#stayed mostly masked indoors just in case

[nim-lock]

prayer hands I did not get covid from the recent kansas city trip (very fun, had a good food & science time),,, we know people who went to ICON who are now ill, and I’ve gotten two negatives so far, so we’re just being super cautious around people until I know for certain 

#covid mention #ahhh !!! I went to see friends today (downed 2 tests right before it) #stayed mostly masked indoors just in case #glad that I generally can trust my friends to take reasonable precaution #I don't feel any covid-like effects; however there's these fucking lumps that look like insect bites that I occasionally get recurring #it's like you hit a certain age and get new debuffs #terrible! #but glad I don't yet have covid hfhfh

[southern-belle-outcasts]

Okay I tried to do a quick scroll before I went back to work, I already walked 8mi today and it took a lot out of me but I need to do flats so it was literally just a uber fast ‘what might be important’.

I see a lot of y’all getting sick and I’ma put on my big sib hat for a moment (I’m the oldest of 9 okay I did earn that title), and also these are just good reminders in general (read: Tagg fucking take your own advice ffs). It might get a smidge lengthy so under read more.

Getting sick isn’t a moral failing, it’s literally bugs’ job to fuck with us but to help you dodge this shit since I myself have a crappy immune system and cannot fucking afford being sick (and apart from that fucky business a few months ago have mostly dodged contagious stuff in the last few years)….continue reading.

Stay hydrated. I’m fucking terrible at this with plain water in the winter because who the fuck wants to drink water that MUST be cold when you’re already struggling to stay warm right now? Not me. So add some lemon (yay vitamin C). I can’t buy fresh lemons. I forget them and they go bad. BUT the bottled stuff while it does not taste as good imo, still has the good shit. So flavor and vit c. Or add it to herbal tea! Something that isn’t monster or dark soda or coffee (yes I’m aware those are part of the major food groups I don’t care you dehydrated walking plant). Broth soups also count- chicken soup is the cure all for a reason- veggies and hydration in one!!!

Eat. Something. You can’t run on nothing. Fed is better than not, period. Eating what you can afford is doing yourself better than going hungry for the sake of those two nights of ‘healthy food’.

If you stopped masking, go back to it. No seriously don’t stop. Buy one with a print you like with the slot for a filter and wear that shit. I’m sure most of my dodging illness during the height of lockdown while being not able to isolate in high trafficked places was the masking. That and the hand washing and hand sanitizers.

Speaking of- the one brand I used to buy is a boycott but there are lotion hand sanitizers out there if you’re like me, and you can just look at hand sanitizer and your hands crack. Highly recommend. 13/10. Not going back.

Indoor clothes/outside clothes- keep your ‘been everywhere all day’ cooties off the bed and your furniture. Will also reduce allergens embedding in the places where you’re laying down. Even if you didn’t shower, you’re doing yourself a favor changing the clothes. Yes I know this is more laundry, so there’s also clothing/fabric sanitizer. It’s like 8$ for a can but that’s an option if extra laundry is a Herculean task of which I understand the trials and tribulations.

If you can afford it- get some elderberry supplement. It’s not as difficult to find as it was in 2020. Ideally you take it just regularly, in a pinch, start taking it as soon as you feel ick to lessen it.

Lots of garlic, pepper, and ginger in your food. That is all. Season your food. Good food, better immune system, no notes needed.

Here is where you’re going to laugh at me and tell me to fuck off- SLEEP. Look, I am well aware okay, I know. But even if you have insomnia like me, your body will get more rest just by laying down and closing your eyes than it will by not doing so even if you didn’t even hit light sleep let alone REM.

Okay that’s it. That’s the post. I am not going to call it no brainer stuff because all of these things I had to learn and some were definitely as an adult, so just in case nobody told you, it’s for you. If you’re adhd and forgot, this one’s also for you. I’m not claiming to be a health expert, I ain’t a doc, just an expert at trying to dodge urgent care while living in a dystopia with no health insurance and I don’t like seeing people down and feeling crappy. :D

#;out of the south

[yushox]

New AU!!!

It's similar to Tangled but not exactly.

~•~

Setting:

Modern times

Premise:

Phil and the twins leave on a road trip, all three of them believe Tommy is too sickly to leave the house. Kristin stays behind to care for Tommy.

Tommy desperately wants to leave, watching the scenery outside the windows for hours, sometimes being treated by a neighbor walking by.

One day Kristin leaves the house for groceries and a neighbor kid shatters one of Tommys window panes while playing ball with their friends.

Tommy, for the first time is able to breathe in the air from outside not needing to wait in his secret hideout by the front door to do so.

A leaf falls into his room. He is quick to catch it, having never seen one up close he proceeds to draw the leaf while it's still fresh.

He then goes to get a broom and decides to hide the shards instead of throwing them out, wanting more time to have that open pane.

Thankfully Kristin doesn't check into Tommys room for a few days.

Almost everyday something tiny falls into Tommys room, mostly leaves, sometimes a feather. He gets to enjoy his first raindrops. And encounters his first bugs, keeping a spider under a cup and letting a moth stay on his curtains.

Then one day, he gets sick, just sniffles but he often gets those so Kristin doesn't think much of it. Until one day he sneezes near Kristin. He has never sneezed before.

Kristin goes to check if his room is clean, hoping that it is just dusty. She instead walks into a frigid room, snow falling into the room through the window pane.

She makes Tommy sleep in a brothers room while she gets someone to come fix the pane.

He returns to his room a couple days later and is saddened by the window pane being fixed. Back to square one.

He eventually looks at the shards that he hid and discovers that they are one way see through, and for some reason are able to mask the indoors lights.

He isn't dumb, quickly deducing that his family is not only hiding the world from him, but also him from the world.

Meanwhile Tubbo has seen a pale face in a window pane of a house rumored to have mirrors for windows. He has become increasingly worried and voices his concerns to his father.

Schlatt ofcourse believes his son and regularly checks up on the pane while on his way to work. The boy looking out of it always seems to be more interested in the sights outside than noticing the one concerned face.

Noone has seen a third child come out of the front door of the Watsons. Up until now the Schlatt family believed that the Watsons have only twins.

He can't really do anything else except report his suspicions of kidnapping, using one of Tubbos phone photos of the kids face as the only physical evidence.

An investigation is launched, tommy is eating cereal when police arrives.

Police ofcourse sees Kristins suspicious behavior and asks for Tommy's birth certificate. Quickly realising that the document is forged, they check up on Tommy, quickly taking the child away from what they clear as day can see to be a case of kidnapping.

Tommy didn't have enough time to grab everything, but was allowed to grab his pencil case, diary and sketchbooks. In the orphanage for the first day there he only has those items and the clothes on his back.

After a obligatory psych evaluation due to his circumstances, he is given his own private room for the sake of adjustment.

Que Schlatt, after hearing that the boy was taken away from the family, he goes and decides to adopt the boy. At first they don't let him, just for being the Watsons neighbors.

But then he moves to the city, away from the suburbs, taking the apartment offer from his boss. And that's when they allow him to adopt Tommy.

Tommy and Tubbo become inseperable. Tommy has always wanted a twin of his own just like Techno and Wilbur. And now he has found one (maybe they can be twins separated at birth).

Dream comes home from college after Schlatt calls and tells him he has a new brother.

At first the first meeting between the two goes by pretty badly, but then Tommy asks what music Dream is listening to. And Dream discovers that they share music tastes. They bond through sharing favorite music. He doesn't mind it when Tommy teases him about George.

Technoblade and Wilbur eventually seeks Tommy out, having recently done DNA tests in secret and found out that they've also been kidnapped at birth.

After seeking out Phil and talking with him in secret, the broken SBI family (minus Kristin) realizes that Kristin faked her pregnancies in order to keep Phil around, they also find out that Wilbur is the child of Kristins late sister who died in childbirth and had no husband.

Cue Kristza divorce, and Kristin being arrested for multiple child kidnappings, and also forcefully keeping Tommy indoors.

Characters:

Tommy - likes to draw, becoming a bigshot artist later in life.

Kristin - evil, kidnapped Techno, Will and Tom only to keep Phil around, she never could get pregnant. At the time of getting Phil to marry her the man was gullible enough to believe that Techno and Will were actually his, never asking why the doctors they visited during "pregnancy" were so shady about their practices.

Phil - at first only married Kristin out of fathers duty, later on fell in love with the woman. After finding out her evildoings he is going to deal with broken heart syndrome for several years, resulting in multiple burnouts at work. He becomes close friends with Schlatt and eventually is asked by the man to move in because Schlatt can recognize that the man can't be left alone any longer.

Will&Techno - ends up seeing Schlatt as a sort of second father figure, often teasing Phil about taking the offer to move in so quickly.

Possible ships (only in case you're into those, they're not necessary for story progression):

Schlattza

Quackbur

DNF

Beeduo

Techno & Tom are meant to be aroace, but:

Tommy+OC (Shrouds and Clementines parents)

~•~

That's as much as I have fleshed out.

There you go, here's an au with evil Kristin and Kristza divorce. I hate that I dreamed this au and had to write it down before I forgot.

Idk what to call this AU yet ;-;

#dream smp au #dsmp #au #sbi #sleepy bois inc #kristza angst #evil kristin #kidnappings #adoption #tommy tubbo twins #artist tommyinnit #dream smp #aroace technoblade #shady medical practices #shady legal practices #kristin gets arrested #Tangled as inspiration #YushoxStuff

[atlanticcanada]

Dr. Lisa Barrett weighs in on vaccines, masks three years into the pandemic

This past weekend marked three years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and changed the course of our lives.

And while peoples’ lives have mostly returned to normal, the world continues to deal with the virus on a daily basis.

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Lisa Barrett weighed in on where we’ve been and where we’re going with the pandemic during an interview with CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko Monday night.

While she says we are technically still in a pandemic, it is in a different phase right now.

“Because not all of the world is as controlled as we are and we still are not quite at a point where we know enough, with enough certainty, for all people in our populations that we want to forget about it yet,” she says.

As of Monday morning, there had been 4.6 million cases of COVID-19 in Canada and more than 51,000 deaths.

Barrett hopes people understand some are paying a heavier price than others.

“There are people out there who are older who continue to take on most of the death, most of the poor health after COVID,” she says. “We really should be mindful that, for those people, this is just not something of the past, but something that’s very much on most peoples’ minds.”

BOOSTERS

The latest advice from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) says people at a high risk of serious illness should get another COVID-19 booster shot this spring.

NACI also recommends that anyone who hasn’t gotten a COVID-19 booster shot in the fall of 2022 get one as soon as possible.

Barrett says people should complete their vaccination series no matter their age.

“We know that that’s a safe thing to do and an important thing, both for your own health and for the health of people around you,” she says. “Not just for older people and immunocompromised.”

She says some people ask her if they should, or need, to get an additional dose of vaccine.

“Well, unless you’re darn certain that you’ve had COVID within the few months before when these next set of vaccines come out, unless you’ve had COVID in the couple of months before that, you really should be considering getting that vaccination,” she says.

“Which really speaks to the point that we aren’t done with this. And we actually don’t understand all of the complications in other parts of our body about COVID yet and it’s why we still should care and still should test.”

While previous COVID vaccinations and infections may be enough protection for some people, Barrett says that’s not the case for others.

“For older folks and those who are immunocompromised, even getting several doses of vaccine and having COVID isn’t as much recommended at this point to avoid getting another booster.”

MASKING

At this point in the pandemic, masks are no longer required to be worn in most indoor settings, though the government of Canada still recommends people wear a mask in public indoor settings.

Barrett says masking isn’t necessarily either a perfect or useless strategy and that “somewhere in the middle is probably the truth.”

“A well-fitted mask in a crowded place with a lot of people around, either because you don’t want to get sick or because you’re quite likely to have some vulnerability, is a very sensible thing to do.”

She adds that some people, including herself, do get side looks from others for their choice to wear a mask.

“But I’m hoping that folks, especially people who want to stay well, who have vulnerable people around them and for vulnerable people who are out there, they still feel comfortable wearing a mask in those settings,” she says.

“Really, there still is a lot of virus around even if we don’t talk about it a lot and we don’t release as many numbers. So I’m here to tell you there’s still a fair bit of virus around and it’s still an OK thing to wear a mask.”

TESTING

Barrett says testing for COVID-19 is still important three years into the pandemic, especially rapid testing.

“Rapid testing does a few things for you. It allows you to have control of what’s going on with you. At least to know whether it’s COVID or not. If you’ve got symptoms, test. If you get a negative result, test again,” she says.

“And if you’re positive and you’re somebody who’s older, and again, poor immune system in some situations, that may be enough to allow you to access treatment if it’s necessary in this province. That is your gateway; getting tested is your gateway to therapy if you need it and being assessed.”

LONG COVID

Last week, the federal government announced $20 million in funding toward researching post COVID-19 condition, also known as “long COVID.”

Barrett says there is consensus in the medical community that there is something after a COVID-19 infection that’s “not quite right” with a number of people and it can last for long periods of time.

Health professionals have also seen COVID-19 raise the risk of several chronic diseases, including diabetes and hypertension.

“And we can’t predict exactly who it’s going to be -- it’s not just older people, it’s not just people who’ve had bad disease,” says Barrett.

“That is why I’m a huge advocate, not just of continued research on COVID immunity and long-COVID, but also of people understanding that we don’t necessarily know all the long-term impacts, even in younger folks, of what happens.”

She adds that the uncertainty surrounding the long-term effects of COVID-19 is a good reason to avoid repeat infections.

“Test when you’re feeling symptomatic and maintain a few easy things, like handwashing and masks to keep yourself and others safe,” she says.

“We don’t have all the answers yet, we’re working hard. Vaccines are exceptionally important, but they don’t explain everything for us yet. Get your vaccines, but please be aware that continuously getting COVID is not on my list of recommended medical activities at this point.” 

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/k0LWnPg

#new brunswick #prince edward island #nova scotia #news #politics #canada #CTVAtlantic

[jjuzoir]

Sakusa Kiyoomi Relationship HC’s

Word Count: 1396

A/N: woof woof i’m the ceo of soft content bitches ❕ one of my biggest pet peeves with sakusa’s fanon is ppl forgetting he’s literally... just super fcking dramatic like he could be a theater kid if he wanted to /hj so i wanted to try writing him as a soft still dramatic boifie is it probably ooc? yeah... do i give a fuck? no.

- Unlike popular belief, Kiyo isn’t going to cry if you hold his hand. If anything, it’s one of the few displays of affection that truly gets him blushing a bright pink.

- He does get kind of annoyed if you hug him or do anything that requires too much physical contact too suddenly, give him a little warning or ask him; He’ll almost always say yes, unless he’s sweaty from practice.

- As long as you’re both clean and sanitized, he’s willing to indulge you.

- He’s not super big on PDA but he’ll always have an arm thrown around your shoulders or wrapper around your waist.

- A big fan of subtle matching accessories, he’ll probably buy you matching key rings and phone cases. Don’t make fun of him though, he’ll get embarrassed and kind of uncomfortable; it’s one of his Love Languages afterall.

- He likes seeing you wearing his clothes, he’ll have a few things he exclusively has just for you but he also has some he’d rather not share. The latter category is mostly dress shirts, formal wear, anything that might stain easily or you’d need in fancy situations, but things like extra t-shirts or hoodies are as much his as yours (just tell him you’re taking anything and make sure you wash it before giving it back).

- Sakusa has a sensitive nose so he loves the way you sometimes smell like him, even if it’s just a little bit, when you wear his jackets or hoodies he likes knowing you’re going to smell like him for the day.

- He really likes indoor dates, from staying inside with you at home or going to museums or stores. He tends to favors the dates where you’ll choose things for each other, he takes getting you gifts super seriously and will spend hours making sure what he’s getting you is up to his standards.

- Talking about gifts, he’ll treasure anything you give him. His favorite gift you ever got him was a cologne, it was one he’d mentioned in passing to you because it was meant to be softer on the nose, and for his birthday you ended up getting him that and a clock.

- The fact you thought about him and listened to what he’d said made him very happy. He knows he’s often seen as intimidating and sarcastic, people tend to take what he says wrong or way too literally/liberally.

- Sakusa isn’t afraid of being blunt with you, he doesn’t like sugar coating his words and you’re no exception, he tries being more kind with his word choice but at the end of the day he won’t hesitate saying what’s on his mind.

- So whenever he compliments you, keep in mind he absolutely means it and he won’t hesitate to repeat it (unless you ask him to do so too much, he’ll get blushy and annoyed).

- He really wants to get a dog with you. Not any dog though, he wants a big dog he can take on walks and running with him, probably wants a siberian husky, would name him Mr Clean.

- Is the type of guy who’ll be like “the dog sleeps on its bed” but you’ll find him with said dog cuddling together under a blanket after a hard day. Sakusa is in love with Clean, he’d die for him, he even calls him your son.

- Got him little paw-gloves for when he’s cleaning the floor and he’s got chemicals around him so his paw beans don’t get irritated.

- An underrated comedy master, Iwaizumi says he has the sense of humor Atsumu wishes he had. He doesn’t even think twice before speaking with his teammates which leads to ridiculously funny exchanges, the best part is that he doesn’t seem to understand that he’s being hilarious so his face quite literally stays the same.

