Share this page!

Jennifer Brea🦒 Profile picture
Twitter logo
16 Dec, 4 tweets, 2 min read
My last few days on Twitter in health officials’ and MDs’ mentions urging them that “maybe you should think more about #longCOVID” feels eerily like Feb 2020 when I was urging “we need to mask the entire population.” Still remember when this was a minority opinion among experts
To be clear, I wasn’t the only one. I used to live in Asia, and spent time in cities where, out of politeness, people mask themselves when they *have a cold* to avoid sharing it with others. When it launched, I went bananas supporting the #masks4all campaign.
I am convinced this grassroots, mainly Twitter campaign brought us the one of the most effective risk reduction tools of this pandemic, which is both inspiring and deeply, deeply sad on many levels. (As in, it shifted national policy.)
Similarly, I believe grassroots campaigns can shift the current top line public health messaging (and thinking) to include what is missing and stem misinformation. So despite the deja vu, I am optimistic. #longCOVID #TreatLongCovid

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Jennifer Brea🦒

Jennifer Brea🦒 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @jenbrea

Jennifer Brea🦒 Profile picture
17 Dec
Anyone who wants to reduce #COVID19 DEATHS should be talking about #disability, #longCOVID, and methods for reducing transmission in each and every prevention message.

The “vaccinate so you don’t die”-only message is clearly not working.
Right now 95% of the public health messaging (formal, informal, mass media, social media, expert, lay) is focused on “get vaccinated and boosted so we can reduce hospitalizations and deaths.” ImageImageImageImage
In reality, vaccination alone is not proving to be effective at controlling #COVID19 spread, and while the % of people unvaccinated contribute to this, it is not the sole or ultimate reason.
Read 28 tweets
Jennifer Brea🦒 Profile picture
16 Dec
I don’t think most Americans understand how hard it is to be hospitalized and how sick it is possible to be without ever seeing the inside of a hospital.
Personal anecdote: It took seven years of being primarily bedridden before I was admitted to a hospital for testing. I had to deteriorate to a point where I was constantly becoming paralyzed, would stop breathing, and would pass out, over and over again, for hours.
And ultimately, I was only admitted via the visibility I achieved and the connections I made from directing a nationally televised film. I had plenty of experiences being turned away from the ERs of multiple hospitals. (This was all in pre-pandemic times.)
Read 4 tweets
Jennifer Brea🦒 Profile picture
16 Dec
Our community takes a very non-judgmental approach to suicide because we understand the extremes of suffering people have had to endure. All I can say is that it gets better, even if your physical health does not, and it is still possible to live a very good life. #longCOVID
My first three years, I had many dates and many bargains with myself. I thought that my post-viral illness was going to end in me taking my life. “I can’t watch myself be destroyed like this so in six months, if things don’t get better, I’ll…”
I’d make it to six months, then give myself another six months, then another. My symptoms were SEVERE. @unrestfilm does not begin to touch what I actually experienced.
Read 45 tweets
Jennifer Brea🦒 Profile picture
15 Dec
I had the privilege of talking to someone almost two years ago who was very intimately involved in fighting the pandemic and shaping our entire response to it. I offered to present (or curate people to present) to their organization on post-viral illness and disability.
It seemed important to have more (rather than less) information. And perhaps some of their considerable resources could go into research & prevention. Or at least their influence.

I was rebuffed.
He told me that all their efforts were focused on the vaccine, and once there was a vaccine, it would end the pandemic, and so would be the best way to prevent post-viral illness.

A friend in the UK told me there are triple vaxxed households experiencing Omicron outbreaks.
Read 9 tweets
Jennifer Brea🦒 Profile picture
15 Dec
Disabled folk…as we are know, medicine has long held a major blind spot when it comes to disability. I think this gap is feeding into poor public education about the true risks of COVID, but it is hard to have this convo with MDs who feel under siege and under-supported…
…and are experiencing their own traumas. At the same time, remaining silent about constantly being left out (not counted, barely mentioned) isn’t an option. I am thinking here about #HighRiskCovid19 but also about #longCOVID and this reality
If we had educated the public from day one regarding the risks of long-term disability up and down the age bracket, rather than solely the concern of those most at risk of dying, could we have prevented many deaths and injuries?
Read 16 tweets
Jennifer Brea🦒 Profile picture
15 Dec
I am just going to keep saying it. This is the largest mass disabling event in our history.

The more I sit with that reality the more dissonant our entire approach to the pandemic appears.

It would be great if MDs could start talking about this.
To clarify, when I say it would be great if MDs could start talking about this, I mean could start talking about the pandemic *like this*, as well as sharing the below public health info, still poorly understood by many HCPs or considered “low priority”
If you spend a lot of time consuming information about the pandemic, whether from public health agencies, the media, or MD/MPH experts, you might, on balance, come away with the mistaken impression that this is primarily a pandemic of hospitalizations and mass death.
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @jenbrea has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @jenbrea!

Read all threads by @jenbrea

:(