#corona-pandemic-2020

[redlettermediathings]

It was the best of times, it was the best of the worst of times.

[queen-of-wisdom]

"My Roman empire is the Titanic-" "My Roman empire is medieval torture methods-"

You know what my Roman empire is? The Corona Youth.

The six year olds who never saw their kindergarten teacher's face. Little children who will grow up with social anxiety and depression because of it. Toddlers who have problems with recognizing people because they didn't saw many faces growing up. Eleven year olds who, when asked, don't know an answer to the question: "How was your elementary school?"

Sixteen year olds who skipped most of their teen years. Children, who were babies during the pandemic, who don't remember much but are still subconsciously affected. The school trips that were canceled. The social implications. The lack of friendships.

The pandemic was three years, from 2020 to 2023. Not much time for adults. But it's the difference from three year old toddlers to six year old school children. From twelve year old children to fifteen year teenagers. For adults it was nothing, for the youth it was everything.

[r0semultiverse]

Covid kraken & orthos??

they’re running out of names because these governments and people can’t behave 😒

WEAR YOUR FUCKING MASKS & GET VACCINATED!!!

[elftwink]

just saw a tweet that was like "imagine if 9/11 happened 2 mos earlier and 7/11 had the worst PR crisis ever" like that wasn't basically what happened to corona beer in 2020

[thissying]

"Dit was ooit persconferentie tijd op dinsdag," dacht ik net ineens rond 19.00u.

[cold-fire-yo]

Explain why in the notes!

[mx-ryder]

Storyteller Saturday: Shit Show; obviously the Novo Flu of 2022 may be based on the Corona Virus of 2020; did both diseases occur in the world of Shit Show or was Covid replaced by Novo Flu? Tell us a little more about the Novo Flu please!

So, Shit Show first came into being as a YA novel I wrote when I was 17. About......15 years ago. So Covid actually had zero influence on Novo Flu, or at least not in that direct of a way.

Novo has replaced Covid in-universe, though. It was just Novo, with very similar world-wide repercussions. People had similar attitudes to Novo, with denialists, people believing it was a punishment from god, and of course, people who gladly scapegoat and hate the surviving Deviants.

I've pretty much made my peace with people assuming Novo is a direct Covid equivalent. It's just a fun coincidence that baby-teenager me was playing with the idea of a world-wide pandemic decades before one actually happened lol

[dogsuffrage]

Ultimately, I think what we are seeing politically globally might be the end of the post-Cold War era. There's been a resounding backlash to neoliberal ideals across the world since the pandemic. Tensions were already high and corona just pushed things over the edge and people are not willing to accept the status quo of global capitalism as it has been. It's still too soon to say what will come next imo. While the U.S. looks to be flirting with fascism, that's not the case everywhere and the real test will be how people react in the next four years I think. Regardless, I think the general vibe of 1990-2020 is dead and a new generation is struggling to be born. This could be a good thing or it could be terrible. We just don't know until we see.

[ralphlanyon]

i was going through my notes and found an old write-up from 2020 of modern au headcanons for "the charioteer" characters during covid-19 quarantine (back when "how would fandom X characters handle quarantine?" was a tumblr trend). apparently this was how i was coping with the stress of peak corona times, lol. anyway finally publishing this, three years later!

laurie: his introverted homebody ass is THRIVING in social isolation and wfh. no more awkwardly dodging party invites from people he hates, being dragged to nightclubs, or having to see his stepfather. he gets to stay home all day with ralph and their dog and finish all the books he meant to read, and he is LOVING it. receives a lot of requests to show off his dog during his work zoom meetings.

ralph: is Doing His Duty by staying home on furlough but also going completely stir-crazy. tries to stay sane by feverishly working on dozens of home improvement projects and cleaning the house several times. basically the epitome of that ben wyatt “do you think a depressed person could do THIS???” meme. has gotten into numerous arguments with people at the supermarket who refuse to wear masks or are hoarding enormous supplies of toilet paper (one of these ends up going viral).