- Before dating you, his room was kind of boring (read: that one Haikyuu manga cover Furadate made for Christmas), black covers, white walls, etc., basically a minimalist nightmare but when you started dating he kind of got into keeping knick knacks that remind him of you or from dates with you, he has a few of your things laying around too. It’s still clean, he’d rather die than have a messy or dirty room, but it’s got more personality.

-  Has an extra MSBY jersey for you and his homescreen is a picture of you wearing it next to him; he’s whipped for you. He won’t let anyone unlock his phone because of it, one time Komori almost saw it and he had a mini-heart attack.

- Has you saved as “[Name] 💖” and gets super annoyed when anyone (Atsumu) teases him about it.

- He likes the intimacy of waking up together and performing a morning routine with you. Seeing you standing in the mirror brushing your teeth while chatting about your day or while you do your skincare routines.

- He's better at holding phone calls with you rather than texting - he can be kind of dry and he knows it, he’s also busy often which leads to many gaps between the responses; it’s a mess. So he’d rather call you, that way he can also make his tone/intentions known easier! the

- Not big on pet names for you, the most he’d do is “honey” or “dear”, he’d rather call you by your name or a nickname.

- On the other hand, he’s a big softy for the pet names you have for him; he’ll act like he hates them, especially if you call him out in public, but in private he gets blushy and his voice softens when he talks to you afterwards.

- Matching masks are a staple in your relationship, he’s always on the lookout for them just in case. When he’s abroad he’ll bring you a bag full of them, and they’re not the unfiltered ones, he makes sure absolutely nothing can get through them because he’s not about to have either you or him breathe in germs and risk getting sick.

- Health is his number one priority for both you and him.

- The type to call you when he’s away to rant about the silliest things, he’ll see something that annoys you and he’ll just think about how you’d never do him like that and how you’d be just as annoyed.

- When you two get a shared bed he’ll ask for the side closest to the window, he doesn’t care if it ends up being the right side or the left side; he likes being able to leave the window slightly open as to keep the air in the room clean and he doesn’t want you to get cold.

- Kiyoomi is really thoughtful, he knows he can be picky and particular so he wants to make it up to you by keeping you in mind to make sure you’re also comfortable.

- Arguments are rare because of this, he knows when to compromise - so if his partner can’t it’s a really big no for him and would lead to a very short relationship - but he also wants you to know he’s not a pushover and he also needs you to compromise as well.

- Likes intertwining your pinkies together when you’re walking down the street, it’s not super noticeable to others but he’s still holding you tightly in his own way.

- I said it before but Kiyoomi isn’t against holding you as long as you’re clean (as in; took a bath, clothes are washed, etc.)! He likes being able to hold you tightly during movies, just being there with you is soothing to him.

- Very dramatic when it comes to important dates and anniversaries, he acts like he’s cool with it as if he hadn’t spent a week planning the bouquet of flowers he has in his locker alongside a handwritten note he has his mom check just in case he made a mistake. In that way, he kind of expects you to take it seriously too and would get kind of disappointed if you didn’t remeber or give him something; it could be a hand gel and he’d treasure it though.

- Overall, Sakusa tends to be a surprisingly soft boyfriend - he has his quirks, much like anyone does but as long as you respect them you won’t have any problems down the road. He’s a thoughtful lover, he takes pride in knowing you well and taking care of you.

#—🎀 haikyuu! #sakusa kiyoomi #sakusa kiyoomi x reader #sakusa x reader #kiyoomi x reader #sakusa fluff #sakusa kiyoomi fluff #sakusa hcs #hq kiyoomi #kiyoomi headcanons #haikyuu hc #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #hq hc #hq fluff #haikyuu!! #haikyuu x yn #haikyuu x you #haikyuu fanfiction #all queued up #—✒️ sora’s scripts

[missabella]

So this is going to be a post for my personal blog, but since it does concern Puffy and her mcyt meetup, I’m also reblogging it on puffy updates. 

Disclaimer

The reason that I’m writing is because I do know that some people in the mcyt fandom (whether it be on tumblr, twitter, youtube, reddit, tiktok, etc.) are quite young and see some of those content creators as role models. This post is mostly for those young fans that are easily impressionable. Nevertheless, if my words end up changing a content creator’s behavior about this entire situation, then good for them. But if they decide to carry on with their life as before, I won’t get upset. I don’t know them, so for all I know they may take extra precautions against the pandemic behind the scene. 

Additionally, I will mention some individual content creators by name in the post. I don’t want any hate to be spread toward them. If by some chance they end up seeing this post, I want them to know that I highly respect each and everyone of them and that I don’t have any ill feelings toward them

Finally, sorry if this is long and not concise. I just feel like I need to get this off my chest, and it is two in the morning where I am.

I’m a young adult that is a fan of mcyt. As some of you on mcytblr may know, my favorite minecraft content creator is Captain Puffy. I love her content and personality, and I personally identify with her since we’ve shared similar struggles in life. That being said, I actually don’t agree with everything she does in her private life, more particularly with her decision to go to the uk and to vidcon (which is now canceled) during the pandemic. But once again, that is her decision, and even though I don’t condone her decision, I wasn’t going to attack her for it. 

Yesterday evening, Gee Nelly threw a birthday party; Puffy had just arrived in the UK when she attended, and other ccs (like Minx, Niki, Wilbur, and Jack, just to name a few) attended. They weren’t wearing masks, nor were they socially distancing. Some fans found out that the party was happening, and they were rightfully upset, especially considering the fact that recently Tommyinnit had gotten covid, that VidCon got cancelled because of covid, and that London (and the UK in general) had seen an increase in covid cases.

Now, before I talk about my own opinion, I would like to clear up some misunderstanding that I’ve seen on twitter. For approx. the last four weeks, you no longer have to quarantine once you arrive in the UK if you arrive from the US and are fully vaccinated. In that regard, Puffy wasn’t doing anything against UK guidelines. Additionally you are no longer legally required to wear a face mask in the UK regardless on whether or not you are vaccinated. In other words, except if someone present was actually sick with covid, then no one was doing anything illegal.

Now, here is what I have to say about this. First of all, I could care less about restrictions and guidelines. Anytime I’m in public, indoors or outdoors, I’ve been wearing my mask since March of last year. The day I’ll stop will be the day that we’ve reached herd immunity, and we are nowhere near that. 

However, almost no one think the same way I do, which kind of leads to my second point; I’m not surprised at the choice made by any of those content creators in attendance. I wasn’t expecting anything more from them, for the good and simple reason that everyone in my town is doing the same thing as them. However, this doesn’t change the fact that I’m disappointed in their decision and that I would have loved for them to think more critically about this and to realize that it wasn’t a good idea. 

But relatively speaking, there is little importance in what those content creators decide to do during their free time. What matters more is how we react to it. This fandom is at a point where they look up at content creators as practically perfect in every way. So of course, when a content creator messes up, individual fans will react in one of two ways. 

The first way is to replicate the content creator’s mistake. This is harmful to all since neither the fan nor the content creator realize that this action is a mistake. This eventually leads to the normalization of the mistake, and once someone else realizes that it is a mistake, it may be too late to fix it. 

The second way is to completely shame that content creator for that mistake. This is also harmful for both the content creator and the fan. For the content creator, this situation is stressful since they may not fully understand what exactly they did wrong. For the fan, the existence of this mistake goes against this perfect image they’ve looked up to; this will feel almost as if the entire world collapsed, because in a way, their perception of the world did indeed collapse.

As a fandom, we’ve been going with the first way for a while. We’ve tried to justify Tommy’s vlogs, Ranboo’s trip to the UK, and the Karlnap meetup. Those of us that disagreed with this behavior (myself included) have decided to stay quiet and tried to be excited and happy for them. Now that covid cases are rising globally, that conventions are cancelled, and that content creators are getting sick, we decided to start being more vocal about our disagreement. Now, I feel like this fandom is slowly starting to react in the second way.

The main takeaway from this is that we should be holding content creators and ourselves accountable for their and our own actions, respectively. Both the fandom and content creators should recognize that we should start thinking by ourselves instead of listening to guidelines or popular opinion. Those of us that disagreed with the meetups and the vlogs should have spoken up since the beginning. We should also understand that no one, even the people we look up to, is perfect, and that everyone is allowed to make a mistake. And finally, we should also stop holding content creators to such high standards if we’re not also going to hold the rest of the world, including those around us, to those same high standards.

#mcyt #covidー19 #pandemic #mcyt meetup

[pixiedoodlein]

10 days until school and I’m no more decided than I was a week ago. I flip flop ten times day about what might be best. A is sick of hearing me talk about it. He doesn’t disagree with my risk assessment but he is sick of talking about it.

It caused an issue with his friend, a friend who is his best friend and is unvaccinated and works in a jail. Months ago we told friend he could only visit (this place is their boyhood dream) once he’s vaccinated. Friend typically believes in science and is very health conscious but his gf is a moron Trump lover and her family the same and that’s who he’s been spending all his time with since this all started. When I asked friend why he’s not vaccinated he said he’s young & healthy, didn’t trust the vaccines, would do it when they got full fda approval. Plenty of young healthy people are dead of this. Anyway then I asked ok so what if you give it to someone who isn’t and dies, people incarcerated in the jail he works in and don’t have the luxury of social distancing, and he was like eh whatever. So yes friend is an asshole, but his best friend for decades, friend has always been kind of an asshole but has many redeeming qualities too. So we said no visit. But then in July when there was no covid here and no covid where he lives and we were blissfully living our covid free lives we loosened up and said he could visit with two negative tests. But then covid got bad again and when asshole friend contacted A the other day to say he took time off in late Sept to visit, A said sorry, it’s fully fda approved now you have no excuses not to vaccinate, we’re worried about our unvaccinated kids, and as of now you can’t visit but hey maybe if you get vaccinated and the numbers look better we can reassess in a month and you can come. Friend was a total dick about it, didn’t understand our point of view at all, stressed A about it, who was in a bad mood about it for days afterward.

Then there’s the neighbors. I had a chat with the kids and a chat with the mom. I framed it as we love them so much and I know they’re careful but I think we should all be more careful while the numbers are so rising (aka only outdoor hangouts) and we are careful but I’ve heard terrifying stories from doctor friends about kids and babies getting very sick, and they have a baby who I don’t want us to make sick, and she said she agreed. The kids have been pretty good about making the adjustment from constant sleepovers to playing outside but M keeps asking me “the kids need to pee are they allowed to use the bathroom, the kids are hungry are they allowed to come inside even for one minute for a snack,” and I feel like the villain (I’ve been saying yes to pee, snacks I’ll bring out). Everyone’s been understanding but nobody is getting what I mean when I say only outdoor socializing. All the kids keep asking me when I’ll take them to town again for ice cream, “but it’s outside” (um yeah but the car’s not), asking their mom to ask me for sleepovers even though they know what the answer will be. The other day they were playing in our yard then it started raining and they were like “we can’t walk home in the rain”- I don’t want them to walk home in the rain, but again the car is indoors!- so I drove them home (but made M stay at our house). They’re not my kids so I can’t make them wear masks and it feels like now I am in the position of being the mean parent who’s psycho about covid, which in a way I am, but it would help me to stick to my guns and feel okay about sticking to them if the government policies matched the severity of the situation, ie mask mandates in public places (instead of stores posting polite recommendations), vaccine mandates, virtual learning options, etc.

Which brings me to school. After selling M hard on real school, then I sold her hard on home school. She already “did” 3rd grade last year (as much as me teaching her in my pajamas counts as doing), but this district has an earlier cut off than the city, so she’s in 3rd grade again here. Which is fine by me- her birthday is the same day as the very late nyc cut off (12/31) and I hated that she was the absolute youngest. I used to beg the school to hold her back and they’d say “but why she’s doing so well!” not understanding that I was thinking ahead to the teen years. But anyway, despite her haphazard pj’d professor, she seemed to learn a lot last year so homeschool this year could basically be unschool. She’d traipse around the forest identifying birds and trees with A and her brother, reading for pleasure, and I’d spend an hour here and there reviewing some worksheets with her so she’d be on track when she starts real school after she gets vaccinated. She was into the idea, until she found out she and one of the neighbor kids are in the same class. Now she absolutely wants to go to real school, AND ride the school bus. The school bus part makes me very nervous. While there is now a school mask mandate (but will it be enforced? what are their lunch procedures, what % of teachers are vaccinated, what % of the older kids in the same building as the little kids are vaccinated, did they actually really update their ventilation system?) and a bus mask rule, it’s a long rural route (15 min drive or 45 min bus) and I have no faith that bus windows will be open and all riders will be masked the whole time.

So just tell her she can go to school but has to be driven by a parent, right? Not so simple. I was offered a job at a (somewhat, commuting distance) nearby nonprofit- an easy low stress job in a bastion of liberalism with very very nice smart coworkers, excellent work life balance, a writing job that sounds made for me, like the job description is exactly what I would put together if I were putting together my dream job (except the pay, which is half what I was making at a fancy DC nonprofit, but high for this area, and our housing cost is half so it should be fine if A can get away from little guy long enough to bring in some money too). It’s mostly remote but approx one day a week in the office and some days there will be things I need to attend out in the community (not necessarily our community, they serve the whole region). It won’t always be the same day in the office and the office is an hour away- so on those days A would have no car to get her to and from school, since I’d need to leave before school starts and get home after it’s done. So I guess we need to buy a new car? Aside from this issue we really don’t need a second car now, were planning to get one eventually, but not until A’s business has enough projects to justify the cost.

Despite its many demands/challenges/ stressors, home school is sounding easier to me at this point (especially because she already did this grade), except she WANTS to go to school. Someone talk me out of putting some lipstick and a pantsuit on her and taking her to get vaccinated. I know, I know: the 5-11 dosage is 1/3 of the 12-adult dosage. The doctors I’ve spoken to are split on this hypothetical kamikaze mission. The doctors I’ve spoken to are also split on me and A going to a pharmacy now for booster. It’s been almost 6 months since our 2nd dose. We do not have compromised immune systems. This county has way more doses than demand and I would feel better sending M to school (bus or not) if we had our boosters and she had a first dose- moral and scientific quandaries aside- because there is A LOT of covid here now, a lot of covid everywhere now, and I feel like we are returning to regular life at the time when we should be most hunkered down.

Which brings me to the data. Per capita there are as many known cases here as in nyc, except nyc has a 50% higher vax rate, much more mask usage, better medical system. People are not getting enough tests here, there is a higher positivity rate, and so I think the actual number of cases is much higher than the reported number of cases. It seems like, friends here and in the city and in the suburbs (I just broke up with a friend in the suburbs because she professes to be a good democrat but is hosting a bonafide super spreader event and vacationing in a place with 39% positivity and a collapsed health care system), are thinking of covid as something you catch from strangers- they wear masks in stores- but aren’t careful at all around close friends and family (so many extended family gatherings, so many, cousins and grandparents and half-siblings and aunts and uncles and whoever), when this is a disease that kills via the people you love most, the ones who’d never intentionally hurt you.

[thedoubleduke]

We are in a pandemic oasis rn

If you’ve been outside recently, you’ll realize that, except for the fact that everyone’s wearing a mask, the vibe feels pretty normal. Just last week, I spent Saturday bar-hopping with some friends, dancing with strangers, and meeting new people in a bar. Everyone feels more comfortable too, relatively speaking, and the energy of the outside world has shifted to that of life again.

I still feel afraid though, which is why, instead of going out tonight (it’s Friday as I type this), I decided to just stay at home. I don’t want to push my luck by going out two consecutive weekends and expect to not get sick. The good old days are back, in a way, that those who can go out, do, and take advantage of this respite, like finally finding an oasis after walking miles and miles through harsh desert.

People are also going back to hanging out (good) in open spaces (best!) and dining in (okay) or dining al fresco (best!). When I went to bars last weekend, they were mostly packed, like pre-pandemic packed, and it’s as if we all forgot that we are living in a pandemic and a war (both fun and sad).

It’s the perfect time, too, to go out. (Well, not perfect, the virus is still there). The cases are low, hospitalization due to the virus is close to zero, mortality are comparable to that of the common flu. A lot of people have been vaccinated and boosted. What a time to be alive! If this goes on, we could be seeing endimicity soon, and maybe a mask-free society again. 

Of course, not until a new wave of the pandemic comes, then we have to readjust. But it seems that there is no imminent threat coming just yet post-Omicron, and if there was something to come, we can hope that they won’t be worse than Omicron.

The virus is gonna stay with us for a long, long time. It’s not gonna be away soon. But this moment we have now? Enjoy it while you can.

READ: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/03/covid-indoor-gathering-safety-masks-vaccination/622953/

#covid #pandemic

[tinyshe]

COVID Vaccine Mandates Strongly Opposed in Europe, US as Failures Increase Analysis by

Barbara Loe Fisher

August 10, 2021

Since coronavirus pandemic lockdowns were implemented by many governments in 2020, people around the world have held largely peaceful protests against unprecedented social distancing restrictions that are devastating global economies and ruining people's lives.1,2,3,4

Now, faced with being ordered to obey new laws that require them to be injected with COVID-19 vaccines in order to enter public spaces or hold a job, on July 24, 2021 — World Freedom Day — hundreds of thousands of people of all ages took to the streets in Australia, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Greece and Germany to publicly challenge oppressive public health laws.5,6

The messages on the signs they held were diverse but they were united in pushing back against government overreach.

