Nothing adds up about the latest Covid news. Apologies to those who think this may be overly conspiratorial, but here’s what we know:
1. Covid is not “milder,” though fewer people are dying in the acute stage due to vaccines. It still causes long term harm. /🧵
2. We know Covid damages the immune system, shows viral persistence, can cross the blood brain barrier and damage brain function, and can cause a range of other autoimmune diseases and leave people susceptible to rare fungal infections and cancers. That hasn’t changed, either. /2
3. We know Covid is airborne like smoke. People who read scientific papers translated from overseas knew that from at least January of 2020, and the rest have been lying to you. If 6 feet doesn’t work for second hand smoke, it doesn’t work for this. /3
4. We know that the average time for someone to be infectious is around 10 days, though it can frequently be 14 or more.
5. We know the 5 day isolation guideline was lobbied for by Delta Airlines due to staffing issues, not science. /4
6. We know isolation guidelines in absence of supportive payments and policies encouraging remote work are not feasible for the majority of working class people. The right thing would have been to create generous paid leave and stop funding schools based on ableist attendance /5
7. We know that two Vichy Dems in the senate who were the holdouts on most progressive policy have been held up as the excuse for a lack of advocacy for these reforms especially between 20-22. Leaders should have used their podiums to rally behind the right thing. Instead: /6
Narrator: just because something is difficult to pass doesn’t mean you don’t keep fighting for it. Public opinion is powerful. Instead of the GOP being seen as the obstacle here, it’s the Dems themselves. Again
Even if you think you’ll lose, there are still fights worth having/7
8. We know that ventilation is extremely important for airborne disease control. We also know we sent money to schools who bought hand sanitizer instead of #DavosSafe ventilation upgrades.
We know many offices have also not seen the kinds of upgrades needed. /8
9. We know (based on basic PHYSICS) that masks with gaps are bad for preventing airborne viruses. Brownian motion, an electrostatic fibers, and barrier all work together to make N95s effective protection against Covid. Public health thought it was too hard to explain. /9
10. Those of us doing the homework our leaders should have been doing and weren’t knew it was likely the vaccines provided temporary, incomplete protection and do not prevent transmission or Long Covid to the degree promised. Vax only is not enough. /10
11. Testing is no longer free because the Biden administration limited how many tests could be sent out per household and then claimed people were not requesting them.
12. Whatever you do, don’t Google “Covid placenta.”
Suffice it to say, still a problem for mothers and babies. You know, the ones we claim to care about so much?
13. We know that children DO spread Covid. This was one of the more bizarre lies of the past few years. They may *appear* fine (*except for the extra tiredness that lingers, the difficulty concentrating, the moodiness, the constant illness….).
13,b: We don’t know what repeat infections will do to kids.
We do know each infection can cause damage.
We have infected most children and continue to do so.
That doesn’t seem smart. /14
14. We know that some jobs require a high level of focus which may be in jeopardy with repeat infections.
There are profound implications for medicine, national security, and the airline industry. /15
15. We know that a five day course of Paxlovid is typically not enough, and that rebound effects happen. We likely need a 28 day course of a different antiviral that targets the thymus and preserves T cell function. We could at least start with 10 days Paxlovid as the norm. /16
16. We know that reinfections are not only NOT RARE but the norm. Failing to mitigate the spread of this thing means faster viral evolution and new variants your body doesn’t recognize.
17. See above every time people claim there is herd immunity. It’s obviously not the case/17
18. And so for these and many more reasons, the CDC guidance to YOLO on Covid only makes sense if you’re part of the managerial class.
The only thing that matters to you is money, not people. Not lives, not health, not futures. /18
19. You should also know that should you become disabled by Covid, it will be seen as *your* moral failing.
It is NOT. But, you’ll be blamed for not staying current on a vax that wanes, not masking though the CDC is relatively silent about it, and not having paid leave /19
20. In the U.S., we are returning to an era of institutionalization, and it takes on average 3 years to be approved for social security disability payments.
We are letting Covid have entirely free rein and there is functionally NO SECURITY NET for millions. /20
21. We’ve made terrible policy choices in the face of abundant information warning us to take a different path.
And so I am particularly curious as to why our @POTUS is now also said to be adhering to new CDC guidelines. /21
@POTUS 22. He doesn’t have time to spend four years neck deep in research. So, whose advice is this?
Does the WH make use of FarUV technology and increased ventilation? Probably. But not at a cafe in Iowa. Not on the campaign trail.
