finally, a PCR test. They tuck me in another room to wait for the results, and while the TV in there (why does it need a TV?) is playing “Zillow Gone Wild” (gag)* it is at least doing so at minimal volume (I do look for a remote but I can’t spot one).** I can ignore it in favor of my phone, or drowsing.

PCR test…is negative.

I don’t need Paxlovid, I don’t need to worry about taking more brain damage from that wretched virus. I don’t need to isolate at home for a week, trying to WFH with a truly terrible Internet connection (it took two minutes for an email to send this morning).

I don’t need to worry about infecting my elderly, frail parents, or my immunocompromised friend, or my idiotic (affectionate) colleagues who don’t wear masks. I mean, sure, I won’t go near the first three until I’m recovered, but. But.

However.

It shouldn’t be this hard.

It took me two days to get this test. While dealing with the illness itself. A little bit sicker, a slightly higher fever, and I wouldn’t have had the stamina to keep trying.

I know. The cruelty is the point.

But still.

^Fever dreams are wild. I particularly liked the one with the bunnies.

*The commercials were interesting, though. Decent mix of ethnicities, and I kept seeing things like laundry detergent or ovens being advertised using men as well as women. I stopped watching commercial TV years ago so maybe that’s standard now, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.

**I really, really hate the modern trend of TVs that can only be used with a remote. At least put on/off and volume buttons on the device itself! And while we’re at it, any computer monitor that requires more than a blind button push to shut off is unnecessary. One of mine at work requires three separate moves to power down.

[whentherewerebicycles]

ugh I do not feel well today—tired tired tired and feeling pretty drained from the last couple weeks. I’m excited to see all my grad school friends but phew I will be glad to hibernate for a bit on the other side of this long weekend. also when will my sense of taste return from war… there are some random things I can still sort of taste (raspberries, corn) and some that taste/smell like nothing to me (yogurt, cinnamon, nectarines, greens) and then some that taste intensely and unpleasantly metallic (this falafel I ate the other day). it’s very unsettling!!!! I never tested positive for COVID but I had a whole day of exposure to my sister two days before she tested positive… apart from losing my sense of smell/taste the only other weird symptoms I can remember having in that window of possible infection are fatigue, GI issues, and persistent muscle/joint aches, but without really a feeling of “feeling sick” (I actually have felt much more “am I sick? I kinda feel sick”) this week. anyway whatever. I apparently can’t get a PCR test covered by insurance anymore unless I go to an urgent care for it and I’m not paying $125 out of pocket. I wonder if I should mask at the wedding or if I’m in the clear since I’m testing negative. mm whatever I’ll figure it out. onward…

I ended up having a pretty productive meeting with [redacted] yesterday, which was good! I am trying to avoid doing the thing where I form such a negative mental image of a person or situation that I lose the ability to see any of the positive interactions. making it really clear that I needed her to read/comment on the project plans before we met REALLY helped. I think I will just try to make that an expectation moving forward—like if she doesn’t have time to read something I’ll ask that we not discuss that project until the next time. I’m not asking her to read like 10 page docs it’s usually just a 1-2 page writeup so I think that’s a reasonable ask. she gave me useful feedback on which projects to prioritize and on how to identify & cultivate strategic partnerships that advance the work instead of spreading ourselves too thin making lots of small promises to lots of people. so all good. also she is soooooooo excited about this program we are going to pilot and I think that is earning me a lot of goodwill. I guess the higher-up chancellor is also really interested and has floated the idea of giving us $$ from discretionary funds to try out some of the more ambitious elements. I feel like I now have a clear sense of direction and have been given explicit permission to carve out time each week to work on program/curriculum development (my beloved). so that’s v positive!!

mmkay. I worked a bunch this weekend so I could take today mostly off to pack and run errands before the wedding. I have a long to-do list so I’ll do that in a separate post.

[deepdrearn]

Spending some days sick in bed with Poor Things, a book on narcissists and Duolingo. Haven't spent days in a row in bed since the last time I had covid.

And dear God please don't let this be covid. Because boy am I exhausted. 5 on a 1-10 scale of exhaustion when I wake up. My lateral flow tests aren't positive but it doesn't mean shit because I got long covid from an infection that was only detected with a PCR. And OF COURSE all PCR testing facilities in the Netherlands permanently closed a week ago, when I thought this was just a minor cold. So great, just great. The only thing currently in my power to prevent another bout of post covid, is resting, so it is resting that I shall do.

