#clean the air

[covid-conscious-and-silly]

TIME-SENSITIVE COVID ACTION ITEM FOR YOU, YES, YOU

In case you missed it: there is a proposed mask ban in Nassau County, New York that will not only make it illegal for anyone to wear a mask but will also fine you not $50...not $100...but ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS if you are caught wearing one. Absolutely disgusting.

So, what can you do?? There is a lovely organization called COVID Advocacy NY that has a comprehensive list of actions you can take at the link below! To my knowledge, you don't have to be a Nassau County resident to send a written comment. The meeting is tomorrow (July 15th) at 1 PM EST, so flood the inbox now!

"But Mitchie, what am I supposed to say?" Great question! There are talking points listed on the website, and I would also be happy to DM you the email I wrote for you to send/tweak yourself. We take care of us. Let's do this for Nassau. Reblog for other people to see. Love you! 😷❤️

[i-amusemyself]

I feel like I'm gonna rattle a few cages here but can we please talk about how much it sucks as a young person still trying to avoid Covid seeing all your previous role models not give a fuck anymore.

Like yes I'm talking somewhat about teachers and people in the community who you look up to as a kid. Who you used to think were all knowing and kind and considerate. Maybe they were even the people who taught you about basic biology or critical thinking or historical periods of eugenics.

But mostly I'm talking about the music artists and youtubers and other influencer-type people. The ones who built careers off of telling teenagers that "everything seems doomed now but you can get through this" and "fuck the people who think you're weird, you're infinitely valuable." The ones who told us we weren't alone and who we clung to through waves of utter hopelessness and self hatred and suicidal ideation.

Now where are they? At best, they're ignoring the ongoing pandemic. Not bothering to use their huge platforms to speak out about the continued mass death and disablement. Never putting a penny towards Long Covid research. More often than not, they're hosting sell out tour shows and meet and greets in places around the world. In simple terms: superspreader events. And not a single thought about or mention of mitigation.

Like. Okay, even if we work on the assumption that Covid is only dangerous for already sick/disabled people (it's not). That's bullshit. Everyone matters right? We're all important and our mental health is important. But fuck us if we want to be included right? Fuck us if we want to see the people who dragged us kicking and screaming through adolescence with the promise itll get better. They don't give a fuck if their shows lead to permanent disablement or death, so long as there's money in their pockets.

I mean sometimes, sometimes these people seem to care about other causes. They post about Palestine. They talk about gay rights. Gotta keep up the good image. But as soon as they have to look beyond the surface level atrocity- to see that disease is part of the gazan genocide or that systemic inequalities still mean LGBT people are at higher risk of Long Covid- they squeeze their eyes shut.

So yeah, in conclusion, fuck these people. They're hypocrites, and seeing the way their behaviour has evolved has created its own layer of pandemic grief.

[feminist-space]

"We’re dedicated to providing schools with the resources to stop the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. If that effort also helps kids and teachers benefit from clean air, even better!

To request air purifiers for your school please complete this interest form. You can reach the Pediatric Partnerships Team at covid.schools@phila.gov with any additional questions. A member of our team will reach out to process your request. Product manuals for the two models the Health Department is providing, the MA-50 and the MA-112, can be found at https://medifyair.com/pages/product-manuals."

[playingplayer2]

X/Twitter link

[blindedbythedarkness]

Am I sad I never knew how good and simple and safe life was back before 2020? Yes.

Am I mad that I took it for granted? No, because someone with hope could never imagine a world like this.

[pipzeroes]

Source.

A post by user luckytran on instance med-mastodon.com:

There is no silver bullet solution to mitigating the harm caused by #COVID. We need masks, clean air, vaccines, treatments and more. None of these things are perfect, and none alone are sufficient to prevent all the harm being caused. We need them all. Keep speaking up for layers or protections.

[a-queer-little-wombat]

These can also help with pollen if you have seasonal allergies and need to do open windows for temperature reasons.

Oh, yeah, and it helps clear the air of any COVID virus floating around, like it does.

Practical tip for those dealing with wildfire smoke now: you can make a very effective air filter for a reasonable amount of money using a box fan & one of those filters meant for your furnace.

Also, I've managed to pick up 2 of the box fans for very cheap/free from yard sales. Make sure you get a filter rated for wildfire smoke, I think this one cost about $20.

These make a huge difference in the indoor air quality.

