One of our team members just enrolled in this to test out the system. Their tests shipped in under 3 hours and arrived the next day. 🤯 [head exploding emoji]

🧐 Please note:
[focused monacle face emoji]

The signup has a few nosy questions, which are mandatory. One was about whether you identify as a marginalized gender. Another asked whether you have avoided healthcare recently and why. (Incredibly "covid" wasn't an option? Nevermind "covid expsosure risk in unmasked healthcare settings." Okay! 🫠)

We presume from the phrasing that these are for demographic research purposes.

🤩 One nice thing:
[starry eyed emoji]

You do NOT need to use the provided tests to access telehealth support or antivirals, so no need to save them for a special occasion.

You can use ANY FDA-approved covid test and still qualify for all features of the program, running thru April 2024.

Enrollment and more info here:

https://www.Test2Treat.org

#CovidIsntOver #CovidIsAirborne
#BringBackMasks #MutualAid #MappingMasking #TestToTreat

Now that we're all here, how about a little ice breaker?

We know every face is unique, and it can take experimentation to find that comfortable fit that also gives a good seal.

We also know different masks are often great in different situations, even for the same face.

But if you had to pick just one mask, which mask are you wearing?

And why do you love it so much???

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Are you a 3M Aura trifold baby, classic yet flexible? We'd definitely understand that.

Maybe you like an expansive life that really makes you sing and prefer a Gerson 3230 duckbill. Plenty of room here for that, too.

Or do you prefer the solidity and less wastefulness of an elastomeric life? Eco conscious AND a tight seal??? Kinda hot tbh.

There's almost as many reasons to love a great mask as there are great mask options to love.

Let us know your go-to (and what makes it so great) in the replies!

#CovidIsntOver #CovidIsAirborne
#BringBackMasks #MutualAid #MappingMasking

Probably the most frequent conversation we have about this project (besides the project itself) is how much we all despise the fact it's necessary in the first place.

Community care is and will always be essential. But regular folks should never have to spend their valuable labor compensating for total public abandonment.

#CovidIsntOver #CovidIsAirborne
#BringBackMasks #MutualAid #MappingMasking #StopCopCity

ID: Screenshot of a tweet by Muting/Blocking Self Care (@ QueeringPsych) that reads:

I hate having to put so much of my brain energy towards avoiding & surviving COVID

I really resent the gov abandoning us so my household has to do so much to make for that lack of support

I'd rather COVID survival care packages or stipends from the gov instead of cop cities

15:06 10 Sep 23 7,779 Views

I think I'm just going to start offering minimizers like $500 if they can prove to me, with primary sources, that I'm being silly for wearing my mask. It forces them to look into the science and they'll never get my money.

#BringBackMasks #CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne

Frances Ryan, columnist with The Guardian and book author, on the public COVID amnesia:

“Covid’s back, you say? As disabled and vulnerable people know all too well, it never went away”

“Clinically vulnerable (CV) patients still ‘need’ the Covid-19 protections. They just don’t get them.”

“NHS staff in England don’t have to wear a mask, and the majority who have respiratory symptoms are no longer asked to test for Covid.”

“The paradox of the pandemic has always been that the only way to ‘move on’ is to actually engage with it.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/10/covid-coronavirus-disabled-vulnerable-people

More from Frances Ryan: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/frances-ryan

(Repost because the original toot lacked alt text on the image and also because I wanted to quote a few more bits.)

h/t @Pinchy63

#SARSCoV2 #COVID #COVID19 #LongCOVID #CovidIsNotOver #WearAMask #MaskUp #BringBackMasks #CleanAir

Here’s why even mildly symptomatic people shouldn’t attend school…they’re exhaling high viral loads for 8 days! Even if vaccinated.

Schools are crowded with poor air quality.

Northwestern University invented a device to measure amounts of SARS2 viral particles breathed out by people.

#CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne
#BringBackMasks #LongCOVID

Article:
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2023/09/covid-patients-exhale-up-to-1000-copies-of-virus-per-minute-during-first-eight-days-of-symptoms/

Ähm... WTF!?

"B.C. hospital sees fast spread of COVID-19, but no outbreak declared due to 'negative connotations'

Health authority instead using 'enhanced measures' for infection control such as masking and extra cleaning"

#COVID19 #CovidIsNotOver #BringBackMasks!
#VancouverIsland

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-vancouver-island-no-outbreak-1.6959369?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar

"COVID is back" only in the sense that media+govts are talking about it again. It never went away.

Just because you hadn't been hearing the word doesn't mean it wasn't being spoken about, knowingly or otherwise.

While the aforementioned entities don't suffer symptoms or illnesses that necessitate explanation, they do discuss delays, worker shortages, supply chain disruption, etc.

On the other hand, an individual must use euphemisms like allergies, summer cold, under the weather, out sick, fatigue, brain fog, diabetes, autoimmune disease, cancer, natural causes, etc, to gloss over new or ongoing health issues.

#CovidIsNotOver #MaskUp #WearARespirator #BringBackMasks

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is considering limiting access to the next Covid booster to those over 75, pregnant, or immunocompromised. (Similar to the practice in UK).