The "upside" is that it's given me a break from work, the stress of which I contribute as an inhibition factor for whatever viral infection this is. I know that the single way to make work less stressful is to stop giving a shit about my campaigns failing. Which is incredibly hard to me because running campaigns about climate was the one thing I wanted to do. And I wanted to do it well: energized, and energizing. I have seen many many campaigners do exactly the opposite: just going through the motions, not actually believing their work will have an impact or change the tiniest outcome. I hated that, it was so uninspiring, disheartening. It made climate action look like a chore.

I was going to be a campaigner working with grassroots groups, supporting their struggles and connecting complex local topics to the overall umbrella of European policy. This is exactly what I had pitched in my job interview. I just checked the expectations I wrote down in my cover letter: responsibility and autonomy.

But what is now my daily reality? I feel like a secretary to a 62 y/o man, posting blogs about whatever he thinks is important today. Any planning I have him agree on is undermined the next day because other "urgent" things have popped up. And when I tell him it's hard for me to work this way he just tells me it's not that bad and will later say that I "scolded" him. I'm a so called project manager for a campaign he has undermined from various angles now three times. A campaign that I would LOVE to work out well. It's fucking important. But this way it just can't. So... maybe time for me to finally read "the subtle art of not giving a fuck"?

[liu-lang]

round 3 ☹️ my rapid test at urgent care was negative even though all my at-home tests are positive …they explained their in-office tests may not be picking up this variant… so they gave me a PCR test in addition…which I’m waiting to get results of within the next 2 to 3 days. I had planned to go to the bay to see my sisters but now I’m debating btwn cancelling altogether or pushing my departure date back

[justaquickquestion]

I have COVID for the first time.

I made it this far without getting it. Still masking on transit, and in the store ... well, except when I lose my mask midday and I don't have one on the trip home. ...or when I put it in my bag instead of my pocket, and I think I've lost it, and...

The first symptom for me wasn't fever OR respiratory trouble. I had unusual inflammation, in particular in my gums, so everything crunchy was painful. I also had plegm in my throat for two mornings before I knew i was sick.

I woke up with a fever on Sunday, which only lasted 48 hours and got up to 102. I had a headache an body aches all over during that time. Also nasal congestion, which I treated with nasal spray for three days and that may have had the inverse effect overall.

Only on day four, Wednesday, did I get tested. I don't have any rapid tests at home but I was feeling much better and reported that I'd be at work the next day, and I'd take a rapid test there before going in. I was so sure I was doing better, I went to the store! I went to the store to test my stamina and get supplies for the work week that I'd meant to purchase on Sunday!

(This was foolish of me, of course, but I did wear a respirator and use hand sanitizer throughout.)

When I got home, I made chai masala syrup for my morning tea for the week, and discovered I could not smell. Tried everything in the kitchen, and found it was all like a breath of fresh air. (Vinegar, isopropyl alcohol, minced garlic...) That was when I walked to the urgent care clinic and asked for a PCR test.

Since Thursday, I've mostly slept. Like, 20 hours of sleep yesterday. I keep wanting to do things but when I wake up and eat and take my meds I immediately want to lie down again.

Breathing deep is painful, and doing almost anything leaves me winded.

Go get your vaccine, and please wear your mask.

[ninsiana0]

Covid cases are up, and home tests aren't as effective catching the new variant. I tested negative six times, but my Primary Care doctor is pretty sure i had/have Covid.

It was impossible for me to get a PCR test at the Instacare. They told me it didn't matter & that it was too expensive. But they're available at Walgreens & CVS.

Assume if you're sick at all that it is Covid. Stay home. Wear a mask if you need to go outside. And seek treatment as soon as possible, because after five days they will not prescribe you an antiviral.

I've been sick for almost a month. I'm having to go on a steroid inhaler, and am getting testing done on my lungs next week. So many people in my circles are sick, and still getting sick.

If you had Covid before, you're more likely to get reinfected. If you're reinfected, you're more likely to develop Long Covid.

The new vaccine will be available in a few days. Get it as soon as possible, particularly if you have any other conditions or have had Covid before.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference saved on our archive

By Amanda Blum

PCR tests are far superior to rapid antigen tests—and now you can get them for home use.

