Thread by @1goodtern

The five things you need to know if you're just realising that it's bad for you to keep catching Covid:

1
You can't properly reduce your risk of catching Covid and still look normal.

That may seem like an odd one to start with, but it's a truth you've got to get your head around.

You're either going to look normal and keep catching Covid endlessly, or reduce your risk of infection and not look normal.

(Well, actually, not endlessly, I'm afraid. See point 3.)

Sorry.
Whether it's turning down meals indoors, or wearing a mask, or opening windows when everyone else wants them closed, or a dozen other things, you're going to start looking different.

Why?
Because:

2
You can't completely eliminate the risks posed by covid infections with invisible things like vaccines, ventilation, or air filtration.

Those invisible things (and others, I'll get to them) help make the effects less bad, or make the chance of getting infected *lower*, but not low enough to stop catching it or for there being no risk of being harmed by it.

And that's point

3
Yes, it really is worth avoiding covid infections.

For so many reasons.
Each covid infection puts a dent in your ability to fight off other infections:

The disruption to your immune function.
The drain on your body's resources.
The damage to individual organs and cells and body surfaces both internal and external.
This is not up for debate, it's just what Covid infections do....

... even if you've been vaccinated.

Vaccines *reduce* the risk of infection, and *reduce* the harm of infection, but they don't *eliminate* either.

And covid infections are still killing people.

Here in England it's officially 5,500 this year, but there's more uncounted ones too...

... because Covid makes you vulnerable to other infections and to other *conditions*.

Like heart attacks, strokes, embolisms, aneurysms, atrial fibrillation, kidney disease, liver disease, lung disease...

Do a search online for British Heart Foundation Covid and see what you get.

This is *established science*.

I know the papers occasionally publish it as if it's breaking news, but each time it's just a new confirmation of what we've known for nearly six years now.

Covid infections are dangerous in hundreds of ways.

There are officially over 250 conditions that are made more likely by covid infection.

I know that sounds like a lot, but it's because

4
Covid infections can damage absolutely every single part of your body.

One of Covid's central tricks is infecting the lining of your blood vessels and causing a) damage, b) swelling, and c) scarring there.

It can also do that in other organs like the fibres of muscles or sinews, or the lining of your lungs.

But the blood vessels go *everywhere*.

There's no part of your body that is not supplied with nutrients and cleaned of waste material by blood vessels.

So covid can affect *any* organ.

Yes, even those ones.

Now that is actually pretty scary when you think about it.

Because it's pretty scary, a lot of people do what they've always done for scary things.
They have:
Listened to people who tell them nothing's wrong.
Ignored everyone bad.

And...

5
Attacked people who tell them that covid is scary.

But not just attack the people who tell them that covid is scary.

Attack people who *in any way suggest that there might even be some reason to me concerned about Covid*.

So if you choose to take action that reduces your risk of Covid infection...

And you choose to take *visible* action to reduce your risk of Covid infection...

Then, sadly, that means that at some point they will attack you.

Not everyone will attack you.

Some will be kind.

Some will be considerate.

Some will be helpful.

But some will attack you.

Some of your family maybe.

Maybe your doctor.

Maybe your priest.

Maybe your partner.

You may know this for a sad reason.

You may have attacked or pressured or belittled or bullied someone yourself when you thought it was ok to catch Covid.

Maybe you'll have an opportunity at some point to say sorry.

If you do, please be aware that some of the people who have been attacked are carrying a lot of pain.

Saying sorry to them may release a load of emotion.

So be sensitive, and be ready.

But there's good news too.

If you're sick of Covid, or sick from covid, and you want to stop catching it so often, it is possible.

In fact, if you've read this thread so far, and you're thinking, "I don't want to catch Covid, but I want to look normal, are there any cheats I can use?", the answer is yes, kinda.

Why?
Because...

6
Covid is mainly spread by *airborne transmission*.

What does that mean...

Airborne transmission means that covid viral particles are *breathed out* by someone infected with Covid...

And then they *float around* for a while on the air, a bit like cigarette smoke, and then other people *breathe them in* and catch Covid.

*breathed out*
*float around*
*breathed in*

It also gets expelled from the body in larger droplets that fall quickly, but they're quite easy to deal with too... we'll come to them in a minute.

But basically your *main risk* with Covid is *breathing in* air that someone else has *breathed out*.

So you've got two main solutions:

7
Breathe in less air that other people have breathed out.

How...

Spend less time in places with people who might be infected.

If you do that, you'll spend less time breathing in their air.

So you can reduce the number of meetings.

You can reduce the number of people in the meetings.

You can reduce the length of meetings.

You can't control how many people use a building, but you can choose a quieter time in the building.

If you can, you can work from home.

But you can also breathe in less air that other people have breathed out by *doing more things outdoors*.

Don't go for a meal with a friend indoors, go for a walk.

Meet them for a game of frisbee or tennis or golf.

And you can also *bring the outdoors indoors*.

Open windows.

Use a ventilation system.

Heat exchangers can make that energy efficient.

Being outdoors is not foolproof.

It just reduces risk.

But that's what we're trying to do.

We're trying to reduce risk.

Now.
I mentioned meeting with fewer people.

It's worth mentioning at this point that covid floats on the air, but it also *lingers* on the air.

Like smoke.

So an empty room is not a safe room.

If someone with Covid has been in there before you, the particles can be floating on the air.

For two hours or more.

And that's where ventilation comes in really handy.

Flushing the room with fresh air clears out the covid floating there.

It'll take more than just a couple of minutes.

But there's a handy tool called a carbon dioxide meter that can help tell how fresh the air is.

When we breathe, we breathe out carbon dioxide.

So if there's loads of it in a room, it's a sign of lots of exhaled air.

But there's also a weird little bonus from getting rid of the carbon dioxide...

Covid particles remain intact and infectious *longer* in air rich in carbon dioxide.

So by getting rid of the carbon dioxide rich air, you're flushing out the covid particles *and* the thing that helps the covid particles stay viable for longer.

But if you're in a place with lots of exhaled air... and you can't get rid of it, then you need to:

8
Filter the air.

There are two types of filters that you can use to remove covid particles from the air.

One is a filter that filters the air of a room... like an air handling unit of a building, or a standalone system... 'merv' or 'hepa' filtration that's designed to remove small airborne particles from the air.

But that doesn't stop close up transmission of the floaty particles or those larger droplets.

Someone breathing straight out and you breathing it straight in.

So there are *filters* that you can wear on *your face*.

They're called respirators or filtering face pieces.

They're tested and rated for how effective they are.

You want N95+ or FFP2+.

And then you have to wear them anywhere you might be breathing out someone else's infected exhaled air.

And that's the bit where you stop looking normal.

Because if you're serious about this, then this is the second biggest way to reduce risk behind not being around other people.

And since most of us actually do have to be around other people, then this is the choice you have to make.

I'm going to share more tomorrow, but that's it for today.

Love ya.

Hold fast.
❤️❤️
👊👊