Comments to the Committee are accepted until September 8; they meet Sept 12. https://www.regulations.gov/document/CDC-2023-0060-0001

(It may not help, but it can't hurt to deluge them with comments, right?)

Comment here: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/CDC-2023-0060-0001
And/or register by 9/8 to give oral testimony: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/index.html

"the updated booster is not intended for everyone. It’s for people in high-risk groups – those who are age 75 or older, pregnant or immunocompromised, said Offit, who serves on the FDA’s expert panel that reviewed the vaccine companies’ data. Individuals in this group, he explained, stand to benefit the most in part because they account for a disproportionate number of COVID hospitalizations and deaths"
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/your-fall-guide-to-covid-rsv-and-flu-vaccines

#CovidIsNotOver
#EveryoneIsAtRisk
#BringBackMasks
#VaxPlus

Kids respirators update:

The Kimberly-Clark duckbill N95 in small (54066) seems to fit *excellent* on my 3 and 5yo; 1yo's head is almost as big as 3, so expect it'll fit well, too

These are the first ones that seem to fit well enough to bother with a DIY qualitative fit test -- hoping to do one soon 🤞

Downside is the straps. They're good on first wear, but stretch enough that I assume fit will be worse, hence. There might be space on the edges of the 'bill' to staple on some new ones, though; might test a few hacks

Cost <$100CAD for a 50pk

#CovidIsAirborne #MaskUp #WearARespirator #N95 #BringBackMasks @novid

Jill Biden, currently reinfected with Covid on masks in 2021: "doesn’t the air smell so much sweeter without our masks?”
#COVID #CovidIsNotOver #BringBackMasks

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/entertainment/the-scene/wawa-welcome-america/jill-biden-offers-message-of-hope-in-phillys-celebration-of-freedom/2869187/

Are kids somehow magically protected from COVID-19?
Were school closures a mistake?
Did they cause learning loss and mental health issues?

No, says Mehdi Hasan on MSNBC and debunks the dangerous myths about children and COVID.

https://inv.zzls.xyz/watch?v=-h5xyGdVfvo

#COVID #COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #CoronaVirus #LongCOVID #WearAMask #BringBackMasks #MaskUp #DontGetInfected #COVIDIsNotOver #COVIDKills

So.. Halyard duckbill N95s in small (46827); anyone have a source in 🇨🇦?

#MaskUp #ForKids #WearARespirator #BringBackMasks @novid

“As U.S. COVID hospitalizations rise, some places are bringing mask mandates back”

From npr:

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/31/1196943567/covid-cases-surge-mask-mandates

#COVID #COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #CoronaVirus #LongCOVID #PSA #FAQ #WearAMask #BringBackMasks #MaskUp #DontGetInfected #COVIDIsNotOver #COVIDKills

I often put on a brave face and talk about confidence while masking.

BUT

I do that because I find shifting the perspective and taking back my own power helps me cope.

It IS hard masking. I feel the discomfort, too. Sometimes I'm scared. Sometimes I'm REALLY scared. Often, I fumble my responses when I'm interrogated about my mask. What we are doing is not easy at all. People DO get to me. Masking when nobody else does is unnatural, socially.

Just know that, despite my posts about confidence and positivity, I think every single person who is still masking IS brave as hell, whether you feel that way internally or not. Despite those feelings, you are still doing something that is HARD.

That makes you one of the strong ones.

#BringBackMasks #COVIDisAirborne #CovidIsNotOver #FellowshipOfTheMask

#BringBackMasks
#WashingtonDC
#WashingtonMall
#WashingtonMonument
#BriceDailyPhoto

Wastewater numbers just aren't reliable enough. Intra-wave, perhaps; certainly not inter-wave.

https://mastodon.social/@augieray/110987236611321323

If different variants can have different exhaled viral load, it's reasonable to assume the same of excretions.

And really, any unique characteristic that can be used against the virus is something that's going to be selected out as long as we keep giving it trillions of opportunities to mutate.

#CovidIsNotOver #MaskUp #WearARespirator #BringBackMasks @novid

“It’s better to avoid infection in the first place and not roll the dice.”

American Academy of Pediatrics - Pediatricians are concerned that “they are seeing long COVID symptoms in children after their second or third reinfection.”

My interview with Spice Radio regarding Back to School & @protect_bc’s Open Letter demands to gov’t so BC can avoid another tripledemic.
#CovidIsNotOver
#BringBackMasks #LongCOVID
#tripledemic #BCED

@bcndp

Listen:
https://share.transistor.fm/s/614ebadf

Never should have stopped masking but those who have should resume in light of the latest variant. This is less likely due to the anti-mask policies of Trump and Biden.
#COVID #BringBackMasks

https://fortune.com/well/2023/08/29/when-wear-mask-covid-omicron-priola-ba286-triplemidec-flu-season/

Rmember that time Trump said Grandma had to die for the economy and everyone lost their absolute shit and then, a while later, absolutely nothing changed and everyone started gleefully sacrificing Grandma for brunch?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

#CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne #BringBackMasks #FellowshipOfTheMask