Last week, I was about to go on a date, and because I'm severely immunocompromised, we agreed he would take a COVID test using one of my rapid home PCR tests. It was a courtesy—he felt perfectly fine— but he tested positive. By the next day, he was sick as a dog. And, by the way, the rapid antigen test he took when he got home that night was negative.

Regardless of how you much of a health risk you see in COVID, it is still, at best, an inconvenience that costs you days off work. A simple home PCR test saved me from that inconvenience (and worse), and if I'd relied on the common rapid antigen test or done nothing at all, I would probably be sick right now.

While the world has desperately attempted to move on from COVID, this summer saw the highest case loads since 2022, with a winter surge just around the corner. Almost 300,000 people died from COVID in the US over the last three months alone, so while the pandemic has transitioned into endemic, according to the CDC, there are still risks to be aware of. Around 400 million people worldwide have long COVID, where symptoms can range from annoying to absolutely debilitating, regardless of your age, pre-COVID health, or fitness levels. Cases of long COVID are crushing our medical system, too. The two best tools to avoid getting COVID continue to be masking and testing. Unfortunately, the PCR testing centers that used to be available in each city have long closed, and obtaining a PCR has become expensive and hard to locate. This is why home testing kits are so important.

While you may be used to thinking of COVID tests as interchangeable, there’s a big difference between the standard at-home antigen test and a PCR (molecular) test. Almost five years in, it’s important to understand why PCR tests are the ones you want when accurate testing is important.

The difference between a PCR and a Rapid Antigen Test What you normally think of as a home COVID test—like the kind you can order for free from the government—is a rapid antigen test. When these at-home COVID tests became available, they were a powerful tool to help people know they were positive so they could isolate themselves from others. Almost all at-home tests were lateral flow tests, also known as rapid antigen tests (RATs). They measure for proteins on the outside of SARS-C0V-2, but they have a major flaw: They can only detect active virus. If you’re asymptomatic or don’t have a high viral load yet, the RAT may show negative results while you have an active and contagious infection.

This is why, if you already have symptoms, a negative antigen test isn't conclusive. You may need to test a number of times to confirm you have COVID. When you first get sick, you may go a number of days (as many as five) without enough virus to set off a positive RAT test. RATs were designed to be taken multiple times in sequence.

A PCR, also known as a NAAT or molecular test, measures RNA and can detect even small amounts of the virus. This is why it has always been considered the “gold standard” of COVID testing. These tests are generally considered accurate starting one to three days before you experience symptoms. Until last year, you needed to get a PCR from a testing center, but home tests have evolved and there are now four rapid, at-home molecular COVID tests, meaning you test and get a result within 30 minutes.

Why we still need COVID testing The world is now divided into people who view COVID as part of regular life and those who, due to chronic illness, immune issues, previous infections, or age, cannot afford to get infected. For a long time, we viewed COVID testing as something you do for your own health, but home PCR testing represents a way you can easily protect those vulnerable people in your life without cutting them off from society.

But even if you're not concerned about others, you should still care about protecting yourself from multiple infections. While the likelihood you will die of COVID has gone down dramatically due to vaccines, medical interventions, and natural immunity from infection, the news has not done a great job talking about long COVID. As people get infected two, three, four, and more times, they are playing against the odds. It’s estimated that one in 10—or even as many as one in five—infections leads to long COVID, and to explain how much it’s not “just the flu,” COVID is now considered to be a vascular illness. That means it affects the blood vessels in your body, which go everywhere. Thinking of COVID as a vascular illness helps explain why long COVID is everything from extreme fatigue to migraines to numbness in your extremities, loss of smell and taste, extreme fatigue, and neurological and cardiovascular conditions.

While lots of people no longer even test to see if they have COVID, there are a few reasons to get a definitive answer. First, you can only get the intervention Paxlovid within the first five days of symptoms. Anti-virals like Paxlovid knock down your viral load, one of the things we think helps prevent long COVID. Second, no one knows who will get long COVID, and you might need proof of that positive test in the future for insurance or benefits or even to justify sick days.

Lastly, you need to get tested because it is hard to know when you have COVID. Symptoms of COVID include headache, body ache, fever, sniffles, congestion, fatigue, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of smell or taste. In other words, absolutely anything out of the ordinary. While a RAT is unreliable for safe socializing with people for the reasons explained above, a molecular test can pretty reliably clear someone to come in your house that day, or be in close proximity. In that way, these molecular tests can be a tool to help immunocompromised people back into the world and make multigenerational celebrations safer.