[sreegs]

hey it's me black mold. thanks for running your window air conditioner all summer. whatever you do, do not regularly clean the removable filter. that's not necessary

you should also never ever unplug the air conditioner and stick a flashlight in the vent that blows air to see if we're in there. it's very bad, that place should not be checked

and whatever you do, if you've already made the mistake of unplugging it, don't remove it from the window for cleaning if possible. and whether it's possible to remove the unit or not, don't carefully disassemble the front panel, document where the screws go and plastic bits go, and open up the vent more to be able to get into it easily

as black mold, i'm an expert on this. you should heed my warnings: now, if you've somehow made the mistake of doing all of the above, you should not use warm water and dish soap to CLEAN the inside of the vent thoroughly. DON'T ever use a bottle brush to get into the hard to reach places. and certainly don't rinse and dry the cleaned area before carefully putting it back together

there's nothing wrong with us, black mold. we don't cause or exacerbate breathing conditions like asthma or other illnesses. it's cool, we're cool

furthermore, if you're capable of removing the window unit, DONT take a hose with the same soapy water and wash the portion of the window unit that sits outside the window and is therefore weatherproofed.

whatever you do, don't allow the air conditioner to dry before plugging it back in and turning it on again

and if you have a central air conditioner, you will definitely never ever consult a manual or sources online to perform a similar cleaning procedure on the cooling unit outside.

lastly, if you're physically unable to do the things we (the black mold) warned you not to do above, you should never ever ask someone to help you or hire a service to do it.

[covid-conscious-and-silly]

hi, friends, i need your help! my friend jamie runs Celebrate 845, a crucial COVID conscious organization to the hudson valley area of new york, and they will have to move if they don't find a roommate by january 1st. they need a roommate who also takes COVID seriously, and they really don't want to move. their flier and an image ID are below this. please share this as much as possible (and reach out on instagram to @JamieSanin or email JamieSanin@gmail.com if you're interested and/or have leads!) 😷❤️

Image ID: Jamie, a white person wearing a 3M aura mask, sits against a tree. Text around them reads: "In Search Of: COVID safer roomie! Who am I: Jamie (she/they)! Activist, artist, lifelong Hudson Valley lover, mutual aid enthusiast. Looking for: a COVID-serious roommate to move into my wonderful rented home in Kingston, NY where I've lived for 3+ years. When: December 1st or January 1st. To me, COVID safety means: wearing an N95 in all indoor public spaces, testing regularly, avoiding non-essential indoor spaces, being super honest & communicative about habits & safety needs, etc! Interestee? DM @JamieSanin or email JamieSanin@gmail.com. End image ID.

[a-queer-little-wombat]

Yep. It's been over a year that I've been saying COVID is causing, essentially, C-AIDS. That is, Covid-Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

The "COVID is the new HIV" idea is supported by current studies showing viral persistence of COVID in various places throughout the body, long after infection. It doesn't just cause some damage and then completely go away.

Our children, the ones who survive to adulthood, will not forgive us.

The best gift you can give your children in a world of climate crisis and social collapse will be "the fewest COVID infections possible" (both for themselves and you).

Mask the fuck up. Wear an N95, KN95, KF94, or better mask. Use HEPA filters or a Corsi-Rosenthal box. Exchange the air with outside air.

At-home rapid tests are giving a lot of false negatives (because they were build to detect the original version), so do test ... but don't take a single negative result as "definitely don't have it". If you test positive, you're contagious. Even if it's been 5, 10, or more days.

Good luck out there.

(source)

[backtonormallife]

Look at the bottom left - it’s an air purifier. Not that it does a lot of good when you are within two meters of someone- but it’s a start.

[playingplayer2]

Just thinking about how if the world had kept masking, like seriously masking, from 2020-now how different everything would be. Like if you treated a deadly pandemic like a deadly pandemic, instead of downplaying it and gaslighting the people affected by it, if you didn't spread misinformation, if it being airborne wasn't hushed up from the fucking get-go. Just fucking everything.

I haven't hung out with people since late 2021. Basically all my friends stopped masking and started acting like I was being paranoid about a "minor cold." Like the actual fuck?

"when you feel safe going out again" LIKE BIRCH HOW TF AM I GONNA FEEL SAFE WHEN YOU'VE BEEN GOING AROUND UNMASKED to sports games and your job and family events and fucking weddings and restaurants and bars? HOW

How am I going to feel safe when you gaslight me in every conversation and fallout ignore me for literal days if I send information about covid and its effects? Literally how.