andrew: is very sad about being separated from the rest of his religious community now that the churches are closed, but tries to keep a positive outlook on things. shares a lot of resources online about how to help out and staying in touch with one’s faith during “unprecedented times.”

alec: overworked and sleep-deprived nhs junior doctor directly taking care of covid-19 patients. hasn’t physically seen most of his friends or family in months. writes lengthy screeds on social media decrying the dearth of ppe for health care workers and ranting about politics. frequently gets into online fights with strangers who think coronavirus isn’t a big deal. sends ralph unsolicited articles about self-care and mental health tips during a pandemic that ralph pointedly ignores.

sandy: also overworked and sleep-deprived, but much better at concealing it online than alec. has a popular medical instagram where he posts selfies of him and alec with lots of hashtags. obsessively binge-watches cooking videos on youtube in his spare time.

bunny: an essential retail worker who brings this fact up constantly in conversation. secretly flouting social distancing guidelines on his off days to go to parties and hook-up with men on grindr. has the most aesthetically pleasing cloth masks but can’t bother to wear them properly.

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Neo-Burlesque Era of the 2020’s

Stephen Jay Morris

6/29/2020

©Scientific Morality

            So, here we are in the year of our Lord, 2024, via the Twenty-First Century. This is very similar to the era known as “The Roaring Twenties”—the only difference being is the economy. During the 1920’s, the economy was in prosperity mode. It was party time, with nonstop divine decadence, bathtub gin, and screwing a “Flapper” in a Model T.  All was centered around sex, jazz, and booze. In response, the fundamentalists and evangelical Christians wanted to halt all sin and implement “God’s laws” across the nation. To them, it was viewed as the “End Times” because “young America was reviving Sodom and Gomorrah.” The White racists were worried that America’s borders were being invaded by illegal aliens who were mostly comprised of Anarchists and Communist spies. Is this sounding familiar?

Well, the Christians succeeded in outlawing alcohol by government-implemented “Prohibition.” However, that only served to ensure that organized crime became powerful and filthy rich. The 1920’s didn’t end well. The U.S. economy crashed in 1929 which ushered in The Great Depression. The rich got richer, and the common people got fucked. They were dirt poor.

So, how will the 2020’s decade end? Here is my educated guess.

            The American people suffered from a global pandemic between 2020 and 2022, known as Corona Virus, or COVID 19. Conservative and Christian coalitions expressed their state paranoia by claiming the federal government was forcing citizens to wear masks, quarantine themselves, and take emergency vaccines. The political right was feeding fear to the masses with one alarming exaggeration after another.

            Donald Trump, then President of the United States (until January 2021), was a B.T. Barnum type who cared only about himself; specifically, his money and popularity. Somehow, he paid off churches to promote him as the second coming of Christ. It worked. His base was comprised of right-wing fanatics who believed in conspiracy theories. To date, 30% of the America population are Trump cultists. At the time of his election (2016), he had zero government experience. He was a real estate tycoon whose six businesses had failed. He was the worst businessman in history. Despite all this, he got the stamp of approval from Christian churches across the country, which designated him a decent guy. The most popular thing for which he was known was a TV reality show called, “The Apprentice,” which aired from 2004 to 2017. At the time, the Millennial generation’s mentality was based on computer technology and the Internet. They had been weaned on cell phones and computers. A TV reality show host was not impressive to them. Many were a-political and anti-religion. However, many other generational types, like Gen X and Baby Boomer conservatives, were bound to Trump. President Trump knew how to manipulate Americans, particularly working-class, white people. He came out of the entertainment industry. Americans are entertainment addicts and hedonists.

            Today, the work ethic in America is dead. Over the decades, Americans have wondered why they should work hard at all. Hundreds of businesses go bankrupt every month. The truth is, you only work hard for your boss so he can get rich. The plan is that you, the worker, are so occupied with working hard that you haven’t time to rebel against the capitalist system. After their long, 8-hour day, Americans want to have fun. We live in an entertainment society. It’s all silliness and sick jokes. A burlesque society predates a fascist society. Consider the 1972 American movie, “Cabaret,” a fictional movie depicting Germany’s era during 1920’s decadence: sex, cross dressing, and drunkenness. The Nazis promised German Christians they would put an end to it, and they did.

