#then! corona virus....

[frengles]

i'm trying to start taking my life seriously again in a myriad of ways and i can sense that i am on my way to becoming slightly less fun again so as to achieve a more fulfilling 生活 and continue growing in the directions I want to. it's like a perennial thing. the last one was 2018-2019 if you've been tracking my personal psychology

[nando161mando]

[mostly-funnytwittertweets]

[wojakgallery]

Title/Name: The Soyrona Virus Wojak Series: Soyjak (Variant) Image by: Unknown Main Tag: Virus Wojak

[ancient-string]

Also did everyone catch the symbolism of the random man just hanging out in Glass Onion?

The one who always had a bottle of corona in his hand?

[starcrossedandstupid]

[down4caitlin]

Fever WIN.

[socialismforall]

Weekly COVID-19 Update for 2023-12-24

COVID is still airborne, and COVID still very much isn't over.

Northeastern and Midwestern USA SARS2 virus levels in wastewater are *soaring*, Northeast is currently at 1500 copies/mL (~750 copies indicates a strong surge), and Midwest is at 1300 copies/mL. Southeastern and Western USA are maintaining relatively lower levels between 600 and 700 overall, but both are still climbing. See https://biobot.io/data for county-specific data as results can vary widely between locales.

How to reduce your risk of infection? The SARS2 virus is airborne and can spread like smoke, so #MaskUp with an #N95 or better, avoid superspreader events and locations, and stay up-to-date on your boosters. Do it for yourself, so you don't catch SARS-CoV-2, and for others, so you don't spread SARS-CoV-2. Even if you're fully vaccinated, your risk of developing #LongCOVID following an infection is lower but not zero, and multiple reinfections increase your odds of negative health outcomes. Plan A always should be to prevent an infection from developing by wearing a respirator with a good seal around your mouth and nose (FFP2, FFP3, KN95, N95, N99, P100, etc.).

Holiday tips:

-If someone tells you that COVID is over, you might ask them why, if we didn't consider COVID to be over in 2020 or 2021, when the COVID wastewater levels were lower, why should we consider it over now, when the virus is circulating in even higher amounts?

-"Fewer cases" doesn't mean much when most of the at-home rapid tests don't get counted in official records, and the most accurate PCR tests are neither freely available nor given to everyone getting on a plane or attending classes.

-"Fewer deaths" also means less when you remember that about 1,200,000 of the most vulnerable people already have died from it, COVID-19 remains the #3 cause of death in 2023 (behind heart disease and cancer, the risk of both of which may be increased by COVID), and the risk of a Long COVID/post-acute COVID syndrome (PACS) disability or other potentially life-shortening organ damage (brain, kidney, lung, immune, etc.) isn't measured just by the death count. Also, the USA's life expectancy still hasn't recovered from the drop it experienced following the start of the pandemic.

source: https://biobot.io/data

source: https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20231006/these-are-the-top-10-causes-of-death-in-the-us

source: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2022/covid-and-the-heart-it-spares-no-one

source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33914346/

source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/11/29/average-us-life-expectancy-increased-not-pre-covid/71738611007/

[heresylog]

Does holy water stay holy if it's spritzed? Like, if I put holy water in a spray bottle and turn the nozzle to "mist" does it still count as flowing?

So quickly you forget the Covid-19 pandemic

Short answer: yes.

[nando161mando]

"Wear a mask! Protect your privacy! And your health!" (EN: English)

[northwestmutt]

Let's talk about my POTS!

I recently got a mobility aid to assist me, and I want to talk about that. But I feel like I should give the full backstory of my POTS in a post first, and then my next post will be talking about my mobility aid. Content warnings for covid mention, feet pictures (blood pooling), and medical gaslighting - POTS is short for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. It is currently described as a dysfunction of the automatic nervous system, which is what controls involuntary things like heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, etc. but some studies incidate that it may also be an autoimmune disorder (though more research is needed on that). The primary criteria for diagnosis of POTS is a heart rate increase of 30 beats per minute or more within 10 minutes of standing up from a resting position. Many experience other symptoms such as lightheadedness, dizziness, shortness of breath, cold and/or discolored hands or feet, fatigue, etc. and some patients even faint. An ongoing issue for patients with POTS is getting a diagnosis. Few doctors or specialists know enough about POTS to test for it, and many doctors even blame it on other disorders such as anxiety.