It causes people permanent, chronic heart, lung, brain, and other organ damage! It causes fertility issues! Chronic fatigue- I already HAVE chronic fatigue! It makes things like POTS and hEDS worse! A mild case now could mean a sudden stroke or heart attack in your near future!

Babies being born with glass lung, babies being born with covid- COVID fucking COLONIZES your body! It HIDES INSIDE YOU. And dear gods! The toxic work culture of work even when you're sick, go to school even when your sick!! Spread it far and wide to everyone WHEN YOU'RE SICK.

Politicize HEALTHCARE- it's been happening for for-fucking-ever so let's do it some more!

It's a FUCKING VIRUSSSSSS THAT CAN EVEN CHANGE HOW YOUR BRAIN WORKS

It can make you become more violent, more impulsive, aggressive, fucking SUICIDAL.

Cognitive issues GALORE, including L I T E R A L L Y losing braincells!!! Literally!!!

So yeah. It's great. I'm fine. This is fine.

I'm not massively depressed or angry over this. I mean, I, and everyone else, have only lost the last 4-5 years. I turned 18 after the pandemic started. I'm now 22. And it's still ongoing! I definitely don't feel suicidal because it doesn't seem like it's gonna fucking end, not at all. It's fantastic even! I get to be scared that by wearing my mask out in public, I could get attacked. I've certainly been harassed over it enough times.

It's not like how the world has mishandled covid has led to the mishandling of majorly infectious diseases (*cough* Monkey pox *cough* H5N1 *cough*). No, of fucking course not.

It's not essentially LIKE AIDS- IT'S NOT LIKE CHINA WAS GONNA CALL IT SAIDS - AS IN: SARS-AIDS!!!! BEFORE THE FUCKING WHO SHUT THAT DOWN. NOOOOOOO

It's not like it was caused by lax bio & security measures in fucking Canada— because they didn't fucking vet they're employees and their BSL standards WERE FOR SHIT!!!!!!!!

It's not like everyone in my house is at a higher risk of getting it. It's not like we'd be totally screwed over if even one of us were even slightly less able-bodied. It's thin fucking line most days but I'm terrified of what would/could happen if I am unable to make meals and do laundry, I already have to spend most of my days sitting or laying down. I don't fucking know what I'd do if I couldn't do that. I don't know what my family would do.

My family is trying to get OUT of an unsafe household where extended family belittle and gaslight and get violent regularly because we need, need, NEED, for us and them to keep masking. Said extended family has literally threatened to kill us before! So it's great.

It's fantastic.

[blindedbythedarkness]

I think I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that I'm ageing because the person I was before the pandemic is no longer recognizable to me now. I have all their memories and some of their clothes and a body that's almost identical. But they just aren't me. The forces of five years of very real threats to my life; gaslighting; isolation and eugenics have forced me into a whole new shape.

[a-queer-little-wombat]

EVERY SINGLE STRAIN SINCE ALPHA HAS BEEN CAPABLE OF "BREAKTHROUGH" INFECTIONS.

I cannot fucking EVEN with folks who still think the vaccine is having any substantial impact on *transmission*. It isn't, it hasn't since Delta or so, and it *never* was intended to do so.

The goal of the vaccine was to stop *severe* symptoms and *death*.

Please, for the love of your health, your children, your friends' children, your pets, whoever and whatever you love that will get you past this mental barrier, WEAR A RESPIRATOR MASK. GET YOUR KID TO MASK AT SCHOOL AND DAYCARE.

N95, KN95, KF94, ELASTOMERIC, P100 ... whatever seals well your/their face and you/they can comfortably wear.

Cloth masks and those blue surgical masks? Neither are effective against current strains. Please upgrade, I'm begging you.

Covid is not a cold. Covid is not the flu. Covid can and does cause widespread organ and immune system damage, *even in mild and asymptomatic cases*.

While I'm at it....

The current at-home "rapid" tests are generating a lot of false negatives with the current variants. If you suddenly feel like shit, odds are really good it's fucking COVID even if you get a negative rapid / lateral flow / antigen test.

Relatedly, the most accurate way to use those tests is to swab your cheek and throat, then your nose. Nose alone is often not enough these days.

Relatedly, *many* people have been reporting for months that they don't test positive until 2+ days after their symptoms start.

One test alone is NOT an "all clear".

While I'm at it ...

The whole "go back to work after 5 days" thing? ZERO basis in science. It is purely a capitalism thing. Anyone with COVID is almost certainly still infectious after 5 days, and may still be infectious after 10 days.

Also, folks rebound, and not just with/because of paxlovid. SO...