The brave determination of people, in democracies around the world who are publicly defending civil liberties — freedom of thought, speech, conscience and assembly — and the human right to informed consent to medical risk taking, demonstrates that the spirit of freedom lives in the hearts and minds of people everywhere. Both those who gather in the public squares of cities big and small and those who are watching are inspired by this commitment to defending liberty.

In the United States, no large demonstrations have been held yet, but polls reveal the nation is sharply divided about COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

A Politico/Harvard poll taken in late June 2021 found that Americans were evenly split on whether children should be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine to go to school and more than half of employed Americans are against COVID-19 vaccine requirements for holding a job, while almost 70 percent of Americans oppose being required to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination to enter a store or business.7

A recent CS Mott Children's Hospital poll found that more than half of parents in the U.S. with children between the ages of three and 11 say it is unlikely they will give their children the COVID-19 vaccine.8

Australia: 'The lockdown Is Killing Us, Not COVID'

With a population of 25 million people, Australians have been subjected to repeated strict lockdowns over the past 18 months and the government's "stay at home" lockdown in early July 2021 was imposed on New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, where more than half the country's population lives. The 30-day rigid social distancing restrictions were enacted after 176 new daily infections were registered in the whole country.9

In response, thousands of Australians gathered in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on July 24 to protest the lockdown.

Social distancing restrictions that have been imposed include compulsory masking in all indoor non-personal residence settings; most schools closed; restrictions on how far people can travel from their homes; no going to work except for designated "essential" employees (who must be tested every three days); exercising and gathering outside only in groups of two; shopping only for essential items; attendance at funerals limited to 10 people but weddings are banned, and other limits on person-to-person social interaction.

In what the U.K. newspaper Daily Mail described as "frenzied crowds" coming together on July 24, there were estimates that as many as 10,000 protesters marched from Victoria Park to Town Hall in the central business district.

Carrying signs calling for "freedom" and "the truth" and "I don't consent" and "Wake up Australia!" and "We are your employers, we are not your slaves" and "unmasked, untested, unvaxxed, unafraid" and "I am not a biohazard" and "Our kids are not your guinea pigs" and "No false tests, no false cases, no lockdowns," one protester said, "We don't give a f*** mate, this lockdown is killing us." Another agreed: "I'm against lockdowns, they're killing my business."

Dozens of protesters climbed onto the roofs of a train station and Woolworths store as the crowd gathered around Town Hall singing the Australian national anthem. One observer said on social media, "Protest stretches right down Broadway! Absolutely massive turnout."

The Sydney protest was mostly peaceful but when mounted police told the demonstrators to disperse or they would be pepper sprayed, some broke through a police barrier and threw plastic bottles and plants at officers. The New South Wales Police Minister confirmed 57 people were arrested and charged and a "strike force has been established to investigate who was in attendance."10

On July 28, the Australian Prime Minister called in military personnel to help enforce social distancing restrictions in Sydney and extended the lockdown for another month after 239 new cases of COVID-19 were detected in the city of five million people within a 24-hour period. Residents will be forced to wear a mask outside their homes and must stay within 3 miles of their homes, only going out for "essential" activities like food shopping.11

On July 30, the Australian government used helicopters and the Army to help police enforce its 'Zero Covid' lockdown in Sydney and issue $500 fines for failure to mask.12 The BBC reported that Australian Defense Force soldiers will begin conducting unarmed patrols of the streets this week.13

According to media reports, sirens could be heard throughout the city and helicopters blared messages that 'this is public health order — do not break rules — you will be found and fined.'

Road blocks were set up in a military show of force in response to the public demonstrations earlier in the week, although soldiers are under police command. Starting this week, military personnel will accompany police going door to door to ensure that people who have tested positive for COVID-19 are isolating.14

Reuters reports that the Australian COVID-19 vaccination rate for adults stands at 18 percent and the Prime Minister has said 80 percent of adults must get vaccinated before the border, which has been sealed since the pandemic began, will be re-opened.15

Britain: 'No Forced Testing, No Forced Vaccines'

In May 2021, a 12 mile procession of tens of thousands of people ended at Parliament Square in a protest against continuing lockdowns and vaccine passports as a condition of accessing public venues.16

On July 19, the British government lifted the COVID-19 lockdown that had been in place for over a year, eliminating masking requirements, work from home, and limits on numbers of people who can gather together, which allowed for the full opening of restaurants and other public venues without social distancing restrictions.17

Just five days after the lockdown restrictions were lifted, thousands of people made their way to Trafalgar Square on July 24 to signal their opposition to potential future lockdowns, as well as to protest against the showing of COVID-19 vaccine passports as a condition of entering public spaces.18

There were banners draped in front of the speaker podium saying, "the public demands live debate" and "Science is not science without discussion" and demonstrators held signs that said "No forced testing, no forced vaccines" and "We are the lions in a world of sheep" and "If you tolerate this, your children will be next."19

Toward the end of the July 24 demonstration, the huge gathering in Trafalgar Square in unison sang, "You'll Never Walk Alone:"

When you walk through a storm Hold your head up high, And don't be afraid of the dark. At the end of a storm is a golden sky And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind, Walk on through the rain, Though your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, Walk on With hope in your heart And you'll never walk alone, You'll never walk alone.

The United Kingdom, which has a population of 57 million, ranks in the top 20 most COVID vaccinated nations, with an adult vaccination rate of over 57 percent.20

France: 'My Body Is Mine' and 'It Is My Choice'

Paris, France and the cities of Marseille, Montpelier, Nantes and Toulouse saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets on World Freedom Day to protest against a proposed law that would require all health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccinations or lose their jobs.

People will be barred from entering restaurants or other public venues, effectively preventing them from participating in public life unless they have a health pass showing proof of COVID-19 vaccination, recovery from the disease or a recent negative COVID-19 test.

A care assistant at a Strasbourg nursing home expressed her disgust with the proposed law, saying it is "the blackmail of caregivers who were at the fronts line during the first wave and who are now threatened with "no more pay" and even being fired."21

A huge crowd of 160,000 people or more, many chanting "freedom, freedom" and carrying signs saying "stop the dictatorship" and "Big Pharma shackles freedom" and "no to the pass of shame" and "vaccines: fake freedom" and "don't touch our children" were met by police deploying tear gas and a water cannon used against some of them.22

Reuters reported that scuffles broke out at the Champs-Elysees and the Gare Saint-Lazare railway station.23 The demonstrators met at the Bastille plaza and marched through eastern Paris and also gathered at Place Trocadero near the Eiffel Tower to protest the required carrying of a "health pass."24

Just two days after witnessing several hundred thousand people voicing their opposition to the proposed new public health law, on July 26, the French Parliament voted to pass the law that will take effect this week.25,26

Five days later, on July 31, several hundred thousand French citizens of all ages again flooded into the streets of Paris with signs saying "We are not guinea pigs" and "It is our choice" and "My body is mine" and "Health terror — I will not submit" and "the 4th wave is us" in opposition to the new COVID-19 vaccine and vaccine passport.27

According to media reports, four marches dovetailed into the Place de la Bastille, with health care workers in white coats leading some of them, and were met by waiting squads of gendarmes and CRS riot police with water cannons. Demonstrators also gathered at the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs-Elysees and at the Villiers metro station in northwest Paris.

Reportedly, about 150 other protest events also took place in cities around France, which has a population of about 67 million and an estimated COVID vaccination rate of about 47.5 percent28 or more.

Italy: 'Enough Dictatorship: No Green Passes'

Thousands of people gathered in Rome, Genova, Milan, Naples, Turin and scores of other cities in Italy on July 24 to voice their opposition to the government's imposition of social distancing and COVID-19 vaccine requirements on citizens, including a requirement to carry the "Green Pass," which is an extension of the European Union's digital COVID certificate.29

The Green Pass will be required to enter cinemas, museums, indoor swimming pools, sports stadiums or eat indoors at restaurants, proving that a person has been vaccinated, has had a recent negative COVID-19 test or has recovered from the coronavirus infection.30

Chanting and carrying signs that said "Freedom" and "No Green Pass" and "Down with the dictatorship" and "Better to die free than live like slaves" and "against vaccination obligations" and "government does terrorism" and "shame-shame,"31,32 reportedly about 80 cities in Italy saw demonstrations on World Freedom Day.

These included an estimated nine thousand people in Milan, who marched in procession to the Piazza Duomo, the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele and to the Piazza Scala in front of the Town Hall. One banner said "Big Pharma out of the state. No to multinationals."

About five thousand people gathered in Piazza Castello in Turin with signs that said "We want to have the freedom to choose – the freedom to go wherever we want without being tied to a sheet."

In Rome, where there have been anti-lockdown demonstrations over the past year to protest then closure of cafes, bars and restaurants,33 an estimated two thousand demonstrated and the police intervened to disperse the crowd with armored vehicles.34 Italy has a population of about 60 million people, with nearly 52 percent vaccinated for COVID-19.35

Greece: 'Hands Off Our Children'

Thousands of people gathered in Omonia Square in the center of Athens on July 24 to express their opposition to the government's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. They carried signs saying "No mandatory vaccinations" and "No blackmail to dismiss" and "No separation of Greeks" and "hands off our children."

The leader of the anti-COVID vaccine movement in Greece, cardiologist Faidon Vovolis, MD addressed the huge crowd, which, according to Athens News, included "not only anti-vaccination activists, but also food and tourism entrepreneurs, clergy, citizens disaffected by the overall government leadership over the pandemic, and vaccinated citizens who view recent government measures as anti-democractic."36

Greek police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators, who had rallied outside the Parliament building to protest COVID-19 vaccine requirements for workers, such as health care workers. Reuters said that about 45 percent of Greece's 11 million population is already vaccinated.37

Germany: 'For Peace, Freedom, Truth'

Berlin has been the site of several large demonstrations against lockdowns and COVID vaccine passports over the past year.38 On Aug. 1, 2021, tens of thousands of citizens marched in the streets of Berlin to protest lockdowns that have restricted dining indoors at restaurants or staying in a hotel and requirements to provide proof of COVID vaccination, defying a ban by German lower and upper administrative courts on public demonstrations.39

Berlin's administrative court had refused to authorize 13 demonstrations, some of which had been organized by the Querdenker (Lateral thinker) anti-lockdown movement.40

Berlin's police department deployed more than 2,000 officers armed with batons, pepper spray and water cannon as the crowds made their way from Berlin's Charlottenburg neighborhood, past the Tiergarten park and on to the Brandenberg Gate.

Reportedly, police in heavily armed vans dragged protesters across roads and into the vans with marchers shouting for freedom and the lifting of mandatory masking and travel bans. Protesters continued to march in the evening through the city streets and 600 people were arrested.41 Germany has a population of 83 million and 52 percent have been fully vaccinated.42

Human Rights Watch: COVID-19 Triggers Wave of Free Speech Abuse

On Feb. 11, 2021, Human Rights Watch published a report called for an end to excessive restrictions on free speech and peaceful demonstration where people are criticizing COVID-19 lockdowns, mandatory masking and other social distancing regulations that restrict civil liberties. The human rights organization said:43

"At least 83 governments worldwide have used the Covid-19 pandemic to justify violating the exercise of free speech and peaceful assembly … Authorities have attacked, detained, prosecuted, and in some cases killed critics, broken up peaceful protests, closed media outlets, and enacted vague laws criminalizing speech that they claim threatens public health.

The victims include journalists, activists, healthcare workers, political opposition groups, and others who have criticized government responses to the coronavirus … Governments and other state authorities should immediately end excessive restrictions on free speech in the name of preventing the spread of Covid-19."

Decentralized Government in US Makes a National COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate More Difficult

Unlike centralized governments in Europe and many other parts of the world, the founders of the United States of America ensured in the U.S. Constitution that this country would operate with lawmaking power shared between national, state and local governments.44

The fact that lawmaking power in the U.S. does not solely reside with the federal government, which is composed of the legislative (U.S. Congress), Executive (President/federal agencies) and Judicial (federal courts) branches, so far has protected the U.S. population from being subjected to the same kinds of uniform lockdown restrictions and now, the same kinds of COVID-19 vaccine mandates that are being implemented in European Union countries and other nations with centralized federal governments.

Since most public health laws in the U.S. fall under the legal jurisdiction of states, if a resident does not like the lockdown, masking, social distancing or COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the state they are living in, they simply can move to a different state that does not have the same kind of oppressive public health laws.

This is one reason why, although there have been smaller anti-lockdown and anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate demonstrations in the U.S. over the past 15 months, some of them protesting COVID-19 vaccine requirements for health care workers,45 so far there have not been massive national demonstrations in the U.S. like those taking place in Europe and other parts of the world.

U.S. Government Pushes for an 85 Percent COVID-19 Vaccination Rate

As of July 28, about 60 percent of the U.S. population of 332 million people age 12 and older had received at least one dose of COVID vaccine and reportedly 50 percent, or about 165 million Americans, are "fully" vaccinated.46 As the third largest country in the world, the U.S. has a high COVID-19 vaccination rate compared to other countries, with only 25 countries recording a higher vaccination rate than the U.S.47

According to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, the country with the largest population in the world at 1.5 billion people — China — has a 16 percent COVID vaccination rate; the country with the second largest population in the world at 1.4 billion people — India — has a 7.4 percent COVID vaccination rate; and Russia, with a population of 146 million people, has a 17 COVID vaccination rate.48

However, U.S. government officials are pushing for an 85 percent COVID vaccination rate in the U.S.,49 even as a former FDA commissioner says that a combination of natural acquired immunity and vaccine acquired immunity is likely rapidly achieving an 85 percent herd immunity rate with the Delta variant in the U.S. population.50

Half to Two-Thirds of Americans Oppose Punitive COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates as Companies Begin to Mandate

Even though polls show that one-half to two-thirds of Americans oppose COVID-19 vaccine mandates, depending upon the setting,51 on July 29, the President announced that all federal workers and contractors must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or mask and social distance at all times and get constantly tested.52

The federal government also is urging corporations, local and state government agencies, medical facilities and other institutions to make vaccination a condition of employment.

Some companies, like Google, Facebook, Morgan Stanley, Ascension Health, The Washington Post, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lyft and Uber, Walmart and Disney have already mandated employees to get COVID-19 shots to continuing working for the companies.53,54 On July 30, Broadway theaters announced that all members of the audience will be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination and must keep a mask on at all times except when eating or drinking.55

Opposition Grows as CDC Admits Fully Vaccinated Persons Can Get and Efficiently Transmit COVID-19

After lifting national masking recommendations for COVID vaccinated persons in May 2021 with the assurance that the vaccine was effective in preventing symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection,56 on July 27, CDC officials abruptly reversed course and said that Americans, whether vaccinated or not, should wear a mask indoors outside their homes in certain places.57,58

They said they based that policy change on new information that the COVID-19 vaccines do not reliably prevent infection and transmission of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 and that the viral load in vaccinated persons who get infected is as high as the viral load in unvaccinated persons who get infected.59,60

CDC officials said the new federal indoor masking policy especially applies to adults in "high risk" areas where there are more people being infected with the Delta variant. The masking directive also applies to all unvaccinated children over age two, as well as vaccinated children over age 12 attending school, and additionally includes all teachers, school staff and visitors to schools whether vaccinated or not.61

Reuters reported on July 24 that vaccinated people made up 75 percent of recent COVID-19 cases identified in Singapore, but vaccinated cases were associated with mild symptoms:

"Of Singapore's 1,096 locally transmitted infections in the last 28 days, 484 or about 44 percent were in fully vaccinated people, while 30 percent were partially vaccinated and just over 25 percent were unvaccinated."62

The percentage ratio of infected vaccinated to infected unvaccinated persons in Singapore matches that of a recent SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Massachusetts. On July 30, Associated Press reported that information in CDC documents revealed that 75 percent of the Provincetown outbreak occurred among fully vaccinated individuals.

About 80 percent of them experienced COVID-19 symptoms, with the most common being cough, headache, sore throat, muscle aches and fever.63

U.S. States Push Back Against COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

Over the past year, Americans have been taking action at the state and local level to block COVID-19 vaccine mandates. A number of states have passed laws that restrict COVID-19 vaccine mandates and "vaccine passports" that bar people from entering public spaces.

Among the states that have passed laws prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine passports or COVID-19 vaccine mandates in some way are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.64,65,66

On July 29, the Governor of Texas signed an executive order prohibiting state government agencies from mandating COVID-19 vaccine being distributed under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) and banning public or private entities that receive state funds from denying entry to those who are not vaccinated and, additionally, banning companies, state and local agencies — including school districts — from requiring mask wearing.