How to get a molecular/PCR test Outside of your home, your main options now are urgent care clinics and places that do testing for travel. In both cases, they’ll be expensive. In the case of urgent care, they’ll put you in the same space as all the sick people, who are now no longer required to mask in healthcare settings, so if you don't already have COVID, you might pick it up there. Fortunately, there are molecular (PCR quality) tests you can take at home.

Rapid molecular tests require a similar effort on your part as a RAT test. You’ll swab yourself and then insert that swab into a machine that gives you a result. There are currently just four brands of these tests available: Lucira, Metrix, 3EO, and PlusLife. Unlike RAT tests, you have to order them, although Metrix and Lucira tests are available on Amazon, and Walgreens stocks Lucira tests in select stores. For a long time, they were just too expensive for most people, so they were relegated to the likes of movie sets, law firms, and Google employees. Prices have gone down, so now they’re more accessible—as low as $10 a test. Here are your options.

Follow the link to see the full review with relevant links!

[halflifedecay]

Depressive rant about game art jobs then divulging into health anxiety. more under the cut. feel free to disregard

Depressive and negative thought: sometimes I don't think I'm cut out for professional game art.. most concept art job apps almost always say "lead" or "senior". If they don't, they require 5 or more years of experience with a shipped game under your belt. They expect you to be a wizard of 2D and 3D tools. There is just so much to learn to be an employable concept artist these days with so little time left over after working to simply give myself a few dollars. It feels almost unattainable unless I get incredibly lucky and land a gig. i just wanna draw and more importantly, learn and grow.

I have to preface that i am incredibly fortunate to live with my partner who does support my career as well as financially. I do realize i have the luxury to focus on my work even if it means it does make me much, so long as i continue to work on it. but even with luxury of time, it still a struggle to make quality portfolio work while juggling a million otherprojects and personal things.

My parents still call me on the phone asking if I've been looking for jobs, I do but these job apps are dreadful as I've mentioned. I think why bother when I don't qualify based on these requirements.

Sometimes I wish I can just do my silly little drawings for myself, and do part time jobs, but I learned the hard way, that life is not for me. I did it and I was miserable, i worked 30 hrs a week and i barely had the time or energy to give to art. i feel behind enough as it is being 27 with no job prospects I don't really possess any other discernible skills to apply to a different job. I've made and accepted the choice of making art my job, and that means i may not want to do art all the time bc i am not 100% confident in my skills all the time. im working on being more confident so i can hit the ground running on what i need to do. I can't give up, I love art and I've put so much time, passion and thought into my craft.

Aside from getting a job that allows me to do something I love, I get a salary with, hopefully, good health insurance. I don't know if this is the state of US healthcare now, but in my area, its hard to find a PCP who isn't booked into the next year, and then the first one you get an appt for, cancels on you literally 10 mintes before the scheduled time. and so ive had to wait a couple extra weeks. My health anxiety lightening up leans on doctors to tell me i am infact, not dying, and no, i dont have a tumor bc my lungs and muscles feel funny sometimes. I catatophise about my health so much, im in this vicious cycle of random symptom occuring > becoming anxious > new symptom occurs or becomes worse bc of anxiety > sometimes these symptoms go away on their own > they dont > anxiety ensues. so these past few weeks, i occassionally get this voice that tells me im gonna die bc i am not 100% okay, just waiting for the day i can see my PCP and be told whats up. this isnt the first time this has happened, and when i do get checked out, it is something pretty normal and managable. i really want to see this PCP next week, have it be not much of anything, laugh it off, and just go back to drawing in peace and heal.

but for now i have to sit with that anxiety, and think, why do i feel this way. for starters, i started with my mother being anti-vax, im not going to even get into that now, then covid; fear that i got it at some point and i didn't know it (i never had loss of taste and smell, but did get sick a few times, and my rapid and pcr tests were negative). what if i did get covid and i am experiencing long covid? hence why i have random symptoms all the time? that amougst getting older and generally being pretty uneducated about what happens to your body after 25! i eat well, i stretch, i go outside and walk, yea i could absolutely exercise more, my mental is pretty good, i have a loving and supporting partner and family, i make art for a living, im still young, breathing and still making shit, why can't i get rid of this anxiety that im in terrible health.

that is all, any more and then i start worrying about it not being rambly, fixing errors, not the point here, just want to vent.

thanks for reading.