“It's far easier to fight demons in a universe of your own making,
than to work together to fix the world we all share.”
-- https://twitter.com/plmanseau/status/1467150508049772552
"Rewa" is summaries of information about the Covid, that i find on the Web and Internet.
All info is linked to sources: reputable scientific studies, articles, etc.
All summaries and comments by me are based on these sources
(unless i'm just riffin, in which case i will say so!)
(For substack sites, just click through with the "no thanks" or "continue reading" link. You don't have to subscribe.)
The disease itself: How it works, the effects on the body, people's experiences with it, along with the words we use to talk about it.
→ In this section: words about COVID | information about COVID | effects of COVID | contributing conditions | treatments | transmission | experiences | Long Covid
Collections of info about COVID-19 from authoritative sources.
COVID is not a respiratory disease.
It is not the flu.
It is a systemic disease.
It seems like it is respiratory because it enters through the lungs,
often its first effects are in the lungs,
and it can "feel like" the flu.
Please understand that the virus gets into every part of the body,
and can have many varied short- and long-term effects.
Age and health conditions can worsen the effects of Covid.
Latest: Covid-19 in older adults “Older unvaccinated adults are more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19 Getting vaccinated prevents severe illness, hospitalizations, and death. People 65 and older who received both doses of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines showed a 94% reduced risk of COVID-19 related hospitalization.“ [retr 4 nov 2022]
There are treatments for Covid, but they aren't perfect, and Long Covid may still occur.
Latest:
Paxlovid update: Effectiveness, rebounding, drug interactions
-- Katelyn Jetelina
pub 7 oct 2022
Covid is airborne. The virus is transmitted through the air -- like cigarette smoke or incense.
Latest:
Two years of COVID: The battle to accept airborne transmission
"Some scientists say the World Health Organization made a critical error by undermining aerosol transmission in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic"
Al Jazeera
AlJazeera.com/features/2022/3/11/two-years-of-covid-the-battle-to-accept-airborne-transmission
pub 1 mar 2022
aka "Long-haul COVID", "post-viral syndrome".
One of the biggest reasons we do not want to get COVID - it loves us so much,
that often (est 35% of people) it doesn't want to go away!
My understanding is, we can protect ourselves from getting sick, and prevent spreading the virus to others.
“Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist.
Everything we do after will seem inadequate.”
-- M. Leavitt
→ In this section: general info | vaccines | masks | air | distancing | testing
We can't see the virus that causes Covid, so it can seem excessive and burdensome to stick to habits to protect ourselves and others.
My understanding is, we were lucky that the knowledge was already there,
and scientists were able to quickly develop vaccines specifically for this Coronavirus
My understanding is, the more unvaccinated people there are, the more the virus is able to sit in their bodies and mutate, and then spread to others.
My understanding is that vaccines can protect you a lot. They may not protect you 100%, but they definitely can slow down the virus.
My understanding is, masks protect you (and others) a lot.
They may not protect you 100%, but they can definitely slow down infection from the virus.
We don't fully understand this virus yet. It seems to have calmed down for now
(june 2022) -- but who knows what may come?
Wearing a mask is easy to do, so why not protect people from this?
Good ventilation and air filtering indoors can protect you (and others) a lot.
The power of ventilation and filtration
Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/the-power-of-ventilation-and-filtration
My understanding is, distancing can protect you (and others) a lot. It may not protect you 100%, but it can definitely slow down the virus. And the rate of death for unvaccinated compared to vaccinated is very clearly much higher.
My understanding is, just as with vaccines, we were lucky that the knowledge was already there, and scientists were able to quickly develop tests specifically for this Coronavirus.
If Covid is deadly/debilitating, and easily transmitted to others, do i have any responsibility to protect people around me?
It is so much easier to think that this darn Covid is going away soon — or already gone. But maybe it is really easier to live and plan with the reality that it will be affecting our lives for at least another couple years.
→ In this section: endemic | other diseases | looking ahead | zeitgeist
endemic:
“a disease outbreak that is consistently present but limited to a particular region.”
