Short 🧵I just refused an invitation to a party from a dear friend of many yrs. She lives in the US, but is in town for a family event & she's invited me & hubby. Though we don't see each other often due to distance, we have remained close over the yrs... Here's what I wrote:
"Unfortunately, I don't think J. and I will attend the party. Since we both always mask at indoor events, we probably wouldn't stay very long and wouldn't eat or drink anything..."

A 🧵Just got a call from Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto asking me to increase my monthly donation. I let the person calling drone on for a bit abt how wonderful the hosp. is & the amazing care they provide. Then ... I let 'er rip: I told the caller how thoroughly & utterly disgusted I am that they dropped the mask mandate. I forcefully repeated the word "disgusted" a number of times. If a voice could drip w/ contempt, it would've been mine...

Every time I think I've actually come to terms w/ the fact that virtually all the ppl I know have simply turned the pandemic off in the minds & are blithely making themselves & others ill, if not killing them, I realize that I'm still raging. A 🧵 Our provincial govt has decided to stop funding wastewater surveillance program. This means that not only will we lose the best info we have on Cvd spread, but we'll also be robbed of stats on H5N1, polio, RSV, flu & many other transmissible diseases. So...

The argument that "life is always full of risks, so just live your life" is difficult to counter b/c it involves an extremely nuanced analysis of the situation ... (explaining just how serious a one-in-ten chance is, understanding how population health and anecdotal observations cannot be compared, asking people to be concerned about the health of perfect strangers, & the list goes on and on) ...

Yesterday I had supper (outdoors) w/ 4 friends living in 2019. I masked up when I went in to use the bathroom. Almost no mention of cvd (past tense only), lots of chatting abt trips, plans, new jazz cafes, etc. I felt like a martian. 1/ The realization that those I hold dear are totally oblivious to an outgoing health disaster is often more than I can take. I realize that most ppl cannot psychologically support looking disaster in the face.

Many years from now, when historians look back on this pandemic, the stupidity of both the private and the public sectors will not go unnoticed. 1/ COVID is airborne. We now know that controlling the spread of the virus requires a multi-pronged approach. Although vaccines are incredibly important and helpful, vaccination alone can only go so far. Essentially, it decreases the severity of the illness in most people...