In America, people want to escape economic hardships by having fun. But the Evangelicals want to control all primal urges and create a clean-cut society. They loath sex unless it's purpose is to make more white babies. They hate sex, but they love violence against “evil people;” that is, whomever they perceive as evil.

At this moment in time, it’s all about fun and recreation. It’s not about wholesome entertainment. It’s about action movies and energy drinks. Video games about war and violence are still a hot item for the younger set. So, I declare this time in American history, “The Age of Neo-Burlesque.” That is my label for the decade.

            Now, what will happen in the 2030’s? I predict that the pendulum will swing to the left. The moderate left will have to compete with the ultra-left. They will have to offer rational programs to help struggling Americans. The ultra-left will need to reorganize and try again. The political right will be despised by working class Americans and become a pariah to them.

At last, a Hollywood ending!

[thefisherqueen]

I've caught covid for the first time, after somehow managing to avoid it for almost 4 years, and it thoroughly sucks. I'm far from the only one at the moment (I'm writing this on 8 december 2023) - testing fascilities are all done away with in the Netherlands so the view of the current situation I have is very limited, but I do know that numbers like virus load in our sewers and people in hospital with covid are rapidly going up right now once again.

I'm having a lot of thoughts about it all now, and even though they are far from coherent, I still would like to share them.

In the Netherlands, so far there's been a staggering lack of reflection on anything to do with corona. We have no official moment of rememberance, no monument, no time and place for collective grief. Research into long covid is severely underfunded. There's also been an astounding lack of evaluation into our pandamic response. I've only seen one report so far, and it had a limited scope, pretty much the only conclusion was that the goverment's strategy was 'too fixated on intensive care capacity'. If another new illness will emerge, which of course is only a matter of time, I believe we will make all the same mistakes again.

In summary, I just feel sad and kind of hopeless by it all. The lack of care for the lives of eldery and otherwise vulnerable people, and just for public health in general, displayed during the past years, and all for the sake of corporate interest and personal freedom, is staggering. It all started quite promising, back in March 2020, once it dawned on our government that COVID-19 was a serious illness and that immediate action was required. I myself had basically no knowledge on pandemics yet and the lockdown blew my mind. We were taking action to save lives. I remember feeling hopeful.

But pretty much from the moment we emerged from the first lockdown, our government has each time waited with taking measures until the last possible moment. In comparison to the rest of the world, response was not the worst (at least no outright corona denial or 'drink bleach' here), but it was not good either. The Dutch government basically went 'this is fine' meme until hospitals overflowed (long term health care facilites were barely even considered) and then they panicked, putting lockdowns into place again while those are only really meant as an emergency measure when all else fails. Coherent, preventive measures like testing, masks, clear information, ventilation, contact tracing and isolation were never properly put into place.

And now we've lost tens of thousands of lives prematurely, hospital patients with covid still vastly outnumber those with influenca even in bad years, many still report pandemic-related mental health issues, and an estimated 90.000 people in the Netherlands currently have long covid, including a good friend of me.

I feel like all were in a traumatic event that isn't even over yet, and we're barely even talking about the impact, and the next one will inevitably come and likely just be as bad. It's just a lot.

[pandemic-info]

(via COVID-19 and therapy with essential oils having antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory properties | Inflammopharmacology)

Owing to their lipophilic nature, EOs are advocated to penetrate viral membranes easily leading to membrane disruption. Moreover, EOs contain multiple active phytochemicals that can act synergistically on multiple stages of viral replication and also induce positive effects on host respiratory system including bronchodilation and mucus lysis. At present, only computer-aided docking and few in vitro studies are available which show anti-SARC-CoV-2 activities of EOs. In this review, role of EOs in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 is discussed. A discussion on possible side effects associated with EOs as well as anti-corona virus claims made by EOs manufacturers are also highlighted. Based on the current knowledge a chemo-herbal (EOs) combination of the drugs could be a more feasible and effective approach to combat this viral pandemic.