He said that Texans, "have the individual right and responsibility to decide for themselves and their children whether they will wear masks, open their businesses, and engage in leisure activities."67

Governors of several other states also have issued executive orders prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates and some local and state governments have prohibited mask mandates.68,69 But some city and state governments, like New York City and California, have created legal requirements that force state employees to get vaccinated as a condition of keeping their jobs.70

On July 26, the nation's largest healthcare worker union, United Healthcare Workers, demonstrated in New York City against employee COVID-19 vaccine mandates.71 So far, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate as a condition of employment is also opposed by the American Postal Workers Union,72 Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and United Auto Workers.73

It's Up to You to Act Now

With military soldiers patrolling the streets in Sydney, Australia and police with water cannons and tear gas facing tens of thousands of people protesting against vaccine passports and COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the streets of London, Paris, Rome, Athens and many other cities in Europe, there should be no doubt where the enforcement of mandatory vaccination policies are headed in the U.S. if Americans fail to proactively take action now.

There is no question that we are dealing with a global assault on civil liberties and human rights when public discussion and debate about government policy is censored74,75 and peaceful dissent is considered a crime. Public health laws that respect civil liberties and the informed consent ethic can only be secured if the lawmakers we elect value civil liberties and defend informed consent rights. Become fully informed about who you are voting for and never miss an opportunity to vote.

I and the supporters of the non-profit charity the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) have worked since 1982 to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education. We have publicly defended the ethical principle of informed consent to medical risk taking and other human rights that include freedom of thought, speech and conscience.

In 2010, we launched the NVIC Advocacy Portal, a free online communications and advocacy network to empower Americans to work in their own communities to secure informed consent protections in public health laws.

Now more than ever, it is time to get to know your local, county and state elected representatives – from your school board members and county supervisors to your local sheriff and lawmakers – who represent you in your local and state governments. Establish a personal relationship with those who make laws that govern you and your family.

Have a conversation with them now about why you believe it is important to protect civil liberties and vaccine informed consent rights in public health laws. Provide them with well referenced vaccine information from NVIC.org and register and join with thousands of others in your state working to protect the legal right to make a voluntary vaccination decision by becoming a user of the NVIC Advocacy Portal at NVICAdvocacy.org.

Actively participate in the democratic process that has defined who we are as a Constitutional Republic since the US Constitution was ratified in 1788. Be the one who never has to say you did not do today what you could have done to change tomorrow.

[whyamiinopmhellagain]

How Dateable are the Heroes of One Punch Man?

A note, I know these kinds of things are not the only factors that make a relationship successful, but they are large ones. This is simply my take on it. 

They are all rated on a scale from one to ten. If they receive a zero, they are considered undateable for reasons that cannot be fixed through emotional growth. 

Also, this is pretty lengthy. Be warned, and happy reading!

Hit the Lotto (8-10): 

King (9.5/10): King, in my opinion, is the most dateable hero. He’s a genuinely good guy. He also seems to have a lot of common interests, such as anime and gaming, which makes him pretty chill to get along with. He’s a homebody, which means if you get close to him, he’ll want to spend more time with you, and doesn’t mind having quiet moments. In fact, I think he enjoys them more! King is not excessively arrogant, and doesn’t appear to have attachment or trust issues. He really just wants someone to love him for being him, and not for living a lie. The fear of him getting exposed, and being surrounded by the press will probably be frequent worries in the relationship, but in both cases, it seems to be protected by King’s luck powers, and the fact that he doesn’t go out much. If you can deal with those, and help him with the anxiety that comes with it, you’re golden for a happy, healthy relationship! 

Mumen Rider (9/10): Awww, look at you! You hooked a sweetie pie! He’s kind, morally strong, good hearted, and hardworking! He will not hesitate to shower you in kindness and love. He does not seem to have any attachment issues, or trouble with building trust and a healthy relationship. The major issues of this one are he’s constantly getting hurt, so you’ll never know when he’ll be in the hospital, and he’s pretty much always working. The first one is counteracted by his indomitable spirit, and how devoted he is to making the world a better place. He also would very much appreciate if you’d visit him in the hospital, and even more when he’s discharged, and still needs a little extra care (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.).The second one’s counteraction is with the fact that when he cares about something, he cares hard. If he loves you, he’d totally work to shell out those extra minutes for you, if you’re willing to do the same.

Saitama (8.5/10): This relationship is very similar to King’s! They both have the same, “we veg, we read manga, play video games and stay indoors” mentality. The same pros as King. The reason he’s ranked lower is because of very obvious depression, that is slowly getting better, but I doubt will fully ever be cured (the price he paid for his training), and there will be people breathing down his neck. If you want to be with our egg, you have to check with the toaster first. He’s very close with his Sensei, and Saitama makes it a priority to make sure he is safe and happy. Fubuki may also interfere as well, but she’s most likely no threat if you mean that much to Saitama.

Tanktop Master (8.5/10): Honestly, this man is so wholesome. The only reason he’s lower, is because we don’t know too much about his personality.  He’s strong, kind, and an excellent leader! No obvious arrogance or aggression, and seems to have the ability to just talk things out with people, I realize this relationship would also have the “always having people over” thing. Except much more active.They work out, run, wear tank-tops, and have group gatherings all the time! If you’re extroverted, and like to make friends, you two will fit perfectly! He may. also have some insecurities about his skill level. Be sure to comfort him with a warm hug, because he really is a strong boy. 

Darkshine (8.5/10): Remember what I said about Tanktop Master? Same applies to him. Wholesome, but unknown. He may have more strength and power, but his ego is much more fragile. He may need some comfort from time to time, and I’m sure he’d be happy to take in a hug and some encouraging words from you! He seems to have the ability to form healthy bonds, and build trust quickly and safely, which is necessary to a happy relationship. Overall, seems like a good time for both of you! 

Zombieman (8/10): Odds are, this is going to work out. That is, if you can break down the massive emotional barriers he’s built up. While he seems pretty chill, he knows something. He knows that everyone he loves and cares about is going to die before him. He distances himself from almost everyone, simply because he doesn’t want to be put through that pain. I feel like he’s experienced it before. Unless he starts to care about you, and when he cares, he cares HARD. He’ll be in it for the long run. If you can take the time and effort to get to know him, maybe, just maybe, he’ll invite you over for dinner with him and Child Emperor. It will grow from there, maybe he invites you over, just the two of you, watch a movie, and sit on the couch. (Personal headcanon of mine, he’s got Child Emperor, and he loves taking care of him. Maybe when he leaves the nest... he’ll want to raise one or two with you?)

Won’t be the best, but not the worst (5-7): 

Metal Bat (7/10): He’s a tough boy with a heart of pure gold! He fights very passionately for what he believes in, and won’t let anyone stop him! Except Zenko. If you want this teen’s (please remember he’s young) heart, you’re going to have to go through her. You’ll also have to be okay with the fact that most of his time is going to be devoted to taking care of her, and she’ll be around you two 90% of the time. He needs someone who can give here that sibling affection, like having a second parent. He also needs someone who can be his IQ, and his books smarts. Help him with his homework, take notes for him in class, or help Zenko study, (It probably will be a good way to win her over too), it will be very much appreciated. Also, be sure you are someone who he can be a kid with. He’s 17, and has to act like an adult. He needs time to take a break, drop Zenko off with someone, and go sit in the streets at night and eat ice cream while you both watch the street lights. Somedays, he needs a shoulder to cry on from exhaustion with his job, or panic about the future. Badd’s going to need you to help him grow. He’ll be loyal and happy with you, you just have to be patient with him, his overload of responsibilities, and his sister.

Fubuki (6.5/10): I hope you like your women in charge and powerful, because that’s what you’re going to get. She’ll be with her group, making deals and looking for more underlings. You won’t be her first priority. Don’t try to hit on her, unless you’re a higher rank than she is. Otherwise, you’re going to have to catch her attention the hard way. If you even manage to get her to see, acknowledge you, and like you, you’re not even halfway done. You have to go through the Blizzard Group. If you pass that, you must pass your hardest test, the association’s secret weapon, Tatsumaki. Older sisters do worry, and intruded. She just wants to protect her precious little sister. If you can win her over, then you have secured a necessary piece for Fubuki’s heart; she values her sister’s thoughts more than she lets on. but those people will still be there to protect her. She needs to be the strong one, because softness is a weakness. Or so she’s been taught. You’ll need to get her to open up a little. You’ll see that she has a soft side. She frets whenever Eyelashes or Wild Monkey get beat up, and buys Lily a scoop of ice cream whenever she gets a high score on any test. That doesn’t mean she’s not the leader. She wants to wear the pants in the relationship. She’s the breadwinner.  Show her how strong she is, even when she isn’t large and in charge.  If you can do that, her group will notice a difference in the way she carries herself. She’ll be a bit lighter on her feet, and have more courage to take on higher level missions by herself. She’ll be pretty tough to break into, but not completely impossible, if you know how to do it. (Side note, thanks to @metalbatandzenko​ for helping me with this one!) 

Pig God (6/10): He’s mostly just here because of mystery. We don’t know pretty much anything about him, other than he’s a good guy who likes to eat. We don’t know anything about his dark side, or what he truly values. He has been seen to be helpful, and dedicated to his job, which gives him points, but not enough to make him rank higher.  

Atomic Samurai (5.5/10): I feel like he’s not the first person anyone would go after. He’s aging, he’s busy, and can get quite arrogant. His disciples are like his kids, and if you want to be close with him, you have to go through them first. You must be good friends with them, you’ll be seeing them quite often. I see him as someone who’d want to keep his hero live and private life separate. Sure, he’d introduce you to his disciples and Silverfang, maybe take you to a party or too, but other than that, he’d keep you out of the loop for your own safety, so he won’t be around too much. He just wants someone to share a futon with. Maybe make him some dinner, and talk about regular stuff. Not everything has to be about fighting. Sometimes, he just wants someone to drink tea and meditate with, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Silverfang (5/10): He seems like a good, respectable guy. However, he’s 81. The only reason I could see someone dating him would be for a sugar daddy, because S-class makes that coin. As good as a guy he is, odds are, it’s not going to last very long. 

Yeah, this most likely won’t be healthy (1-4):

Amai Mask (4/10): This relationship seems like every fan’s dream at first. He’s tall, rich, famous, and has a great set of abs. The courting phase to his partner will seem heavenly, as the world’s biggest superstar showers them with attention. He woos them gracefully, until he deems you safe to let into his life  good enough arm candy. He’ll keep you for as long as he needs you, but still treating you like royalty in front of the cameras. In reality, he will just be throwing you under the bus for his work, and trying to cover the wounds with his money. If you (understandably) hate the treatment, and confront him about it, he’ll just tell you to leave. If you put up with it, he’ll throw you out when he needs the coverage. He just has to hope he doesn’t fall for you. He can’t let you see what lies underneath. You fell in love with Handsome Kamen Amai Mask, not [Webcomic Spoiler]. 

Genos (3/10): I don’t see this happening now. That kid is traumatized as hell, and needs to learn to cope. Losing everyone and everything is hard, which makes him cling to what he has. Right now, he’s clinging to Saitama, and coping with his past in an unhealthy way. While he is compassionate, kind, and courageous to a fault, he isn’t emotional ready to give his heart away just yet. Maybe in a couple years, when he matures and he either gets his closure on the Mad Cyborg situations, or accepts it, deals with his grief, and moves on. 

Flashy Flash (2.5/10): Yeah, no. If we’re talking about trauma, this dude just doesn’t want to accept the fact that he has it, or he knows it, and is too scared to ask for help with it. He’s arrogant, emotionally distant, downright cold sometimes. The only reason he’s higher than Tatsumaki is because I feel like he’d want a relationship in the future, if he actually admits that he needs help, and needs to let go of the past. Then, and only then, can he open himself up to other people. He’s not ready yet.  

Tatsumaki (1/10): This girl has emotional issues, is controlling, has extremely high standards, and a shit ton of trauma that all needs addressing before she enters a relationship. Also, she doesn’t cares about those kinds of relationships that much. She’s very take, and never gives. Odds are, she doesn’t want you or anyone in her life. She has a job to do, and that’s what she’s devoted too. 

Why would you? (0/10):

Watchdog Man: He’s a dude that acts and dresses like a dog, and doesn’t leave his post. That doesn’t sound super appealing at all, but to each their own, I guess.

Child Emperor: This should be obvious. 

Puri Puri Prisoner: If this guy likes you.....RUN

Drive Knight: Are y’all evil Cyborg fuckers? 

Metal Knight: He has no sympathy, empathy or compassion. He’s old, and he has a tiny dick. Why?  

-----

This post went in so many different directions. Anyway, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments, I love hearing from you all!

*Requests open! Unedited*

#one punch man #opm #one punch man x reader #opm x reader #saitama #genos #metal bat #mumen rider #fubuki #tatsumaki #opm king #king #amai mask #zombieman #flashy flash #child emperor #Fiji Writes Stuff #drive knight #puri puri prisoner #silverfang #atomic samurai #sweet mask #superalloy darkshine #tanktop master #pig god #metal knight

[theculturedmarxist]

Since the pandemic began, there has been a lot of talk about the supposed lack of scientific information available at the outset, a void which led to our failures to contain the virus. The science has evolved, this line of thinking goes, allowing us to pursue the proper mitigation strategies.

On the one hand, of course, that is true for any event like this. Especially one so dramatic, involving a global pandemic with a novel pathogen. We learn more as events proceed.

On the other hand, that’s not a completely accurate reflection of what happened. A lot of what was known from very early on took months, if not more, to make its way into our public health guidelines. Some are still being debated, to great frustration.

Perhaps one the most striking examples of all this is what happened with what we learned, and refused to learn, from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in February of 2020, a tragic natural experiment if there ever was one. Thousands of people were trapped inside a cruise ship as the disease spread. Besides the tragedy, it allowed us to observe what happened with the coronavirus inside a closed environment, revealing many things that could be harder to discern in a large, open city.

I recently watched the HBO documentary on the cursed cruise ship, which was one of the first big outbreaks with global attention. It was, of course, a tragedy: what started with single reported infection ended with 712 known infections and 14 deaths. When it was ongoing, in early February, it was the biggest outbreak outside of China, accounting for half the known cases.

It all started on February 1st, when the first passenger who had disembarked six days earlier was confirmed to have been infected. By February 10, at least 135 people were confirmed to have been infected in a rapidly growing outbreak despite all the passengers being entirely quarantined in their rooms. Despite the quarantine, 567 of the total 2,666 passengers on the ship eventually tested positive.

The first crucial piece of information needed to contain this disease has been the fact that it transmits from people without symptoms. In the HBO documentary, the ship’s doctor reiterates that by February 9th, he was sure that people without symptoms were infecting others. That fact had already been reported in scientific papers, urgently proclaimed by China’s minister of Health in January of 2020, apparent from multiple epidemiological reports already in the record. But many experts in the Western world found that difficult to believe (a topic I covered before for this newsletter), and we did not act upon this crucial piece of information until much later in the pandemic (I wrote about transmission from people who were not sick, and thus could not know they were infected, in March of 2020 in my first op-ed calling for masks—it was so clear even  then that I had no problem convincing the fact-checkers at the New York Times).

Watching the documentary, it also becomes very clear that the disease is airborne. There really is no other reasonable explanation for how 567 passengers confined to their rooms, served food by heavily masked people, would get infected at that scale that quickly. In fact, this airborne transmission was quickly discerned by scientists around the world. One of the architects of Japan’s mitigation strategies, Dr. Oshitani, had told me that this was the case that convinced him that the pathogen was airborne (I had interviewed him for this article on aerosol transmission and ventilation for an article I wrote last July).

But it wasn’t evident just to a select few. Here’s an interview with a BuzzFeed science journalist explaining it in a pretty straightforward way on February 23, 2020:

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Cruise ships, as you wrote, are notorious for spreading illnesses. I have to start by asking, are epidemiologists really surprised that after two weeks, more than 600 people have been infected on one ship alone?

VERGANO: The people we spoke to who've studied this sort of thing in the past aren't surprised at all. And it sort of keyed on the question of, how does this virus behave? And now it's becoming apparent - or it seems apparent - we have to be very careful...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right.

VERGANO: ...That it's more like the flu, like influenza A, where airborne transmission earlier in an infection - during the sneezing rather than coughing stage - seems to be a factor here. And that brings into play the question of how this ship was ventilated and, you know, airborne transmission in general.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, let's talk about the ventilation system.

VERGANO: So the people who've studied this - and one of the surprises here was that there actually has been a lot of research looking into this question - say that ventilation systems on cruise ships aren't any good at stopping airborne diseases from spreading, that there've been studies of flu where you have, in a week's time, you know, one patient infecting 40 people. And likewise, the air filters simply aren't designed to screen viruses. After a while, the whole system gets gunked up with it. And just speaking, sneezing, coughing in your ward room - that gets picked up by the air system, you know, and...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And it doesn't get filtered out and maybe gets passed on.

VERGANO: In the past, that's what's happened. And unless this cruise ship had some kind of impossible-to-have ventilation system, that was going on.

