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   Josh Simmons (josh@josh.tel)'s status on Friday, 23-Feb-2024 16:24:48 JST Josh Simmons

   Downplaying the risks of COVID has shifted the Overton window, and now we also get to worry about measles outbreaks and a resurgence of HIV denialism.

   I'm not asking for everyone to be as cautious as I am, but I'd appreciate it if more people of good will spoke up when others minimize or dismiss the severity of the situation.

   This isn't a respiratory disease. It's a vascular, multisystem disease that we do not know how to treat.

   Well researched summary published today: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0867

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     DB (lawyersgunsnmoney@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 23-Feb-2024 16:24:53 JST DB

     in reply to

     @josh It is a novel virus and as such IMO there are so many things we don't understand and won't for some time, probably years. Better understanding COVID helps everyone.

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     Josh Simmons (josh@josh.tel)'s status on Friday, 23-Feb-2024 16:24:56 JST Josh Simmons

     in reply to

     • DB

     @lawyersgunsnmoney Absolutely. I found it really striking when I heard a credible researcher say that, as of right now, he'd rather get HIV than COVID.

     Because at least we understand HIV and know how to treat it.

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     Josh Simmons (josh@josh.tel)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:53:53 JST Josh Simmons

     in reply to

     There are many factors at play here, no doubt, but the dynamic is not dissimilar to what happens when we do not object to casual racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia.

     People pick up on those signals, and it enables even worse things.

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     Josh Simmons (josh@josh.tel)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:53:56 JST Josh Simmons

     in reply to

     • wet forest moon folklorist

     @seachanger Ugh, right there with you. At this point, much of my in-person socializing happens outdoors or at my own place where I can manage the environment.

     I try as much as possible to avoid settings in which I can feel that peer pressure, because I know I'm super vulnerable to it: I am more likely to consistently mask in a crowd of unmasked strangers than I am in a crowd of unmasked friends.

     But I just can't risk further disablement. That'd mean oblivion for those who rely on my income.

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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:53:57 JST wet forest moon folklorist

     in reply to

     @josh I find it so difficult to explain my Covid cautiousness in the brief window my friends are willing to listen when it comes up. The information gap just keeps growing as they avoid reading the latest and I read more and more. The result is I end up peer pressured into taking on risk I really don’t want, and then feel stressed about it 😞

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     Shantell Powell (shanmonster@c.im)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:54:20 JST Shantell Powell

     in reply to

     • TransitBiker
     • canleaf08 ⌘ ✅
     • Another concerned scientist

     @TransitBiker @canleaf @ABScientist @josh I wish this were the case but it is not. Most of my medical care professionals aren’t masking anymore. I had to go for an endoscopy, and I asked my attending medical workers to please wear masks as I am high risk. They refused. I finally caught COVID for the first time in October at a dentist appointment. My dentist wasn’t wearing a mask until I asked him to. At my last dentist appointment, I realized halfway through a filling that the dental assistant was sick. She was only wearing one of those crappy surgical masks. I really hope I don’t catch whatever she had. She had a cough and sniffles. Even a common cold sometimes ends me up in the hospital. I hate that I have to put my life at risk in order to obtain medical care.

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     canleaf08 ⌘ ✅ (canleaf@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:54:21 JST canleaf08 ⌘ ✅

     in reply to

     • TransitBiker
     • Another concerned scientist

     @TransitBiker @ABScientist @josh Social pressure at work or school is another thing. So many Astlochs in Germany told me to “take down the mask, the pandemic is over”. A climbing gym in Berlin even tried to deny me service. People have become stoopid as f…

   • Embed this notice
     TransitBiker (transitbiker@urbanists.social)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:54:21 JST TransitBiker

     in reply to

     • canleaf08 ⌘ ✅
     • Another concerned scientist

     @canleaf @ABScientist @josh do you know who is still wearing proper respiratory protection? Eye doctors, dentists, internal medicine specialists, Aerosol science experts. I know many other medical professionals are still traumatized over this pandemic, and what they have seen and gone through especially back in 2020. It scares me to see so many of them without a mask, especially in hospitals.

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     TransitBiker (transitbiker@urbanists.social)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:54:23 JST TransitBiker

     in reply to

     • Another concerned scientist

     @ABScientist @josh say that to the people at the DMV who want you to come in and take your mask off for a picture in the building full of people with almost no ventilation.

   • Embed this notice
     Another concerned scientist (abscientist@forall.social)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:54:24 JST Another concerned scientist

     in reply to

     @josh

     At least give people the choice whether they want to be exposed or not.

     Why is there not a single section in trains for people who do not want to breathe in other people's air?

     Why are workplaces forcing people back into the office without mitigations in place?

     Why are children forced inside poorly ventilated classrooms?

   • Embed this notice
     Magnus Ahltorp (ahltorp@mastodon.nu)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:54:28 JST Magnus Ahltorp

     in reply to

     • TransitBiker
     • canleaf08 ⌘ ✅
     • Shantell Powell
     • Another concerned scientist

     @Shanmonster @TransitBiker @canleaf @ABScientist @josh By “prepared”, I mean prepared as a society, by actually having properly functioning healthcare for all that isn’t dependent on underpaid, overworked staff that have to play a game of 17 puzzle to make everything work. Prepared for the next crisis.

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     Shantell Powell (shanmonster@c.im)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:54:29 JST Shantell Powell

     in reply to

     • TransitBiker
     • canleaf08 ⌘ ✅
     • Magnus Ahltorp
     • Another concerned scientist

     @ahltorp @TransitBiker @canleaf @ABScientist @josh how can I better prepare to enter a medical facility where there are infected people and I am unable to wear a mask for the medical treatment I require? I’m fully vaccinated, use an antiviral spray in my nose, and propolis spray in my throat. I also do my best to be the first appointment of the day, which minimizes my exposure. But that’s all I know how to do.

   • Embed this notice
     Magnus Ahltorp (ahltorp@mastodon.nu)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:54:30 JST Magnus Ahltorp

     in reply to

     • TransitBiker
     • canleaf08 ⌘ ✅
     • Shantell Powell
     • Another concerned scientist

     @Shanmonster @TransitBiker @canleaf @ABScientist @josh So we have gone from paying medical professionals with applause to shitting on them in a few years. When will we ever learn what it takes to be prepared?

   • Embed this notice
     Nini (nini@bitbang.social)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:54:33 JST Nini

     in reply to

     @josh The notion that as long as you have vaccines then you're fine seems to be a big problem as repeated infections are taking severe tolls on some. Might need more education for the general public on this though I doubt anyone really wants to given even mentioning the last four years feels like a social taboo.

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