I developed POTS after having COVID-19 in September of 2022. I was experiencing lightheadedness, dizziness, increased heart rate within a few minutes of standing, blood pooling in my feet, and fatigue. I went to my primary doctor at the time (we will him Dr. J), and he ordered bloodwork, which all came back normal. Dr. J brushed off my symptoms as anxiety and told me to stop drinking caffeine, so I did. I stopped drinking anything with caffeine (soda, coffee, etc.) for about a month, and it made zero change to my symptoms. After kicking caffeine had no change, he reluctantly referred me to a cardiologist. The cardiologist I saw (we will call him Dr. B) had a heavy accent which made communicating with him difficult. I had to rephrase what told him about my symptoms a few different times, and he didn't seem to fully listen or understand what I was saying becuase the only symptom he wrote in my chart notes was orthostatic lightheadedness (lightheadedness when standing). Dr. B did send me off to have more bloodwork done, and have an ACTH stimulation test. All of these came back normal, so Dr. B said he couldn't help me because "it's not a cardiac issue"

So I went back to my primary doctor, and asked him if he would do a heart rate test. He told me he didn't have time for that, and Dr. J basically accused me of "worrying too much" and claimed all of my symptoms were "normal" and that "everyone experiences that" so I should just stop bringing it up. After he said that, I felt like I was being gaslit by him so I switched providers. I made an appointment to see a different provider (he's a nurse practioner, so we will call him NP C. I cant remmeber the full acronym for his degree/job title) and at my very first appointment, he preformed the exact heart rate test I had asked Dr J. to preform without me even asking, and listened to all of my symptoms I was describing. He told me "yeah that's POTS" and I left with a diagnosis of POTS. This was either late October 2023 or early november 2023. I then went to see a different cardiologist who had more experience with POTS, and he agreed it sounded like POTS but ordered a tilt table test to be sure. I had the tilt table test in late December 2023, and the cardiologist who prefomed the test (a third, entirely different cardiologist that I hadn't seen before) confirmed that I had POTS. Unfortunately, I never got a follow-up appointment with the new cardiologist, because he was forced to re-retire due to illness. So I ended up seeing a fourth cardiologist, who didn't know anything more about POTS and POTS treatments than google does. She confirmed the diagnosis that I was given, but wasn't able to offer me any additional treatments. Medications to lower heart rate aren't an option, because my resting heart rate is already the low end of normal, and that taking one would risk bradycardia (low heart heart rate) So it took me over a year to get a diagnosis, after being gaslit by my former primary doctor and not understood by a specialist. But I had my new provider and three different cardiologists all agree that I have POTS. My advice to anyone who thinks they have POTS, but isn't being heard by their doctor, switch doctors if you can. Even if you've been seeing that doctor for years, switch doctors. I had been seeing my former primary doctor since I was a baby, but I couldn't handle being gaslit and accused of making things up anymore. Below is a photo of my feet as an example of blood pooling. Depending on the device you are using to view this, the discoloration in my feet after standing may be less visible/dramatic due to different screens showing different colors. It's more visible and closer to accurate when viewed on a newer phone than it is when I view it on my laptop that I am using to write this post.

[nyxypoo]

DONT DISRESPECT HIM LIKE THAT

he didn't deserve this treatment 💔 MAN GOJO NEEDED TO DIE BUT SUKUNA DIDNT (i am crazy. delusional.) HE WAS JUST HAVING FUN THEYAYNEJAJNS gege did him so dirty ugh

[morlock-holmes]

Spent two hours (75% of that on hold) to find out that my princely yearly income of $25,000 after taxes makes me too much of a rich uncle pennybags to qualify for Medicare now that COVID is over.

Judging from a friend's experience with the Obamacare marketplace I can get a fairly cheap plan, we're talking $15 a month and $4,000 out of pocket maximum per year, which of course is still at "Maybe I'll need to ration my healthcare" levels. Well, it will be a while until I dig through available plans.

[nethminiperera]

After Life Covid-19 Final output.

Final Animation Short.

[crabussy]

TO PREFACE. this post is ONLY about the people who openly boast about this and act like they're better than people who do wear masks. the rest of you, drink some water and I love you okay?

I'm so so tired of seeing people SO PROUD of the fact that they refuse to wear a mask. it is such a small, small inconvenience to you but its so important to you that you prolong the pandemic and cause more suffering and death. when you parade your ignorance around I want you to remember this number:

6,910,810

thats the number of deaths from covid-19. that's the total number of people who have died because of the virus as of August 29 2023. it's repulsive how you don't even stop to think about the elderly, those with autoimmune diseases, the already sick or disabled who have such a high chance of dying if they are exposed to even one person with the virus. My dad is now disabled from long covid. he hasn't been able to ride his bike, his favourite activity in the world, for over half a year. and he's one of the least affected by the virus. My friend (no longer around) with an autoimmune disease could not travel for three years because aeroplanes were such a high risk zone for her because people weren't wearing masks in such close proximity.

please I am begging you. inconvenience yourself. people are dying.

I know the death toll is dwindling and thats fantastic but it's not over yet.