Notices by katharine (thatkatharine@ohai.social), page 4

In doing risk assessment, we consider exposure time and quality of PPE, but what we still can’t quite know is size and impact of infectious dose. Like, we can only guess how much virus is circulating in the rebreathed air based on CO2 measurements, but how much of that does one need to breathe in before reaching an “infectious dose”? How much or little can one inhale of any toxin before it takes hold and does its damage? Risk math can’t determine the susceptibility of any given person.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@indivisibleteam/115792873932521973

Sure, things are terrible right now, but we’d rather wait until the weather is a bit more pleasant so we can all have a nice day out with our quippy protest signs.

Imagine being so anti-humanity, you get mad at a humanist typeface.

“Carry a mask with you and put it on when you feel like it” is risk assessment by vibes. Vibes cannot tell you if a building is properly ventilated or if there’s adequate air cleaning or if that small group of people has an asymptomatic carrier amongst them.

Are we going to get another round of annual commemorative stories about The Year Lives Were Disrupted For Some Reason? “A thing happened *dismissive hand wave* somewhere and we were forced to Cancel Our Plans. It was horrible. We binged a show on Netflix and made bread for a couple of months but it didn’t magically go away and we had to cancel the plans that we rescheduled. Crazy times lol. Also, some people died, we guess. From the Disruption or With the Disruption? We’ll never know.”

“People were Very Inconvenienced by not being able to get their hair done and go to concerts and eat inside restaurants. Most everyone was glad to get vaxxed so they could gather inside poorly-ventilated buildings and see each other’s mouths and noses, which is apparently Extremely Vital for Mental Health. We don’t know why everyone is so sick all the time now. So weird. Maybe cancelling plans very specifically in 2020 only is bad for immune system?”

The rest of the website is still undergoing the lite makeover and expansion, but this should tide you over if you need a recap of what Covid is and does.

(If you notice any glitches on this page, let me know)

https://covidsafescouts.com/covid.html

The medical director at the Institut Pasteur’s respiratory infections centre decides to minimize the experience of millions of people still getting walloped in this pandemic while doing scary waggle fingers over a potential new pandemic.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/bird-flu-poses-risk-of-pandemic-worse-than-covid-frances-institut-pasteur-says/

I suppose it's not surprising that Doctor "I needed stitches from fainting in the shower with Covid but insist the infection is mild and I'm fine" is Team AI.

"If I hadn't passed out..."

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1679322231003033600.html

Stay home, eat cheeses
Don’t be vector for diseases
More masks, fewer wheezes
Don’t trust breezes
with loose sneezes
Public health data freezes
do not mean virus ceases
Ignore conformists with their teases
Conforming with them never pleases
Though the world is falling to pieces
Don’t be who the virus seizes

This after pop culture outlets posting about social media speculation over the lead actresses gaunt appearances during the press tour this week.

But sure, normalsies.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/nov/20/ariana-grande-covid-wicked-for-good-press-tour

Let’s talk about curbside pickup for shopping

I’ll preface by saying that I know ordering online, either via computer web browser or phone app, and having purchases loaded into a car are privileges that are not available to everyone. People still need to use cash and don’t have personal vehicles and maybe don’t even have internet-capable portable telephones. So, now, you’ll understand that I’m not suggesting that everyone must do this and that all stores must pivot to curbside only.

Another thing coming up short in my search for resources is a guide for small businesses to pivot to Covid-safer practices. I’ve collected a bunch of lovely guides for Covid-safer event planning, a couple covering Covid-safer travel, and a lot of nicely detailed how-to guides and worksheets for getting through an infection. Nothing much about fitting air purifiers and CO2 monitors, encouraging respirator use, or how-to guides for budgeting for those costs.

"Should I start a mask bloc" should be the new "should I start a band/podcast."

You should totally start a mask bloc.

@Infoseepage I’ve got the P100 cartridges on. From what I’ve read, the MSA 900 only takes the cartridges, but the MSA 200 can use the flat filters.

RE: https://ohai.social/@thatkatharine/110929025647408133

Still haven’t had occasion to go outside in this kit. Might try it on to see how good it goes with my new MSA 900 tho

“test when sick” and “stay home when sick” only addresses symptomatic illness, when people are more obviously aware that they’ve been infected with something.

We’re approaching year six of a virus that has always been known to spread without noticeable symptoms and we have not addressed that problem since The Lockdowns™️ with quarantines and routine testing.

The most accurate bit of tidy guidance anyone can offer in an infographic is “test every time you’re getting ready to leave your home.”

Testing has always been a mess—the availability and affordability of PCR testing and home tests, the timing of test results, the swabbing —how and where and when, the timing on when and how often to test during infection, the limited quantity of RATs per box, the reliability of RATs, etc.

Everyday testing to catch and reduce the spread of asymptomatic infections is unfeasible, but it’s a manufactured unfeasibility due to suppressed understanding and demand.