For reference, here’s the contact tracing data on the ship from Japan from February of 2020 which clearly shows that non-close contacts are playing a significant role:

[graph]

The third crucial piece of the puzzle of transmission was determining whether this pathogen behaves like flu (like the H1N1 in 2009), which spreads in a fairly uniform way, or if it was overdispersed, meaning that a few people infect many in clusters. (Here’s an article on that topic I wrote later in 2020).

The overdispersion was harder to discern from Diamond Princess alone. But on that puzzle, too, the early contact-tracing from multiple countries was already clear, that clusters were playing a big role. So clear that here’s the graphic on the role of clusters Japan was already including, in February of 2020, in its documents for contact-tracers:

[img]

And here’s a paper that was published officially by June 30th, but had been available since February of 2020 describing the approach:

[img]

Put all three together: airborne transmission, clusters driving the epidemic, and presymptomatic transmission. Not only do we get a clear and consistent picture of many things that have happened since, we also get the mitigation strategy. Further, all three dimensions support each other: transmission from people not (yet) coughing or sneezing very much argues in favor of aerosol transmission, which explains how large clusters can be driving the epidemic and how transmission in a situation like that ship can occur. And the mitigation and other strategies become clear: pay attention to clusters and ventilation, universal masks, different policies for indoors and outdoors, etc.

But all that happened far away, you might be thinking. We didn’t have examples like that to study here, and there might have been language differences and other barriers. That’s not even really true, as a lot of these papers got published in English as well, but let’s put that aside for a moment. Take a look at the Skagit Valley Choir case in Washington state. Careful, pandemic-aware people showed up at a huge space—distanced, no hugs, hand-sanitizers everywhere—and 53 of them got infected in one evening. They had even propped the door open to avoid knob touching. And yet, this event was not seen as definite evidence of aerosol transmission. It was not even seen as a definite evidence of rare aerosol transmission—a position that would still be wrong, but at least plausible, essentially arguing that happened but it was a one-time thing.

I am not linking to all those who argued against the facts, because focusing on individuals is not correct. But multiple experts insisted for a long time that the infections  might have resulted from close contact or fomite transmission during break, or been the result of snack sharing. The CDC report on the Skagit case mentions aerosols as a possibility, but just that: a possibility and emphasizes how fomites and contact were possible as well.

However, as a recent Times article on choir case notes, aerosol scientists had immediately noticed what had happened, and what was actually likely, and what was really a stretch:

If, as the C.D.C. and the World Health Organization were then insisting, the virus was passed mostly through contaminated surfaces, known as fomites, or droplets exhaled from an infected person that would fall within six feet, how and why did so many members of the Skagit Valley Chorale get sick? Could all 53 of them really have touched the same door handle, or orange, or folding chair? Had all of them stood face to face, talking to one another, less than two yards apart? Intuitively, the choristers knew what must have happened: The virus had drifted throughout the room and lingered in the air they breathed.

Eager to make sure others could learn from their experience, Burdick and the chorale leadership readily agreed to interviews. On March 29, an article appeared in The Los Angeles Times that described their rehearsal. One of the millions of readers who saw the story was Jose-Luis Jimenez, an aerosol scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He and nearly 40 of his colleagues were trying to get the W.H.O. to acknowledge that the virus was being transmitted through aerosols — particles that can stay aloft and float considerable distances. (U.S. officials had been playing down this prospect. In late February, the C.D.C. director, Robert Redfield, said the widespread wearing of masks was unnecessary; in early March, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, Anthony Fauci, said much the same.) Jimenez dashed off a note to the reporter, Richard Read, and described the case as “the clearest example of that potential mode of transmission.” He wanted to investigate. Read connected him with Carolynn Comstock, who provided answers to a long list of questions about where everyone sat and what they touched.

Dr. Jimenez did indeed do the necessary investigation and publish a very good paper, tracing what had happened. I’ve since interviewed, and later collaborated with Dr. Jimenez (on an upcoming paper in The Lancet—it will be out soon) and he’s certainly outspoken (as he should be!) but my experience is that he’s been very open to debate and consideration of all evidence. Here’s how he describes it to the New York Times:

The outbreak also provided crucial evidence for scientists seeking to understand how the virus was being transmitted. In the months that followed, Hamner and Jimenez, along with their respective colleagues, published separate studies of the Skagit Valley case. Hamner’s, which appeared in the C.D.C.’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report last May, noted that “the 2.5-hour singing practice provided several opportunities for droplet and fomite transmission, including members sitting close to one another, sharing snacks and stacking chairs at the end of the practice.” But the notion that those activities caused so many infections, as Jimenez characterized it to me, is “absurd.” He says that that emphasis helped enable the W.H.O. and the C.D.C. to maintain and defend their guidelines. They have since revised them to acknowledge that the virus is transmitted by aerosols — the W.H.O. on July 9, the C.D.C. on Oct. 5. But many scientists, Jimenez included, argue that they still haven’t stressed enough that inhaling aerosols is the dominant mode of infection, which has led entities like schools and public-transportation agencies to put time and money into cleaning regimens that would be better spent on masks and ventilation. “We proved how you get this thing,” Comstock told me. “And it’s so damn frustrating to watch the news and see that they’re ignoring it.” 

As I said on Twitter upon reading this article, to imagine fomites playing a major role in such a case—transmission to 90% of the careful, distanced people present in a large space in a single evening—requires contortionist thinking, to put it politely.

[tweet]

And although this may seem hard to believe, contortionist thinking is exactly what we encountered for a long time. Alternative explanations were tossed out: What if the people shared snacks? What if it was the folding chairs? What if, what if, what if? Unlikely, if not downright impossible scenarios kept being raised as reasons for doubt, rather than accepting the evidence that had been screaming at us, not just from one case either but from multiple streams of evidence, all over the world.

Dr. Jimenez had a recent thread on his experiences. Something he said in the thread really struck me:

[tweets]

It’s not a good moment when a prominent scientist—who was, along with others, evidence-based, correct and prescient on a topic of great importance within his expertise—feels the need to look up “gaslighting” because he is lacking the word to otherwise describe his experience.

I realize that there is a lot of focus on misinformation that we recognize: the claims of 5G spreading via vaccines, of many deaths following vaccination, claims that vaccines don’t work at all, or even the idea that vaccines might have caused the death of a 99-year old, already visibly infirm, prominent member of the royal family in the United Kingdom. I understand all that and the role of such misinformation. But as I close the misinformation trifecta series about problems beyond the ones that are “over there,” committed by others, I’d like us not to forget what actually happened in more mainstream and arguably more important circles, and is still influencing how we have been responding—and failing to respond—to this pandemic.

#substack #covid-19 #tufecki zeynep #science #epidemiology #gaslighting

[toshootforthestars]

From the report by Beth Mole, posted 19 July 2021:

Fully vaccinated people are largely protected from delta; the current vaccines are still highly effective against developing COVID-19 from delta and other variants of concern. Though a small proportion of people can develop so-called “breakthrough infections,” those infections will mostly be asymptomatic or mild. But, unvaccinated people are completely vulnerable. Moreover, those who have received only one dose of a two-dose vaccine or have only recovered from COVID-19 are not much better off than those who are completely unvaccinated.

But according to new polling data from CBS News, a new wave of vaccinations seems unlikely. Among unvaccinated and partly vaccinated people, only 48% said they are concerned about delta. Among fully vaccinated people, 72% reported being concerned about the variant.

Despite the fact that the current COVID-19 vaccines have proven highly effective and safe, 53% of those who are unvaccinated or partly vaccinated said in the poll that they are concerned about side effects. 50% of the group cited a lack of trust in the government as a reason not to get vaccinated. And 45% said they don’t trust the science. All of these percentages are higher than they have been in earlier polls, indicating that these anti-vaccine sentiments are hardening among the unvaccinated.

Some unvaccinated people who may be more persuadable have said they are waiting for the vaccines to receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (currently, they are authorized by the FDA under an emergency use authorization). On Friday, Pfizer and BioNTech said that the FDA had granted them a Priority Review designation for their mRNA vaccine, but they didn’t expect a decision on full approval until January 2022. Currently, vaccine providers are administering only around 520,000 COVID-19 vaccine per day, down from a record of 4.6 million in a day in April.

With over 161 million people vaccinated, only 48.6% of the US population is fully vaccinated.

See also: How much COVID misinformation is on Facebook? Its execs don’t want to know

For years, misinformation has flourished on Facebook. Falsehoods, misrepresentations, and outright lies posted on the site have shaped the discourse on everything from national politics to public health. But despite their role in facilitating communications for billions of people, Facebook executives refused to commit resources to understand the extent to which COVID-19-related misinformation pervaded its platform, according to a report in The New York Times.

Early in the pandemic, a group of data scientists at Facebook met with executives to propose a project that would determine how many users saw misleading or false information about COVID. It wasn’t a small task—they estimated that the process could take up to a year or more to complete—but it would give the company a solid understanding of the extent to which misinformation spread on its platform.

The executives listened to the data scientists’ pitch and then reportedly ghosted them.

The data team’s proposal wasn’t approved, and they were never given an explanation for why it was silently dropped.

The revelations come as Facebook has drawn fire from the White House for its role in the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccines that prevent it. “They’re killing people,” President Joe Biden said about the role of social networks in the spread of misinformation. “Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. They’re killing people.”

Biden later walked back his comments slightly, but they revealed the administration’s frustration with social media platforms—and with Facebook in particular—over their response to the pandemic.

For weeks, the White House pressed Facebook for details on how the company is combating COVID vaccine misinformation. The social network offered some details but gave unsatisfying answers to other requests.

Facebook’s unwillingness or inability to understand the scope of COVID misinformation on its platform was apparent in comments it gave to The New York Times, in which it blamed its nescience on the lack of a “standard definition” for pandemic-related misinformation. “The suggestion we haven’t put resources toward combating COVID misinformation and supporting the vaccine rollout is just not supported by the facts,” said Dani Lever, a Facebook spokeswoman.

“With no standard definition for vaccine misinformation, and with both false and even true content (often shared by mainstream media outlets) potentially discouraging vaccine acceptance, we focus on the outcomes—measuring whether people who use Facebook are accepting of COVID-19 vaccines.”

For researchers who study misinformation, that explanation isn’t sufficient. “They need to open up the black box that is their content ranking and content amplification architecture,“ Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, told The New York Times. “Take that black box and open it up for audit by independent researchers and government. We don’t know how many Americans have been infected with misinformation.”

Me: 

This situation is extremely bad!

First off, the individuals that aren’t getting vaccinated just do not care to. They’ve bought hook line and sinker into all the disinfo and misinfo on facebook, instagram, youtube, tiktok, reddit, and/or whatever 8chan replacement one choosed. What they see and read reinforces their pre-conceived (and factually incorrect) views that “experts” “really don’t know shit about anything” and thusly are “blowing things way the fuck outta proportion,” etc. Their views are both informed by, and reinforced by:

what they read and see online

what they hear on FM/AM radio

what they watch on broadcast TV

what their friends and communities consume from media

what the prevailing societal and political attitudes in one’s community are

“rugged individualism” and the post-1980 erosion of the social contract

So, if your fb friends are covid truthers, if the on-air personalities you hear on the radio at work are covid truthers, if your neighbors and friends at werk are covid truthers, if the elected leaders are covid truthers, if the snippets of Fox News you get to see randomly are pushing covid truther disinfo, and if those in your inner circle at that 4th of July party you went to are covid truthers, then you yourself, at a minimum from peer pressure, will dismiss the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, scores of hospital operators, plus countless professionals in medicine and epidemiology in your decision not to get vaccinated, nor to mask up indoors in public even when “recommended”.

“I have rights. I know what’s really going on. I’ve got things figured out.”  Or, at a minimum, “I don’t give a fuck either way.” “Fuck you.”

Facebook absolutely is responsible for the covid truther disinfo and misinfo being shared on their platform.  I believe they are the largest vector of disinformation and misinformation to the public. So many people are chugging the “vaccines are a scam, masks don’t work and I have rights” kool-aid thanks to disinfo introduced and shared widely on facebook

Some other major vectors of disinfo: iHeartMedia - Premiere Networks - iHeartRadio, Entercom/Audacy, Westwood One, One America News, Fox News, Newsmax, Sinclair Broadcast Group, YouTube + Google, TikTok, and Reddit.

“I saw a video on YouTube where the military did a study…”  or “I heard a guy on the radio saying mask mandates are part of a plot…”  It's all bullshit!

At this point it cannot be anything but an active choice the leadership at these companies consciously make to pipe out total bullshit in a time of crisis. Content from all of the above easily makes its way to facebook, too, unrestricted!

The U.S continues to spiral into this post fact, post truth, anti-intellectual, anti-science neo-fascist hellscape where no lives matter and where mass death is AOK because “none of us get out of this world alive” or some asshat folksy quip that masks as wisdom.  Empathy, reasoning, established facts and observable reality have all become political statements… People hear what they want to hear.

IMO this is truly a disastrous situation with no easy way out.

Many, many people will not wear masks again.  Many, many people see the survival rate for coronavirus and they surmise wrongly that the risk for them of getting covid is worth it, that the risk for others isn’t remotely their concern, and that the entire situation is overblown. The social contract is in bad shape. Public confidence in the state is almost gone. Covid truthers are everywhere.

Getting a vaccine requires time off from work to travel to a mass vax site that’s still open, time off to recoup post-shot (if necessary), and overcoming fear that the anti-vax disinfo on social media was true after all. Plus overcoming peer pressure from unvaccinated friends and family.

Covid case numbers are likely undercounts. Test kits are still problematic. Persons with no health insurance have no PCP to call when they get sick. Underinsured persons may have to wait weeks for their approved PCP to get around to a telehealth call. Many people are getting sick and not getting tested and they’re not reporting anything to anyone. State officials, wanting to look good, may skew whatever data is reported to them.

COVID-19 is an airborne virus. Most people catch covid from contagious asymptomatic people. Coronavirus has always been a risk for children! Getting vaccinated is part of an overall good strategy to keep COVID-19 at bay. Masks work!!! If indoors, stay in a ventilated room if you’re with other people, and keep doors and windows open for air circulation. Coronavirus is producing extremely serious long-term cognitive and cardiovascular complications for many people who survive it. “Long covid” is real.

We don’t have to live with this! The political and business leadership in much of the United States today have collectively decided there’s nothing that can or should be done in regards to covid-19, no masking requirements, no easy supplies of N95 masks, and no mitigation efforts of any kind. They wrongly conclude that COVID-19, a new virus with so many unknowns, “isn’t that bad” and so the level of permanent damage or death resulting from covid is acceptable.

None of this is acceptable, the amount of permanent damage and death occurring from COVID-19 is far, far too high, and there’s no rational excuse whatsoever to allow this virus to spread across this country unchecked. There’s no reason to allow this virus to spread further. There’s no valid reason for me and anyone else to justify allowing covid to spread out of control.

#news #coronavirus #third wave #covid vaccine #facebook sucks #please get vaccinated #misinformation #disinformation #america 2021 #rant #ars technica #vaccine hesitancy #anti vaxxer #things are going swimmingly #long post

[bluepenguinstories]

Remoras Full Chapter XXXII: June Bug

Naivety was such a hard thing to grasp, especially when it seemed like a great deal of the time, I was all aware of the world around me. People and their little quirks, their little things they preferred to keep hidden and the things on the surface which they played off like a mask, yet held more of a truth than they would have cared to admit.

Of course, one of the greatest examples of a person with such a quirk was the one who I loved and cherished – Vesuvius Bark (at her own request. Sometimes she could contradict herself, though not in a bad way. As much talk as she makes about wanting to be free spirited and breaking from traditions, she herself wanted most of all to settle down into a quiet life in the middle of nowhere and she also chose to take up the other’s last name, something which I never really understood and I even laughed when she said she wanted to do that, but hey, I appreciated the thought).

She fell into my lap, sobbing, after having an intense texting session with one Ms. Remora. We both sat on the floor and I knew I didn’t have to ask what was wrong, as it didn’t take a genius to recognize that things didn’t go over so well. While her head was stuffed between my legs and her muffled sobs became an ambient backdrop to our little house, I was compelled to stroke her hair. Maybe it was instinctual. Maybe I just really liked her hair. Maybe it was Maybelline (okay, bad reference aside, she did have some fuckin’ soft hair). Before she uttered her first words, she heaved out a pained sigh, then turned her head to the side and faced away from me.

“Why is it so hard for me to make friends? I don’t want to be an angry person, but then I go and say such cruel things,” she wept, her voice already quieted down, though there was a good chance that she could once again build up in intensity.

“Making friends is just hard in general,” I replied, “not to mention, now we’re no longer in the city, so it’s even harder.”

“I hated it there...so many people, sure, but it was like everyone had their own things to do and you weren’t a part of it,” she grumbled.

I poked her nose.

“Sure, a lot of people are like that, and I’m not one to talk seeing as I never really made friends in the city, but there were opportunities. Clubs and groups you could join, stuff like that. Now, however, we’re probably the only people around for miles.”

She turned silent, as if such an obvious fact were a revelation. Maybe it was a reminder she would have rather left forgotten. If that were the case, maybe a different reminder would be more to her liking.

“For what it’s worth, you’ve got Velvet and Coriander. They’re your friends, right?”