Does he use a daily antiviral? Which one(s)? /22
@POTUS 23. As a matter of national security, we are owed answers as to what prevention methods outside of vaccines the president is using.
Because if there is no longer testing, he’ll likely get sick.
The person whose job it is to know this is negligent or needs a visit from Commander
@POTUS 24. And while some are relishing the possibility of FAFO here for a variety of valid reasons, I really want to know who is calling the shots - especially on Covid prevention at the White House.
Because they’re effectively determining policy for all of us, and they’re wrong.
@POTUS 25. As usual, I block trolls. For everything else:
I’m not sure how much I buy into the predictive power of dreams, but given the Friday news dump at the CDC, this one feels eerily relevant. 🧵
15 years ago, I was teaching music at a Christian school. Loved the kids, but the admin was rarely transparent or consistent, and often reactive to parents demanding concierge service rather than supportive of teachers’ efforts. There were two who were particularly toxic. /2
Now, before you tell me that’s what I get for teaching at a private school, please understand I have performance degrees and was working on ed certification. Public schools will hire uncertified teachers in high need areas and train them, but music is not on that list. /3
With regards to the, “Why did #TracyChapman make us cry,” dialog:
of course it was nostalgia, but deeper than that was the honesty. It’s what we have been craving and didn’t realize how much we missed it. 🧵
We live in a post truth society where we no longer acknowledge a pandemic that is one of the largest new drivers of poverty and disability.
Instead, political leaders tell us how great the economy is. But, whose economy? Theirs is the #FastCar we wish we had. /2
The real economy consists of consumers with constant sticker shock at greedflation, and rents outstripping wage increases.
“Buy a nice house and move to the suburbs,” is increasingly out of reach for many. “Leave tonight or live and die this way,” has become the latter. /3
If you missed the Senate #HELPLongCovid hearing today, I have a few takeaways. 🧵
.@SenSanders opened the hearing with appropriate acknowledgment of the seriousness of #LongCovid, including the potential numbers of Americans affected. It was a good start, and he seems reasonably well informed compared to some of his colleagues. /2
@SenSanders .@SenBillCassidy also began with due gravitas and then veered into an analysis of the smell of his dog’s urine, which…is an apt visual for the handling of #Covid by current and former administrations.
I smell smoke in my house. It’s not immediately obvious anything is burning. My husband tells me we should leave as a precaution, but I am comfortable in my chair, and besides, it will be time for bed soon.
He quickly grabs a few things and important papers. I open a beer. 🧵
Over the next few hours, the smell intensifies, but I still can’t locate the source. I’m getting increasingly panicked entreaties from my husband, asking me to pack and prepare to go, sending research about the amount of time a person has to safely evacuate. I can’t see a fire /2
So, I turn off my phone and go to sleep. Overnight, my husband has sent me scientific journals about the psychology of emergency response, data about possible insurance coverage, articles describing terrible outcomes for people who ignore smoke. At this point, I’m annoyed. /3
After four years of reading peer reviewed research to try to get a handle on facts instead of propaganda, I really have too much to say about the #PodSaveJon situation for a single thread.
So, I want to talk about dads. 🧵
When our daughter was little, she was in too much pain to sleep well.
My husband sacrificed many nights to stay up and cradle her.
She didn’t sleep even three hours on her own until she had a diagnosis and some strong meds, at age 2 and a half.
Hubs didn’t complain. /2
When our daughter was four, she would sometimes choose to scoot across the floor rather than walking if she was in too much pain.
A few years later, when my husband’s department was cut, he found three part time gigs to make sure our little girl had the meds she needed. /3
I get responses like this a lot, and I’m never mad at it. People understandably blame the vaccine when the @CDCDirector and @WHCOS push the idea that “Covid is mild, like a cold.”
The only people who know the truth are folks who have read the peer reviewed data from 2020 on 🧵
First of all, let’s deal with the *very real* claim of vaccine injuries. They DO happen, with every vaccine that exists in a tiny number of people. However, for the vast majority, vaccines have for example, prevented polio, keeping them from disability and / or an iron lung. /2
Secondly, let’s deal with the 2 ways we know #LongCovid is not a vaccine reaction
1)Studies of SARS-CoV-1 survivors reveal some similar long term symptoms. There was no vaccine then
2)Many studies of SARS-CoV-2 (Covid) that showed potential to disable long term were pre-vax /3