'Endemic' does not mean it is mild; it just means a disease
that is consistently present. Example: Malaria is endemic in certain parts
of the world, and it is certainly not mild — it is quite deadly.
Monkeypox, flu, RSV, parasites, polio, toxoplasmosis, ...
Latest: State of Affairs 26 oct 2022: Triple Threat - RSV, Flu, and Covid for winter 2022 “We are seeing an uptick in RSV and the flu in the Northern Hemisphere and particularly in the United States. Given an anticipated uptick in COVID-19, the media is coining this the 'triple threat'. Here is the current state of affairs and what it means for you.” Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist YourLocalEpidemiologist.substack.com/p/state-of-affairs-102622-triple-threatpub 26 october 2022
What do the people who study these things (diseases, economics, politics, society) think may be coming?
Latest: Thinking through the holidays this year “This is what my little family is doing this holiday season to stay healthy and enjoy time with our loved ones. I hope it’s useful.” “Goal 1: Protect the vulnerable ... Goal 2: Limit disruptons ... Other considerations ...” Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist YourLocalEpidemiologist.substack.com/p/state-of-affairs-102622-triple-threatpub 3 nov 2022
"The spirit of the times";
"the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era".
→ In this section: India | Himachal Pradesh | Thailand | US | world
Sources are given with each piece of information, and i have also collected it together here.
All the information is given by people who work in the field of medicine, infectious diseases, directly with Covid and other diseases, as scientists, researchers, doctors, nurses, and more.
"Rewa" means "hope" in the Tibetan language. Here, it is summaries of things i find on the Web and Internet -- news and information websites, Twitter posts, Whatsapp groups -- that i have been using to keep myself informated about the COVID-19 disease, long-term effects, and general info about the world-wide situation.
And "asss usuallll ..." i end up putting it on the Web in case it is useful to others. It is a work in progress, and is rough so that it can be updated quickly and easily. It is not guaranteed to be accurate, complete, an archive of the past, or even up to date. Hopefully it is helpful.
Categories: Each page on this site is a category. Within the pages there are subcategories. All information (except the "Sources" and "Follow" pages) is organised by published date, newest first.
Relevance: Everyone is still learning about this virus and its effects, so the newest information is likely the most accurate. I will occasionally prune out older info if it's not longer relevant. Will keep older info if it seems still solid and useful. But i am no authority, i am just an info junkie! It is up to you to check and verify.
Sources: I try to be clear where i am "quoting information directly from the source" or am using my own words. The titles of the sources are in italics. I try to keep up on when i the source or data and when it was or i something on this site.
Edits:
All quotes are identified by “quote marks”.
I may redact [...] and [insert] some words, in attempt to keep things succint and clear,
The source is always available at the link.
In addition, tweets are often very informative, but will sometimes have emojis and ALL CAPS, which for me are really distracting.
I will remove emojis, and change any all caps to lowercase with asterisks, to signify *bold*.
Links:
Sometimes you will see a web address (aka 'url') but it is not a clickable link.
This is because i have just copy-pasted some information,
and haven't made a proper link yet.
Or, it is to a dangerous website, such as Twitter, to which
i will not link.
No worries - just
triple-click (laptop/desktop) or
hold-press (mobile),
and 'copy', and then paste into your browser address bar,
and 'go'.
I try to only link to content that is free and open to everyone.
I do have a few links to websites that want you to register for free or get a paid account
to view their content, but i saw that particular link as so useful
that i added to this collection anyway.
No worries!
If you have trouble viewing any of the links i have given,
there are some ways to get to them:
Somehow COVID information has gotten politicized, emotion-based, "opinionized" ... as has medical/health knowledge, and even pure information itself.
This is not that.
"Rewa" is a collection of observed realities from people who study and experience those realities, compare and share them with others, cite reputable and professionally accepted
sources,
and use their
critical thinking
skills in all this.
Rewa is here for people who have that interest.
If the things in Rewa are not part of your realities, or not interesting to you, that is no problem whatsoever. This wide wonderful world contains many realities, and the World Wide Wonderful Web has millions, nay billions, of other interesting pages and information and views. Go thou and explore and share!