“Yeah…” She sounded listless and disinterested, though she couldn’t deny such a thing, could she?

OK. I knew where she was coming from: those two were a little rowdy. Well, mostly Coriander. Apparently she met them back when she visited an alternate timeline and met an alternate version of me (which, for the record, probably wasn’t as sexy as this me was). She probably never expected to see them again, because why would she? Not to mention, she really liked things being just us.

...But how could I refuse letting two friends of my beloved stay at our humble abode? Sure, our house wasn’t much. I built it myself (pride!) and it could be quite rickety. All misshapen, not too sturdy. Our wood floors weren’t hardwood, nor did they have that varnish, and in fact, despite how free we liked to live, we ran the constant risk of receiving splinters whenever we walked around. One of these days I’d get some varnish, or whatever it is that helped smooth wood.

But aside from those things, which trust me, there were more I could have listed, it was our home. Our quiet, sometimes loud home where we could do whatever and run through tall grass and fields of flowers right outside our doorstep. In our living room were a couple of chairs, a small sofa made of fine woven straw, and bookshelves. Before Velvet and Coriander stayed with us, there was just one room, and it was our bedroom. So of course, I had to make room (ha!) for another room. It wasn’t too bad, and they were patient.

Now we had a guest room which probably wouldn’t get much use, since we weren’t the type to expect guests. Sometimes I let the chickens in and they liked to sleep on the bed in that room. Oh yeah! We had chickens, a whole coop of ‘em! About...five chickens. That was almost half a dozen!

There was a small fan atop a stand, and as gross as it was, we just dealt with the summer heat for the most part. At nights we’d open the window a crack and let the gentle breeze in. We’d also walk around the house near-naked and fan each other with our hands. As I waited for her to speak up again, I was mesmerized by the fan, wondering why we had it on when it didn’t do much for us.

“I was just thinking...what if I took that opportunity from you? To join groups and make friends, to be surrounded by others instead of isolated out here,” when she spoke at last, her voice sounded so far away, lost, even though she was right on my lap, beside me.

Really? That? Oh bother…

I covered her mouth with my hand.

“Enough of that,” I scolded, even if my playful voice made it sound like I was open to hearing more. “It’s not like I was doing any of those things when we did live in the city! Besides, I chose to live out here. I could have refused if I wanted to, but I liked the idea. New opportunities? Peace and serenity? Hell yeah, let’s go.”

She grabbed my wrist and moved my hand away, but not before kissing my fingertips.

“It was my dream to live like this, but it didn’t have to be yours.”

Through one of the open windows, the sun’s rays leaked through and spread its warmth across my cheeks. In turn, I lifted Ves by the back, lifted her hair back, and kissed her forehead.

“You’re right,” I smiled and shook my head slow, “it wasn’t my dream. But unlike you and my brother, I’ve never been the type to have dreams. Rather, when I want something, or want to do something, it comes in a flash, and I resolve to do it right away. It’s more of an impulsive desire than a dream. So when you told me about it, no, it wasn’t a dream of mine, but I loved the idea, and I wanted to help see it through.”

Indeed, I didn’t lie. One day, maybe, I would decide that the pastoral life wasn’t for me. If that time came, maybe I would decide that I wanted to return to the city. Or more realistically, I would elect for something different altogether. Like live a nomadic life. Never settle down. Ah, it didn’t quite sound like me, but sometimes I wondered how drifters managed to get by, and whether or not I would like to live such a life as well.

She leaned up to me and pressed her lips against mine, and while doing so, I wiped a tear from her eye. After she released, she squinted her eyes as we both stared into each other’s. With her near-blinking stare, it was like she still had more tears to release, but wanted to suppress them.

“Sorry,” she allowed the word to float out through the air and into my ear, sounding much more seductive than she probably intended. My ears twitched and I jolted into a sudden shiver. Still, I’d like to believe that I kept my cool. I laughed in return.

“Don’t be,” I poked her nose, “no need to thank me, either. I’ll remind you over and over again if you need to, and even if it might frustrate me to do so, and you might be stubborn and hot-headed at times, I’ll still remind you. Yes, I love you, and I am also my own person. I don’t have to want everything you want, or agree with everything you say, especially when you say some pretty dumb shit –”

“Hey!” She interrupted, having taken offense to that. Not like she could really dispute it, though.

“– but trust me when I tell you that I chose to move here with you, and I’m enjoying it here. Sure, it’s hard, and it’s a work in progress, but of course it’s work, and at least it’s work that I enjoy doing.”

“I didn’t think it would be…” she rolled her eyes and looked away.

“Of course not!” I grinned and closed my eyes, ready to break into a sing-song rant, “you probably thought you’d be living on a bed of flowers and be eating magic mushrooms all day and putting flower crowns in your hair, going off to bathe in a pond, all the while forgetting that you don’t like bugs and don’t like to get dirty. That you’ve got pollen allergies, and you’re so used to taking showers that you could never imagine doing such a thing –”

That time it was her turn to cover my mouth.

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. Indoor plumbing has spoiled me,” she scoffed. “But I also didn’t realize that I’d break a sweat farming, or that getting plumbing set up would be such a pain, or that we’d have to worry about foxes or coyotes trying to sneak in, or that chickens needed attention. So much goes into building a home or keeping cool in the summer and warm in the winter. More than I ever imagined.”

I laughed again.

“Not just that, but bugs still sneak in all the time, anyway,” I pointed out.

“Eep!” She jolted up, then scowled. “Why’d you have to tell me something like that?”

Yeah, I guess I didn’t have to tell her that. It was pretty obvious, huh? Still, it wasn’t like I was trying to freak her out or anything. She then turned to a laugh.

“Ah, well,” she sat up and smiled a wide smile, which almost gave off a smug aura. At least she sounded more relaxed at last. “Bugs are just something I have to live with. They’re part of nature, after all, and I love nature, even when it appears cruel. Even when it frightens me. I just get a little jumpy sometimes.”

I grinned as well.

“I’m glad you seem to be feeling better!”

Wide-eyed, as if struck by the realization of her ease in spirits, she turned her head to the side and rested it on her shoulder.

“Sorry about that...it’s what it all comes back to: I got into a conversation with Remora and then it seemed like she was pushing me away, so I tried to help her, and I lashed out, and –”

“Yeah, I know,” she already told me everything that was going on as the texting battle was happening. I didn’t really need the recap. “To be honest, she kind of had a point with one thing: I don’t think you meant anything bad by it, but your whole basis for wanting to be friends with her was because of who she resembled. You even told me yourself how you saw it as a second chance, since you didn’t get to help Rhea.”

“But you gave her your number too!” Ves protested, as I knew she would. Being defensive was just one of her charms.

“I thought it could be fun, yeah, if she was down to fun. But it seemed more important to you. I can’t really fault you for feeling the way you did, but I can also understand why she wouldn’t appreciate that treatment.”

“You’re right,” she sighed. “I guess her death just affected me more than it should have. Never would I think I’d have such prolonged grief. Especially when you consider how brief I knew her for, and the fact that we were adversaries.”

I nodded.

“Still, whether or not you’d like to admit it, it doesn’t take long for you to form connections. You two did more than just try to kill each other, right? There were times when it was just talking, like what we’re doing now.”

“You’re right,” she repeated. Something which fed my ego on days when my ego was hungry. Really, I couldn’t help but beam upon hearing that. “It must be hard dealing with me, huh? Going back and forth. Lashing out at people, getting defensive. I wish I could be kind, like you.”

You know, there were some things that just pressed my buttons. It wasn’t her lashing out or being defensive that really got to me, but that was something I could do without. After a deep breath, as if I was about to scream my head off, I spoke, calm and composed, even if the buzzing of my heart would have suggested otherwise.

“Not really. I’ve dealt with you for years now. You aren’t much trouble at all. It’s just as you say: all defense mechanisms. Even when you’re down on yourself, it’s just because you’re afraid to accept that there are good sides to you.”

“How does that make any sense?” She scowled. I ruffled her hair, and she tried to stop me, but it was too much fun.

“And another thing,” I added, still messing up her hair, “you already are a kind person. We’re more alike than you realize sometimes.”

“We are?” She whined, unable to keep me from messing with her hair.

“Yeah. Of course. We’re both sensitive people.”

“You too?”

“Of course. It’s not like I’ve just got a few predetermined traits and that’s it. I’m not some fictional character.”

“Ha. Neither am I.”

“If I was, I’d probably want to be a dragon or something!” I declared, “But alas, I am baby.”

She turned to the offensive now, using her own hands to mess with my hair. Luckily for me, I was into that.

“OK. Yeah. That’s true. I’ve seen you cry before,” she teased.

“Hey! I’ve seen you cry too!” I protested, then pounced on her, knocking her back to the floor.

As I stared down at her, a sly smile crept on her face. I stuck out my tongue and blew raspberries, then I plopped down to rest on her chest.

“You know, it’s hard not to lash out or get defensive sometimes. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”

“Thank you,” she stroked my back as she leaned close to my ear and whisked the two words away before turning to nibble on my earlobes.

Of course things would escalate from there. Then there was probably a good chance we’d sleep all day. One great thing about the both of us was that we could both be lazy people and unashamed to say so.

Despite all the lovey-dovey antics and the way she could always come back down from the boiling point she’d reach, things weren’t always ‘couple goals’ or whatever someone might have called it. Trent once claimed that I took a liking toward Vesuvius right away, but that wasn’t quite true. When Trent first took her home, I didn’t know what to expect. My first impression was that he shouldn’t have let someone, let alone a stranger, live at his place rent-free, but then again…

“Hey, this is kinda last minute, but I just got evicted!” I announced in a panic. Just a couple years before the homeless stranger moved in, and there I was, ready to move in.

“What?! How? That doesn’t seem like a ‘last minute’ thing!” He complained, which he had every right to, but...circumstances and all.

“Okay, so first work fired me a few months ago because my boss kept getting onto me about getting distracted looking at power tools, only to get distracted looking at screws and nuts and bolts and all that good stuff. Anyway, I guess he said this wasn’t the first time I was caught doing that, and he’s had many talks with me about it and they all just went waaaaay over my head. Long story short, I spent a couple months without a job, but not to worry! I was able to pay my rent...three months ago. Anyway, long story short, I just got evicted.”

Sure, some could say something like ‘what a stereotype! A cool woman who worked at a hardware store? How cliché!’ But for the record...shiny metal objects.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I could’ve helped you!”

“I mean, I thought I’d figure out something, but oops, the time just went by.”

“That’s more than an ‘oopsie’!” He balked.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I’m just glad I managed to hold this job while you were a med student. Hell, I didn’t think I’d still be working there after you became a doctor, and to think I never rose in the ranks one bit. Retail’s a joke, am I right?” I nudged his arm. He didn’t seem so amused.

“But yeah, if it’s not too much trouble, can I crash at your place? I get that it’s out of the blue and all, and if you say no, that’s fine, I don’t mind. Your poor little sis can just go live on the streets. But I’d rather not go back to living with mom, either way.”

“I wouldn’t want that for you either,” he agreed. “Come on, come on,” he motioned me in, although he did groan and roll his eyes.

“Good news is I got 24 hours to get my stuff, so I should be all moved in in no time!” I did my best to stay positive. I already knew this was a heavy burden on him.

“Do you...do you need any help?” He blinked and turned to the side while asking all awkward-like.

“Nah. You’re already helping plenty by letting me live with you! Just leave it to me!” I pounded my fist against my chest and grinned to further assure him that assistance would be unnecessary.

So just after coming in, I ran back out. It took a few trips, but luckily I didn’t have anything pesky like furniture or appliances.

“How did you sleep?” He’d ask me.

“Two words, bro: Air. Mattress.”

Indeed, those things were a life saver. Call me self-sacrificing, but I really didn’t have much money considering most of my paychecks went toward getting Trent through med school. What could I say? I could afford a few years of squalor, but could he afford an endless amount of student debt? I didn’t think so.

“Well, first chance I get, I should get you an actual bed,” he stated, and as hefty as a statement as that was, there were no hints that he was joking.

So for a little while, I just slept on the couch. While by the time Ves had moved in, I had a bed in my own room, I still slept on the couch out in the living room from time to time. It was nice; I’d watch cheesy horror movies like Gremlins, Critters, and The Brave Little Toaster. Really, I felt like royalty and all I needed was to make a little crown out of scrap metal.

Funny how that was even a thought, huh? Funnier still were the thoughts that were really memories that I hoped to have forgotten. Just a couple days after I had moved in, Trent brought up a topic that was far and away from my mind. He had just gotten home and set a bag of groceries at the table. For my part, I turned and leaned against the edge of the couch.

“Got any bananas for me? Oranges? Apples, even? Dare I say, cupcakes?”

“Yeah,” he answered, his back was turned, not even bothering to turn around, and threw a banana my way from over his shoulder. Maybe he thought that he could hit me with it, but my reflexes were too good. I caught it, firm in my grasp, one handed. Take that.

“Oh, while at work today I randomly remembered something,” he mentioned. Back still turned.

“Oh?” I didn’t know what to expect. It could have been anything, but based on how his mind worked, I figured it would just be something mundane.

“Yeah. I think it’s ‘cause you just moved in, but it got me thinking about how when I first moved in a couple years ago and you helped me move.”

“Heh. All because I got better muscles than you,” I sneered.

“...That aside, remember how there was that time travel device that looked like a Nintendo 64?” He asked.

I gulped. To be honest, it was a faint memory, and there was a tinge of jealousy somewhere mixed in, but all in all, it was a cloudy thing.

“You’re the one who thought it looked like an N64! It was probably just some old record player,” I dismissed.

“Okay, but regardless of what it we think it resembled, point is, it was legit,” he turned around now, one hand on his hip, the other hand holding an apple.

“I don’t know about that…I never even got to test it out. It was all you. For all I know, you could’ve just made a break for the convenience store while I was cooped up in this apartment.”

“Sorry about that,” he said all casual, like it was a quick run and done apology. “But you can’t deny all of it. I mean, we were both there when that teenager with a wool overcoat barged in and tried to take the device back, and then this apparent message from her father showed up and it was all weird and freaky. I really don’t remember what was said, but the imagery is still there.”

I nodded.

“That does sound weird. Are you sure we both didn’t just dream it all up? I mean, I barely remember any of that shit, and that’s probably for the best. It’s not like it really changed our lives in any way. Even if it was real, it was a random occurrence that I’ve moved on from.”

Maybe that was too harsh. Then again, was it even harsh at all? It was what it was, wasn’t it? There wasn’t really much to something that I didn’t even have a part in. He shrugged, and I knew he didn’t find it to be a big deal, just a topic he found interesting. Like a song he hadn’t heard for a long time, and out of nowhere, the lyrics played out in his head. Or maybe there was some other analogy he would’ve used, probably something D&D related.

“Yeah, it’s not important or anything, it’s just something I remembered. Like, at the end of that message, she was all crying and hugged you and I imagine that was awkward for you.”

It sure was. Damn it, why’d you have to bring that up now?

“Ha. As if a girl would ever hug me in real life. We all know I’m the one who does the hugging,” I closed my eyes and pointed my thumb against my chest, with a smug grin glued to that slab of skin we called a ‘face’.

“Anyway, I just thought it was neat. Not that there’s really any take away from it. Sorry if it made you all defensive,” he shrugged.

“What?” I gasped. “Me? Defensive? As if! I don’t even believe in time travel! Furthermore, it doesn’t matter how cute a girl is, I do not want to be hugged by no teenager! Only people my age, peas and thank you.”

Again, he shrugged, as he was prone to do.

“Well, like we said, it doesn’t really affect anything It’s not like we’re going to see that person again, and I doubt any other weird people are ever gonna enter this apartment.”

He sounded so sure of himself.

So when she finally showed up at the apartment, it was as if he had spoken a curse into existence. Even if I may not have remembered what he said at the time, there was an aura about the whole thing, like, “I just knew this would happen.”

Most of the time, Trent would be out, I’d be in my room, or in the workshop (it was originally a walk-in closet in the hallway, but after some tweaks here and there, it became a full-fledged tinkering room) and whichever place I’d happen to be in, a soft near-silence would follow. Buzzes from the refrigerator carried through the air, little drafts here and there. Clangs from the pounding of a hammer upon a steel table. Hums of a ceiling light. Those sounds.

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I was alone. But just the other night, Trent brought home a woman who was out on the streets and let her stay in the empty room (first room down the hall. How things went were kinda like...you walk in, walk down the hall, first room to the right, empty room. Then next door is to the left, and it’s workshop formerly known as closet. Last two rooms furthest down the hall were Trent and I’s. Mine on the right, his on the left). My brother had a big heart, no doubt about that, but something like that was a little unprecedented.

The day after he brought her home, I wasn’t even sure if she was still there. I spent the whole whole day cooped up in that apartment, flipping through channels, making myself PB&Js and generally having a good time. I’d put on some disco music and dance out of sheer boredom. Still, not once did I see that door open. Not once did I see that mysterious homeless lady, not even at a passing glance.

Same thing with the day after alongside the little ambiance. No hints nor signs of another soul besides mine.

It was still early in the day, a little before noon. Light shone through the gaps between the blinds in the windows. Restless, curious even, I approached the door to that empty room.