Anyone with COVID should not consider themselves not-infectious until they have two, separate, consecutive negative rapid tests at least 24 hours apart.

While I'm at it ...

Yes, you can get reinfected with a different strain of COVID nearly immediately. There's not much cross-strain immunity anymore and there are *so many* strains going around. So, do NOT rely on a window of immunity after getting it.

While I'm at it ...

CLEAN YOUR AIR. By which I mean run HEPA filters in your homes, classrooms, workspaces, etc.

If you can't afford a commercial HEPA air purifier, look into Corsi-Rosenthal boxes ... they're basically a box fan with a MERV-13 heater filter taped to it.

You need HEPA or MERV-13 level of filtration to clear COVID from the air.

Note: there's a lot of "personal" size air purifiers out there. They're honestly really too small to do much of anything unless it's literally inches from your face the entire time, which is awkward.

While I'm at it ...

Because testing is becoming less available and because official folks are barely or not even reporting deaths and hospitalizations and because many people just do rapid tests at home and don't report the results to anyone and because fucking capitalism... about the only reliable data we have left is wastewater tracking.

Here's the current graph from BioBot, which aggregates the data from what wastewater processing facilities are still doing and reporting their testing:

So, especially if you live in the Northeast USA, assume COVID IS RAMPANT right now.

PLEASE take care of yourself and those you love and MASK.

I just want to be able to participate in society again without risking life-long disability and/or death ....

[chronicbitchsyndrome]

so... i'm seeing a lot of activism (like, actual activism, not just tumblr posts--letters & scripts to us senators, for example, copy written for press, etc) focusing on improving ventilation & filtration as primarily an access issue for immunocompromised people. basically, presenting the argument as "this is in service of this demographic, who is blocked from public access currently."

this is like. true. of course. it is the main reason i want clean air and i think it is the most pressing reason overall for it. but i think it's the wrong tack for building a clean air movement and getting legislation passed.

like, unfortunately, the vast majority of people in power--and of americans in general, tbh--are not immunocompromised and do not have immunocompromised roommates or family members. should you have to have this experience to understand that public access is a big fucking deal for, like, staying alive? no! you shouldn't! but most people straight up will not understand whatsoever unless they have personal experience with immune compromisation.

trying to change hearts and minds to have cognitive sympathy for disabled people takes a long time, decades' worth of work to just change a handful of people; meanwhile, getting legislation passed is 1) imminently important, 2) while still a lengthy process, takes significantly less time if it doesn't hinge on first converting the majority of the population to have sympathy for a marginalized demographic they have no contact with (and yes, they have no contact with us because we are barred from public access to begin with, again, i am aware of how fucked up this is).

here's some arguments for passing clean air legislation that are designed to appeal to a normative, conservative-leaning crowd:

air filtration is a public health and sanitation baseline just like running water. we provide clean water to drink and wash our hands in as a baseline for public life; we should also be providing clean air to breathe similarly.

improved ventilation and filtration in schools results in less sick days for students, meaning better attendance and less time off work for parents.

improved ventilation and filtration in the workplace results in workers taking less sick days. it also makes it less troublesome when a coworker comes in sick; it's less likely you will have to take sick leave as a result.

improved ventilation and filtration in hospitals, doctors' offices, etc, helps combat the health care worker shortage by reducing the amount of sick leave health care workers need. it additionally makes hospitals safer overall; for example, it makes it safer for cancer patients to be in the same building with patients with highly infectious airborne illnesses such as chickenpox.

improved ventilation and filtration in public buildings at large could improve the economy, as less workers stay home, more people enter the workforce, more people begin attending public businesses like bars and venues, etc.

if government programs to upgrade ventilation and filtration are created, this could create jobs for blue-collar workers, further improving the economy.

the last note i have is that, as much as this sucks shit, don't mention covid as much as you can avoid it. covid has become a massive culture war thing in the usa and as soon as you bring it up, the entire discussion becomes about virtue-signaling and showing in-group affinity--it doesn't matter what you're saying about covid, anyone who thinks "covid is over" will immediately shut down and become incapable of listening to anything else you have to say. and unfortunately, a majority of the population does, in fact, think covid is an irrelevant concern even for immunocompromised people in 2024.

importantly, all general air sanitation improvements will improve the covid situation significantly. in this context, you do not have to talk about covid in order to make real, material changes limiting the spread of covid. system-level changes that limit the spread of things like the flu and chickenpox are equally effective in limiting the spread of covid. take advantage of that!

[rann-poisoncage]