...

Various in vitro and ex vivo studies were conducted to study the effects of eucalyptus oils and eucalyptol treatments on monocytes and macrophage recruitment in response to lung inflammation and infections. Data of these studies demonstrate marked immunomodulatory properties of both eucalyptus oil and its active ingredient, i.e. eucalyptol. Both treatments reduced the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines from monocytes and macrophages, but their phagocytic properties were not halted (Juergens et al. 2020; Sadlon and Lamson 2010). Eucalyptol is also known to have mucolytic and bronchodilatory properties (Juergens et al. 2020). Interestingly, eucalyptus oil has also been shown to have disinfection properties and inhibited the growth of viruses on various utensils and filter devices (Usachev et al. 2013). Taken together, data from both preclinical and clinical trials point towards the promising therapeutic potential that resides in eucalyptus oil and its active constituent, i.e. eucalyptol in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Therefore, further studies are urgently warranted in this regard.

[she-karev]

Lockdown (Japril Imagine)

Previous Part Here

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: Two of Three

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Ship: Jackson and April

Summary: Jackson drives Amber to her brothers and talks to her about his worries over April living alone during a pandemic.

Words: 990

March 18, 2020

Jackson looks down the empty road that he is driving in sadness. Sadness over how short of a time it can take for the world to fall apart and how little he can do to fix it. He knows no matter how long he can be in the frontline treating people and stopping the spread of covid he can’t make it go away. He can’t make it so his daughter can grow up in a less scary world. He can’t make it so his day at work is something to look forward to not something to dread. And he can’t make it so all of his friends and family can be safe.

Those thoughts run through his head as Amber is next to him scrolling through her phone for the nearest store that can get the latest shipment of toilet paper and water bottles. It’s that sight alone that makes him want to scream but he can’t because he’s driving. Even though it’s likely he’ll get in an accident on an empty road.

“Okay I counted and calculated and we’re good on toilet paper for at least three weeks, you can thank me for making a quick trip before the day of the end.” Amber tells him but he’s barely listening due to his own worries.

Jackson glances at the sidewalk to see tents up and sealed with the homeless community inside. It makes him think of April who quit her job as a trauma surgeon to work at the free clinic full time so she can help the homeless. In the beginning he saw it as brave and selfless but now it terrifies him that she is out there every day exposed to people who can’t afford houses let alone protection. His fears are escalated due to Amber secretly telling him Matthew left April in the hopes they can get back together.

He isn’t entirely sure if he and April are getting back together. He knows they both need time to themselves to figure out what they want. But he also knows that without Matthew in the house April runs the risk of contracting the virus with no one to take care of her. He imagines her suddenly developing the symptoms that get so bad she can’t call for help. And if that happens it’ll be too late to get her treatment and Harriet will lose her mother. And he’ll lose the most important person in his life.

“I’m trying to call the stores to see when they get a new shipment but apparently everybody else has the same idea since I only got a robot on the phone and-”

“I can’t do this.” Jackson says something for the first time since they left the penthouse.

Amber pauses and looks surprised by his interruption, “Can’t do what? Go only three weeks with toilet paper? Join the club buddy.”

“No, I can’t keep pretending that everything is fine in front of April when I know that it isn’t.” Jackson grips the steering wheel, “She is out there every day exposing herself to this thing like us only it’s worse because the community she helps were in poor health to begin with before corona. And at the end of the day, she goes home to nobody there to help her or make sure she’s not showing symptoms. She’s acting like she has someone, but she doesn’t know that I know the truth. She doesn’t know that I am worried, and I have every single right to be.”

Amber sighs putting her phone away, “Now I feel bad for breaking her trust and making you worry about her possibly dying of a virus. She’ll be ready to tell you when she tells you. We agreed to give her time to process and be comfortable enough to tell you at her own pace.”

“Yeah, well things changed.” Jackson tells her sternly, “We can’t afford to be alone right now especially with what we do, what she does. I need to talk to her about this and figure out if she has a plan without Matthew in the picture.”