But it might not be empty. That stranger might be there.

My heart was as worked up as my mind was and as my hand reached for the door handle, I had to stop myself.

“It would be rude to barge in,” I muttered. I drew a hefty breath. We all knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself, but all the same, I was hesitant. “I know if someone barged into my room, I wouldn’t like it much…”

So I raised my arm just a cut above the handle and balled my hand into a fist, ready to knock.

...Yet I didn’t. There was a worry in me that I’d knock too loud, so I released my grip and let out another belabored breath.

As long as I’m quiet, it shouldn’t be a problem, right? And if no one’s there, all the better. If someone’s there, all I gotta say is, “sorry I didn’t know there was someone in here.” Yeah. Foolproof.

“Here goes…” Confidence was not on my side, yet there I was, my palm on the handle, and I turned, gave a little pull, and let the door do the rest of the work as it coaxed itself open, propelled by the gentle momentum. I crept through the gap, then stood, stunned.

She lay there, spread across the floor. An orange striped blanket covered her, and underneath I spied a purple rain jacket. I crouched down next to her, still filled with wonder, still hoping to keep my movements quiet. As I leaned in, I felt a jolt rush through me, shocked at how close I was to her face.

You know, she’s actually quite beautiful now that I’ve got a good look at her: Her hair isn’t so much golden blonde as it is such a light shade, almost white. Mystical. Her skin looks soft, radiant even. However old she is, she’s definitely got that ‘babyface’ thing going on. She looks peaceful with her eyelids shut and little warm breezy breaths wafting out from her open mouth. She must be deep in sleep right now. I was right to be quiet. Sure, she smells kinda mildewy, but she was out in the rain after all.

My eyes traced down her back and I couldn’t help but notice how the blanket didn’t cover all of her. Her legs were folded, but even so, it was apparent just how tall she was.

“Now’s not the time to be horny, Juniper,” I scolded myself in a whisper. “I only came in to check if she was actually in here. Now that I know, I can leave.”

I began to get up, but was stopped when I noticed her begin to stir from her sleep. She stretched out and her arms ended up on my lap, and she must have mistaken it for a pillow, as she crawled up my lap until her torso was leaned up against mine, and I found myself frozen in nervousness.

Uh...what do I do now?

Despite her eyes not yet open, she continued her way up and placed a hand on my cheek. I could have stopped her, I could have moved her hand away, but for whatever reason, I had no desire to.

“My love…” She whispered in a faint, breathy voice, then she fell back down and went right back to sleep. Out of all of the things to happen next, that wasn’t something I expected.

I blinked.

“Excuse me? Do you just say that to the first person you see?” I could no longer control the volume of my voice, I was too dumbfounded for that. Yet despite my reaction, she didn’t wake back up.

I managed to pull her off of me without waking her (spoilers: she was indeed a heavy sleeper), then left the room. As far as first impressions went, that was...something. Not something I could really put words to, but I’d be sure to tell Trent about it.

Just a day later, Trent and I sat at the kitchen table and I couldn’t help but bring up our guest.

“I finally had an encounter with her,” I opened up the conversation.

“Who?” He wondered, an earnest clueless tone.

“The one you brought home a few nights ago, who else?” I scoffed.

“Oh, right. She’s still here?”

I stared at him.

“How are you this careless?”

“Hey, I’ve been busy with work, I’ve not had time to check in. It’s not like she has to stay here or anything, she’s free to leave at any time.”

“Maybe she should leave,” I let slip.

“Why’s that?” He seemed surprised.

“We don’t know anything about her, Trent. We don’t know what she’s like or whether it’s safe to keep her in the house,” I argued.

“She told me she was running from something,” he mentioned, and although concerning, that only solidified my point.

“Then what she needs is a women’s shelter, not some bumbling doctor and his lazy sister,” and upon realizing how I described him, I added, “no offense, by the way.”

“None taken. Look, I’m the one who pays for this apartment, and besides, I let you live here when you didn’t have a home.”

That...he had a point. But boy howdy, I was stubborn.

“Yeah, but I’m your sister. You know me. You know, yesterday when I checked in on her, you know what she did?”

“What?”

“She woke up and climbed up to me and called me her love. Like, what the fuck? Not to say I wasn’t into it, but I also wasn’t expecting it.”

“Well then, what’s the problem?” He inquired, then sipped his cup of coffee. I was just about to swipe that mug out of his hand.

“What’s the – oh, never mind. She can stay, obviously, and I’m not trying to make a big stink about her, but I just want you to be realistic and not overburden yourself. For that matter, has she been eating? Does she have food? Because if she’s not eating here, and just locking herself up, then she really is better off in a shelter than here.”

He shrugged. Classic.

“I’m guessing she feeds at night,” he suggested.

I’m sure the argument would have went on for at least another hour, but before I could get another word in, we both turned and saw the door to her room creak open. Although at first, we didn’t quite spot her, and her movements were languid and wraith-like, nary a sound made, we both caught her attention as she drew near the front door.

“Oh, uh, sorry if you heard us talk about you!” I called over, flustered. Out of all the things, I didn’t expect such a sudden appearance. She glanced at me, but then turned her attention toward Trent instead. So rude.

“Thank you for letting me stay, but I’ll be taking my leave now,” she told him.

“Oh? So soon?” He seemed surprised. I mean, it was what? Three days? That wasn’t super soon or anything. She looked down on the floor.

“It just dawned on me...who you two are...it’s not a good idea for me to be here any longer,” she muttered.

The hell does she mean by that? I wondered.

“Well, if that’s how you feel, I won’t stop you,” he brushed aside. He could be like that if he wanted, but something didn’t sit right with me.

“So that’s just it, huh? You took advantage of my brother’s kindness and now you’re going to bail?” I scowled and sharpened my voice. That time, I got her attention.

“Excuse me? He invited me here. If you have a problem, take it up with him,” she shot back, also wearing a scowl on her pretty face.

“I already did. He was willing to help you and instead you hid out and starved yourself.”

Her brow creased further and so did her lips. I thought I could spy little fangs protruding and clenched down against her lips.

“I can take care of myself,” she growled. “Who are you to tell me how I should and shouldn’t be?”

“I’m the one you called your lover. Or did you forget that little mishap?”

That time, her fists clenched as well.

“For your information,” she seethed. “I was dreaming and must have mistaken you for someone else in my sleep. I assure you, I would never want you as a lover.”

“Wanna bet?” I flared up as well. Really, out of all the things to argue about, at that point it seemed like I was arguing just to argue.

“This is ridiculous…” she turned her head away, and reached for the front door. “I don’t need any of your help. I’m better off alone, anyway.”

Once she set her hand on the door handle, however, she hunched down and clasped her head with her other hand. She started to heave and moan as if she were about to throw up. That time, both Trent and I were concerned. He was the first to get up and rush to her side. Something in me made me jealous, as if I were just a little quicker, I would have been the one at her side.

“Are you okay?” He held onto her.

“I’m fine,” she rasped, even if the aching of her voice proved otherwise. “I’m just a little dizzy and nauseous and have a bit of a headache. I’ll be fine.”

Defiant until the end, I noted.

“Do you need me to take you to the hospital?” He asked.

“No! I don’t need a hospital!” She lashed. “I’m – urp,” she was probably going to say that she was fine again, but had to stop herself. She both looked and sounded like she was struggling not to throw up, and at that point, she let go of the handle and held onto the base of the door itself.

For my part, I had gotten up, but I was at a loss for words. I stood there and watched, horrified and worried for this stranger’s sake.

“My...my brother’s a doctor…” I spoke up, much less confident than before. “If you don’t want to go to a hospital, he can treat you here.”

“I can?” He looked at me. Sure, it was a spur of the moment comment, and he didn’t have any medical equipment at home, but I bet he could manage.

“I’m…” she glared at me. “I’m fine. I’m just not good with the daylight and I haven’t eaten for several days.”

“Stop!” I yelled. “Stop saying you’re fine. You’re clearly not and you shouldn’t be starving yourself. We can help you here, but you need to accept our help.”

Her gaze was fixed on me, and she stared. But rather than a scowl, she looked dejected and faint. Ready to pass out at any moment.

“Fine…” She relented at last.

I ran into the kitchen and poured a glass of water from the tap. When I rushed over to her, I held the water up to her face.

“Drink. Please.”

She did so, but then spit out the water. It didn’t look to be on purpose, but I still would have preferred if it didn’t happen.

After a moment, she was able to swallow more, and I took the water back. She stood back up.

“I’ll stay a while longer. I guess.”

“Good. But while you’re here, you should eat with us,” I tried to lay out at least one ground rule.

She looked away, held her sleeve up to her mouth, and I thought I could spot a blush upon her face.

“I’ll do it for you,” she groaned.

It would be best if she did it for herself. For all her talk of handling things on her own, it concerned me that she hadn’t been taking care of herself. Maybe she wasn’t able to, but it seeemed that rather than being unable, she just wasn’t interested in doing so. Still, it was a start.

So yeah. It wasn’t the best start and I wasn’t really sure how things developed to the point that we were bonafide wives who looked out for each other. There must have been a journey that led up to it, but I still couldn’t pinpoint when it was that we became genuine lovers. It was probably about a couple years before we got together, so there was some kind of build up at least.

No matter the case, I was glad with how things turned out. We had each other and I had a workshop in my shed, she had her greenhouse with its poisonous plants. We were both in good health and even if her mental state wasn’t always the best, I loved her range of emotions and we were strong enough to recover from whatever it was she dealt with.

Life had a great deal of difficulties, even without the burden of money and city life. That said, both of us were in agreement how happy we were for things to just be the two of us in our place of solace. That said, we welcomed her friends Velvet and Coriander, and like Trent before me, I was sure I’d welcome anyone who wished to stay with us.

“Oh! By the way!” I was reminded of a potential visitor we may have. I was sitting in the armchair, Ves had just gotten back inside after tending to her greenhouse. She wore sunglasses, a face mask, gardening gloves, and a pair of pliers (that’s what they were, right?)

“Hm?” She looked my way and her voice was muffled under he mask.

“Demetria’s mom called the other day. Remember Demetria?”

She shook her head.

“At the wedding, she was the pipsqueak? Your cousin-in-law? Anyway, her mom’s worried about her. Apparently she’s been dealing with a lot. Demetria, not the mom. She sent her mom a text saying that she plans to come over here and stay for a while, so her mom was asking if Demetria was here.”

“Are you going to let her stay here if she comes?” She asked.

“I don’t see why not? She’s family, even if I don’t really know her all that well. Besides, you stayed with Trent and I for years before we moved out.”

“True. I was just really enjoying it just being the two of us out here.”

“Aw, me too, hun. But we let Velvet and Coriander stay.”

“I was reluctant about that too,” she pointed out.

Maybe it was bad to say so, but I kind of found her possessiveness to be cute. Besides, I knew she had a good heart and wouldn’t mind someone else being here, even if she wasn’t too keen on the idea.

“I know how you feel, I can read you pretty well. But you don’t have to worry, we don’t have to give up our free life or anything like that. We’ve got our own room, she’ll have hers, and I’m sure she won’t mind how we are, anyway.”

“You may be right. Sorry, I’m just quick to not like something. I’m sure I’ll be fine with her here, and maybe I could get to know her better, too. I’ll do my best to treat her with kindness,” she resolved, then nodded.

“I know you will,” I agreed.

Between the two of us, she may have seemed like the less kind one, but as I said, we were more similar than she realized.

Even if I couldn’t pinpoint where our love for each other blossomed, I could at least recall when I resolved to be there for her.

See, while we began to eat meals together, and she bathed and got new changes of clothes (courtesy of Trent), she still seemed kinda secretive. Like there were just some things she felt she had to keep hidden. However, on my end, I was fixated on those words when she was first about to leave.

“Did you happen to meet us before you moved in?” I’d bring up at times, or ask, “have you known about us from somewhere?”

But each time, I’d get dismissed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sorry,” or, “that’s a strange question to ask.”

But I could tell she was being coy about it. However, her attempts at hiding the truth wouldn’t keep me from wanting to know.

One evening, I entered her room. I gave two light taps beforehand, and in response, she called, “come in.”

As soon as I did so, I saw her try to hide something away from me.

“Hey, what’cha got there?” I asked.

“Just some random junk I found when I was homeless,” she rushed to say and scrambled to find a place to hide it.

“I like junk,” I let her know. “I like making things in my workshop. I’m sure I could put it to good use.”

“No!” She hissed.

I backed away, disappointed.

“Is it that bad?” I pouted.

“Yes. Sorry.”

“Why?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” she huffed.

“Try me,” I crossed my arms.

She sighed, then showed me. My eyes widened as I recognized its cubic shape and little buttons. Despite its primitive look, she had pulled parts of it apart and chips and wires hung out. It looked less like she broke it, however, and more like she was trying to make improvements to it.

“Is that…?” Flashbacks to when my brother first moved in started to play out and my head spun trying to piece together the implications.

“It’s mine. I’ve modified it, but I’m working on making it better. It’s hard work. I’m not good with technology, but I’ve studied its contents here and there and have already figured out some things.”

“But...how?”

“How what?”

“How do you have that? I know I’ve seen it before and –” She stopped me before I could finish.

“Like I said, it’s mine. We met before, years ago, when I was younger. I didn’t think I’d ever run into you two again, I didn’t even want to, and when your brother took me in, the incident was far from my mind.”

“Incident?”

“After I took my device back. No, my father’s device, I returned home, but things were strange. I couldn’t stay. Anywhere. There were dangerous people after me, people who wanted to use me, and ever since, I’ve been on the run. It’s only been by coincidence that I’ve come to this time period and met you two. I swear, I never wanted to put either of you in danger.”

“What are you talking about?” The more she spoke, the more outlandish things seemed to be.

“You already know.”

“That’s not possible. It wasn’t that long ago, and she was just a teenager. You’re the same age as me.”

“Exactly,” she stared, her face dead serious. “For you, it may have only been a few years or so, for me, I lost more years than that. I’ve had to travel through time, fend off people you never wanted to meet, and now I am the person you see today.”

“That’s ridiculous. Time travel isn’t real. Did Trent put you up to this?”

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me,” she shook her head, “even though your own brother traveled through time, you refuse.”

“I don’t even know if he did. I never even got to try that device before you, er, she took it away! So what proof do I have?”

“I’m sorry. I can’t prove it, but I’m not lying.”

“Prove it,” I was adamant. It really wasn’t fair on her, but I just felt like I was pulled in on some practical joke, even if I knew it had to be true. “Take me somewhere. Anywhere through time. If you can do that, I’ll believe you.”

“Don’t believe me if you don’t want to, but I’m not going to do that. It’s too dangerous.”

“I bet I can handle it. I’m tougher than I look,” I called her bluff.

Despite wanting to protest further, she gave in, a mournful expression having taken hold.

“Very well. We’ll go. Give me a few days. May I use your workshop?”

“Of course. You don’t even have to ask.”

“Good. When we go, make sure to stay close to me,” she instructed.

After a few days passed, she came up to me while I was on the couch watching Trent play one of his games on TV. I think it was something called ‘Deus Ex’ or whatever.

“It’s done,” she informed me.

I sprung up from the couch.

“Later Trent. I’ll be back, uh...sometime,” I told him, then hopped off to follow her into her room. From behind, I could hear him say something like, “not like it’s any of my business what you two do in that bedroom.”

Of course, I ignored it.

Once behind closed doors, she told me to pick a time period.

“I don’t know...hm...maybe the 1930s? I’ve always wanted to see the great depression. I’m sure it was neat!”

She raised a brow.

“Neat? Oh, never mind. Sure,” she disregarded, then entered in 1932 and today’s date into the device, then hit enter as we held on tight. Before, I knew it was supposed to only be one person per use, but through her modifications, we were both able to go.

It was instantaneous. A flash. One moment, in that bedroom, the next, in an empty deserted street, houses left abandoned.

I looked around, the sky was some darkened indigo color with a gray hue washed over it. Everything about where we were at looked gloomy. Next to the rows of buildings was an open field of long grass.

“Well...this certainly looks like some kinda depression,” I remarked.

She wasn’t so amused, however, scanning the area like a hawk.

“Something isn’t right,” she mentioned.

“What isn’t?” I tried to ask, but she ignored it.

“Let’s move on. We shouldn’t linger too long. If anything happens, hide.”

“What would we hide from?” I once again tried to ask.

She didn’t answer. We continued to walk forward and a newspaper flew by on the ground. I snatched it up and noticed its date. The year on it was 1931 and the headline was about a food shortage.

“I can’t believe it…” I muttered.

Still, believe it, I must. There was no longer any denying where I was, even if I wanted to. However, what lingered on my mind was why we hadn’t encountered any signs of life. Not even someone desperate or starving, but just us two. Maybe it had to do with the time period, but I would’ve figured there would be at least one person we passed by.

Further down the street, we spotted a few old looking roofless cars. Then, a static-y sound erupted.

“Crap,” Ves hissed, then turned to me. “Juniper. Hide.”

Without even knowing why, I did so, feeling an inexplicable pounding against my chest, a foreboding sense burned through. I ducked down, crawled underneath one of the cars. My breaths grew heavy and I was worried about being given away, even though I didn’t know why. I could just sense that I shouldn’t be found.

Up ahead were the clacks of footsteps and I looked ahead, despite my narrow vision, to see a group of a few people in black slacks and black dress shoes.

“Well, well, Etna. We didn’t expect you to show yourself,” one of them spoke, a venomous delight to their voice.

Etna?

“Worry not. I won’t be here long,” Ves’ voice turned into a cold monotone.

“Of course not. Because we’ll be taking you, and your guest away.”

Fear washed over me, a jolt which would soon give way to panic.

“Fuck,” Ves hissed. She swerved down between the car I was hiding in and another and gunfire erupted. I saw her sneak to the other side of the car as cover.

“Juniper,” she turned to me and slid the device over. “Hold on to it. I’ll take care of them.”

“But they know I’m here too!”

“They don’t know what you look like, they just know I didn’t come alone. If things take a turn for the worst, I want you to use the device and head back home.”

“No. I’m not leaving without you.”

“It’s me that they want,” she scowled. “I’m telling you this to keep you safe. They’d want the device if they could get it, but I’m their top priority.”

So that’s it? You’re just going to let them capture you? I don’t see how you can get out of this mess, thoughts flooded me.

Despite my fears, she wasn’t as defenseless as I believed. It was like she was prepared for such an encounter, as she leapt over the car she had been behind and shoved herself into one of the strangers. As one tried to grab her, she grabbed the gun of the one she knocked down instead and shot them. There were two more, one which got shot in the chest and the last one, she struck beside their forehead with the gun she had in hand. Even the gun looked strange, like some kind of liquid was sloshing around inside, like lava. That last figure was knocked out and fell to the ground. That first person to get knocked to the ground was still conscious and tried to grab her by the ankle, but she shot at their face.

Once that was over, she dropped the weapon and huffed heavy breaths.

“You can come out now,” she informed. “But we should hurry back. They’re likely to send more.”

“You killed them,” my mouth was dry. I was at a loss for words.

“Not all of them. One is knocked unconscious. I would have knocked them all unconscious had I better reflexes.”

“Still…”

“I get it. Do you hate me now? Are you afraid of me?” Her voice shook, as well as the rest of her. She looked ready to break into tears.

“No, that’s not it. I’m just surprised. I didn’t think that’s what you had to deal with,” I reassured her. Yes, I was afraid, shocked, even. But if things were really so bad that she had to resort to such things, I couldn’t blame her. I just wanted to comfort her and protect her, so she wouldn’t have to, instead.

When we returned to the apartment, she put the device away.

“I don’t to have to use this again until I know it will be safe to do so,” she struggled to form the words, still shaken, herself. Possibly by her own actions.

“I had no idea,” I was stunned and about ready to break down, myself.

“Now do you believe me?” She asked.

“Yes. I believe you.”

Although the danger of the organization that pursued her is long behind her, even to this day, it affected her. That much I was aware of. We lived in peace, but to her, she wanted to hold tight to it and anything she associated with peace. It was like at any moment it would crumble in her hands and she’d have to run and hide once again.

Despite such difficulties, her insecurities, her history, our love remained strong. I wanted, no, needed her to know that it wouldn’t go away and she wasn’t this awful person she at times saw herself to be. I just hoped I could continue to get through to her.

As we ran through the fields with our hoes and tilled the soil beneath us, I turned to her and smiled.

“Whew. Hard work, huh?” I wiped my sweat-drenched forehead. “At least we’ll get some good veggies from it.”

“Yeah. It may be hard, but when it’s ripe, it makes it all the more worth it,” she smiled. It was still warm, radiant, even with all the sadness which latched onto her.

“I know it’s hard to find happiness sometimes, maybe even harder now that you’ve found a victory you never thought you’d achieve,” I told her. “But I know it’s possible. I believe so.”

She shook her head.

“I don’t need to be happy all the time. All I need is to be home, and as long as I’m with you, I’m home.”

My heart swelled. It was sappy, I knew, but I felt like bursting into tears all the same.

“Say, if we wanted, we can leave this behind. We can return to the city. Or better, we could hitchhike and travel the world. Maybe find an abandoned castle to live in. We don’t have to stay anywhere,” she laughed. “Oh, what am I saying? I wouldn’t mind wherever we are, but I know I would be too afraid to leave.”

I laughed too.

“We don’t need to go anywhere, and we don’t need to stay in the same place. Whatever we do, we can have fun, and we’ll be sure to love each other.”

You’re safe, I wanted to tell her. She knew that already, though. She must have.

#remoras full #wives #scifi #drama #writing #stories #flashbacks #this was supposed to only take one week to write #took two instead

[muddypuppytales]

Been so long...

In the last couple of weeks, I've started to venture out of my self-imposed bubble related to the COVID-19 pandemic. I might be a little slower than some to venture out, but it was relatively easy for me to stay at a safe distance, so my reasoning was always based on "do I need to increase risk yet?" For more than 14 months, the answer to that question was mostly "no." Early on in the pandemic I volunteered at a food shelter to help distribute food in a revised distribution system that kept peopel socially distanced and wearing masks. During that period of time I was working from home and socializing mostly via technology. I created a small network of people with whom I interacted on a more open basis, but these were people who regularly got tested and who followed all the recommended guidance on reducing the chance of incurring or spreading an infection. I gave up visiting other people in person, including family and friends. I gave up going to the gym and playing tennis. I shopped as infrequently as possible. I did not travel and I wore a mask everywhere I went. I did not get sick, nor did anyone with whom I came in contact with. Most of the people I communicate with frequently also followed these guidelines. Several people I know who did have to continue to work did contract the illness and two of these people becamse seriously ill - one was sick enough to require hospialization. But in May I received both of my vaccines and so by early June I started to feel more comfortable venturing out into social settings again, especially with the daily infections coming down and mandates being lifted on a more wide-scale basis. Two weeks ago, I played tennis for the first time. Last week I spent the week on a stay-vacation with two friends where we went shopping and eating out (albeit outside in all such cases). And today I planned my first travel trip that will take me nearly 1000 miles from home. I am also planning other trips for the remainder of the year, including a wedding on the West Coast. It feels weird to be venturing out and I still wear my mask when shopping indoors, such as my visit today to Target. About a third of the other shoppers still were wearing a mask and all the employees. It is a preventative step I may keep for a while yet, just as I will the new habit of bumping elbows instead of hugging people. Some may find that annoying but I've never been a hugger so the pandemic is giving me a reason to move that off my social interaction plate for the foreseeable future.

#covid19 #covid #masks #vaccines #travel #tennis

[pixiedoodlein]

I’m so fucking mad that a year and a half into this pandemic I am back to 11th hour debating another year of homeschool. The first stretch of homeschool, in NYC, when the toddler was a baby, and husband was home on unemployment, was good, nice even, a quiet piece of something good when the world outside was falling apart. The next stretch, the Oklahoma stretch, with a particularly climby toddler, husband working 10 hour days, me doing remote contract work, somewhere we had no family around to help w/ childcare, was challenging. I was not always my best self. Some days were delightful, muffins and math games. Other days I was more Miss Trunchbull than Miss Honey, fractions were squeezed in between crying (usually mine) and netflix (way too much of hers), and I held on to any shred of sanity by telling myself “just a little longer, just until the vaccines.”

Well here we are. Husband & I have been vaccinated for months, but the kids aren’t yet. The upstate NY town we moved to is a very small town (pop: 838), was mostly untouched by previous waves. When we got here, I couldn’t understand why everyone was so lax about it- no masks, no panic. Our first day here, when I came home from the market and saw through the window a gaggle of unmasked kids in my living room (the neighbors coming to welcome us, they heard a kid moved in) I almost had a heart attack. In fact, I was so tired from the drive from OKC that for a moment I actually thought I was at the wrong house, that I was hallucinating, because how in the world could there be unmasked bodies in my living room.

Then I started talking to people here. And I realized that the way I thought they were insane for not being deathly afraid of covid, they thought I was insane for being petrified. Because the disease hadn’t hit here; their businesses were destroyed and their kids were out of school (in a rural area with barely functional internet, remote school = a lost year) and their lives were totally fucked up, for a disease that never arrived at their doorstep. I came to understand why they weren’t worried, why here life looked (almost) normal. I told them about what it was like to live somewhere covid tore through, the freezer trucks of bodies on the FDR Drive and my previously healthy 27yld brother so sick with it the first spring he thought he was about to die (but too scared to go to a hospital), my dad’s relative in the next NYC wave on a vent for months and lucky to be alive but may never walk again, the doctors in OKC pleading on the news to please wear a fucking mask because the hospitals were fucking full, and the neighbors stopped thinking I was psycho when I carried extra masks for their kids, and made them put them on, when I took them to town for ice cream. I never stopped masking. But we did indoor dine here (once, BBQ, it wasn’t delicious enough for how anxious I felt) and I did bring all the kids, including my toddler, to a fairly crowded children’s museum in the big (small) city an hour away, where the rest of us were masked but the one with his hands in his mouth, who was all up in other kids’ faces, the one who really should be masked, wasn’t because he won’t leave it on for more than a minute.

Actually it’s a lie to say that I never stopped masking- I have dashed into little stores here, without one, because I’m vaxed! It’s safe here! Covid felt done. We had friends come here to visit this summer. Friends who are vaxed, but that doesn’t seem to really matter enough anymore. We had the neighbors over for meals, indoors (you see, more indoor dining! A minute ago I was just thinking restaurants, but why would plagues only spread in restaurants?). They had us for meals. The girls are a crew, new best friends, making my daughter’s life here so, so much happier, constant sleepovers (their kids were at our house this afternoon; my kid is at their house right now). The parents and grandparents are wonderful, making my life here, and husband’s life here, so much easier, so much better. We help them with stuff, they help us with stuff, there isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t see each other, unmasked. Some of the adults in their household are vaxed; some of the adults in their household are not. The kids are all too young to be vaxed. But it (living, doing shit again, seeing people again) really stopped feeling scary; it really felt like everything was fine, normal-ish, normal-er. The end of the pandemic felt in sight.

I signed my child up for school here. Real school, not mommy school, school with a school bus. She was a little anxious, I had to talk her into it, I sold it hard, I bought her whatever pair of new sneakers she wanted for her new school (she hasn’t had gym class in a year and a half; for a phase in Oklahoma she wore one boot and one sandal every day, why not). She wasn’t anxious about sneakers or covid; she was anxious that maybe she hadn’t learned enough in homeschool (I am not a teacher! I did not homeschool because I am good at it or love it or wanted to, I homeschooled because I was scared of her getting covid at school and dying), that she would be behind. She isn’t behind. I followed the real school curriculum as best I could (as in: sometimes totally and sometimes not at all), and somehow, when I gave her the standardized “real school” test “at the end of the year” (aka the day I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to focus on my work or I wasn’t going to have an income, the day I’d decided we’d done as much as we could and it was time to be done), she sailed through it, this kid is smart. Smart as in needs to be in actual real fucking school to stay smart and learn and reach her potential.

She got excited- one of the neighbor kids is in her grade. The other kid is older- but the school is small, she’d see her tons. She was excited; I was excited. I registered her for school. Her new teacher sent a nice note. We all were excited. She’s never taken the school bus before but the neighbors take it and she’d be fine on the bus with her besties, the bus would pick her up in front of their house since there’s nowhere to turn around up our hill (we are VERY rural), they’d all get on and off the bus together. She has been backpack shopping. We have been discussing what she’ll have for breakfast (honey nut Cheerios), what she wants me to pack for lunch (she says just Goldfish, I say turkey sandwich, we’re working on it).

But now, 18 days before school starts here, I am thisclose to pulling her out, to embarking on another lovely (not), gratifying (not) year of homeschool, because of covid, delta. When we got to our new home in our new tiny town in June, there was no covid here. Now, our county is listed by the CDC as a high transmission area (is there anywhere in the US that isn’t?). 80% of senior citizens here are vaxed; 50% of the total population is, well below the national average. 15 cases per 100,000, in a county of 100,000. I guess this is less rampant than our previous pandemic locales, NYC (currently 25/100K), OKC (49/100K). This is splitting hairs, everywhere is bad. This is what panic does to me: are we better or worse for every decision we’ve made in the past year and a half, every decision that got us here? There are fewer cases here but fewer people and fewer vaccinated people and fewer ICU beds. We aren’t safe even here, but at least we are happy (happy aside from fear of delta death).

I don’t know whether to send my kid to school in 18 days. There will be masks but masks aren’t enough (how many masks do I make her wear? two, ten, a thousand?). This choice feels crazy— in March 2020, when that covid was mostly sparing kids, I yanked her out of school. Now, this covid does hurt kids. How much longer, how many more years, can parents be in this position to make this nightmare choice? What will hurt her more: school or no school? There are vaccines, more than enough in America. We shouldn’t be having to make this choice.

As it is, because of toddler— not because of toddler, because of being a parent to children in a pandemic— my work life, and husband’s, will be severely impacted this year, again. I can’t send him to daycare because he’s too little to leave a mask on (he won’t even leave his pants on!) in a room full of other unmasked toddlers, whose families may or may not be vaxd, may or may not wear masks (there has been a noticeable increase in supermarket mask wearing since we got here, but still not enough, is any of it enough?), may or may not be going to parties and weddings and funerals, daycare providers who may or may not be doing all the same. This means I can only apply to remote jobs, so I can be home with him. Husband has some flexibility, more than he did in OKC, but god forbid he has to work while I have a work call or meeting or work due I didn’t manage to get done at 4am or 11pm when the house is quiet. He can’t bring toddler to work with him, his work is up on scaffold, stenciling ceilings. This will be another year of me muting myself on Zooms while toddler pulls his diaper off and hurls poop at the cat. Would it really be so much harder to also be trying to teach parts of speech to our daughter at the same time? Yes, it would, but I don’t know if I can send my kids back out into the world until they’re vaccinated. I am counting the days, holding my breath, until they can be.

I used to believe in personal choice. I don’t anymore. I want this shit to be mandated, I want the government to line us up and force mRNA into holdouts’ arms, I want it to be required, to be able to function in and interact with and benefit from society in any way, shape, or form. I have been very lucky in the pandemic. Privilege stacked on privilege on privilege, to be fussing over my Zooms in my hamlet. I had been pretty pandemic perky, baking my pies and playing with my pandemic pets and (thinking about) doing puzzles, but I’ve reached my breaking point. This shit could be done, but it’s not, and I’m scared it never will be.

[iplaywithstring]

My area just moved to “orange level” restrictions for covid. Meaning kids can be in school and stores/restaurants are still open, but masks must be worn at all times in public and you’re supposed to reduce your close contacts (less than 6 ft apart, indoors, without a mask) to only the people you live with. Recommendations are to only go out for essential things, to choose takeout instead of dining in and to work from home if possible. People are freaking out. Last time we moved to orange, it only lasted two weeks, but you were able to do a “two household bubble” - meaning you could pick one other family to be close contacts with. This time that had to be changed - contact tracing shows most of the cases are coming from small, private gatherings rather than any public exposure. There’s lots of “oh, so I can’t go see my neighbour but we could go to the gym together” or “guess I’ll just plan to meet my friends at the mall instead of inviting them over” sort of comments. And that isn’t how it works. And it’s so frustrating. If you go to the mall, you’re expected to wear a mask and stay 6 ft away from other people. All indoor venues (stores, cafes, restaurants, gyms etc.) are at reduced capacity. Anywhere that’s not retail is supposed to keep a list of who was there when. You can’t be withing 6 ft of someone you don’t live with, unless it’s necessary for the job (servers, gym receptionists, barbers etc.) - and you have to be wearing a mask. If you really want to see people, just go outside - a park or whatever - keep your mask on and don’t get closer than 6 ft. That’s totally allowed. It’s not that hard people. Meanwhile, I’ve been in close contact with a total of about 25 people since March. When cases in the area were low (we had a while with no cases at all!) I did relax a bit and spent time with people, but mostly outside. Even when I’ve had visits with people, I’ve hardly been within 6 feet of anyone. It has been frustrating and hard and lonely, but it’s the safest thing for me. I’ve said no to people who have wanted to get together, or sat on opposite sides of the room when I’ve wanted to give people hugs. I didn’t hold my friend’s baby a couple weeks ago, because it just made more sense not to. I rarely go out to public places (my husband does most of the shopping), and I wouldn’t dream of going into a store without a mask. We were supposed to visit my inlaws this weekend, but we cancelled because of this - we haven’t seen them since September. People are complaining about 2 weeks of reduced contact, while people like me have had to limit contact this whole time because of people who complain about reduced contact and don’t follow the rules. If everyone scaled back then we’d have a better chance of being less restricted for Christmas, but as of right now I’m expecting we’re not going to be able to see anyone.

#covid19 #chronic illness #my son and I are both asthmatic #and I already have ME/CFS so the thought of long covid is terrifying #so we are being extra cautious #and I don't trust the general public to follow the rules #so I just stay home instead #my kids go to school and that's enough risk #the last breakout was in our neighbourhood so that was fun #complaining about people complaining #this is my life