Amber looks at him scared, “Jackson I admire your big heart, but April doesn’t know I told you and if she does, she will kill me. Do you want to bury me?”

“If it means I don’t have to bury April yeah.” Amber narrows her eyes at him, “Hey you made your bed when you told me something April told you in confidence. Nobody held a gun to your head and made you tell me her secret.”

Amber purses her lips, “I was trying to be a good friend to you in the pursuit of true love. How was I supposed to know a worldwide pandemic would hit a month later? It was an act of God or something.”

“I’m still gonna talk to her, I’d look into witness protection if I were you.” They stop outside Alex and Jo's 2 story house and Amber looks at Jackson betrayed who ignores her and unlocks the door, “I’ll be back to pick you up in half an hour, I’ll let you know how it goes and whether to look over your shoulder for vengeful redheads.”

Amber shakes her head at the joke before putting her mask on, “If your ex-wife kills me, you stay out of my virtual funeral.” Amber opens the car door, exits out and slams the door behind her before heading to the house. Jackson sighs before putting the car in drive and heading to his destination.

After a ten-minute drive he parks in April’s driveway outside her house, gets out of the car and knocks on the door. He waits patiently with a mask on for a few moments before the door opens and he’s face to face with April Kepner.

“Hey.” April greets Jackson who looks at her worried. She can tell by his face and gets worried too, “What’s wrong?”

“We need to talk.”

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Tom Ascol | If the last few years have forced evangelicals to reconsider anything it is the nature of authority in the world and in the church. On Monday, March 16, 2020, President Trump announced that a corona virus was spreading throughout the world in such a way that we were facing a pandemic of epic proportions. He and federal health officials proposed a “15 days to slow the spread—or flatten the curve” of the virus in hopes of minimizing…

[remembertheplunge]

Only Dancing With It Will See Us Through

“There is no satisfaction. A blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive.”

Martha Graham to Agnes de Mille. From “Creating a life worth living, fly page 2/4/2020 Tuesday 5:46am

The above quote was written in a journal that I began on October 17, 2019. The last entry I made before I misplaced the journal was on February 5, 2020. The Covid 19 pandemic had not yet begun in California where I lived.  The following entry is the first in this journal after I relocated it and after the pandemic had roared into our lives:

“This journal was lost under a pile  of books until now. It emerges into a different world. The world of the last entry, 2/5/2020 is gone. Done. Shut. Over. The second geography ended 3/15/2020. The Corona Virus pilgrimage began the third geography. The second geography set was struck during the week of March 16-20, 2020. It’s now Sunday, April 26, 2020. It’s 6:11am. Everything now is radio active. Poisonous. To touch or to talk to closely with another is potentially fatal. We have become a party of one. The virus is invisible, silent. Relentless. It seeks donor bodies like a mosquito seeks blood. Second geography denial is music to the virus’s ears. To group is to die. Group oriented capitalism is a potentially fatal endeavor. The world has shrunk away to your house, your car , the store. Money and machines hold no sway in the virus’s relentless march. Orders and control also are useless in its path.

Only dancing with it will see us through.

End of entry

Notes:

Agnes de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham was an American dancer and choreographer. 

I call the time after I quit drinking on February 21, 2011 the second geography. It was a land of working out in gyms, personal trainers, writing in coffee houses, seeing movies and plays.  All of this done alcohol free.  But, the advent of Covid 19 in March 2020 led to the third geography which to some extent still exists. I now, in 2024,  almost never go to coffee houses, movies or plays. I write and blog instead, which are solitary pursuits. The fear of the virus still pervades, but in a subdued form.

When a play's run is over, the play set is taken down. This is called "striking the set".

I actually love the quote by Martha Graham that begins this entry. I agree, there is no satisfaction. Even now as I write this, I feel anxious. But, the anxiousness propels the pen, or the fingers dancing on the computer keys. The pursuit of happiness is like chasing a ghost. Instead, turn dissatisfaction into gold via channeling it into a creative endeavor.