Zeitgeist: pandemic and society rev 4 feb 2023 》general | effects | messaging | support | covid hegemony | disinfo | looking ahead _______________________________________________________ > general: ......................... * " ... they know they are lying ..." -- Solzhenitsyn https://i.imgur.com/YTLx3c0.jpg ......................... * "to understand what's going on in the world ..." https://i.imgur.com/Sa9tD9A.jpg ......................... * What is: fact, opinion, ignorance, stupidity https://i.imgur.com/0VEkVYV.jpg ......................... * "... Your frustration is my ultimate goal." https://i.imgur.com/3wQtqZW.jpg ......................... * Power of conspiracy theories https://imgur.com/gallery/Ey5mWmc pub 22 sep 2022 ......................... * Back to school after 2 years, kids are falling sick frequently. Blame Covid for battering immunity "The [two years of] Covid-19 pandemic-induced school closures have presented a new problem for parents as several children are now frequently falling sick due to delayed training of the body’s immunity system. ..." 13 apr 2022 https://www.news18.com/news/india/back-to-school-after-2-years-kids-are-falling-sick-frequently-blame-covid-for-battering-immunity-4972549.html ......................... * Covid as a "mass disabling event": "Nearly half the planet's population. Half. [have been infected with SARS-COV one or more times.] In the early months of the pandemic, I thought comparisons to the Black Death were misplaced, b/c mortality levels were in no way comparable. But if we are witnessing a mass disabling event, the transformative impact is comparable." -- Monica H Green, PhD @monicaMedHist 10 apr 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/monicaMedHist/status/1513002595148656643 | "'3·39 billion individuals had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 one or more times' without counting the Omicron wave Even if a small % died or developed long Covid, that’s many, many, many millions This is why we should not give up on vaccinating the world!" Link to data source - Lancet article: Estimating global, regional, and national daily and cumulative infections with SARS-CoV-2 through Nov 14, 2021: a statistical analysis https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)00484-6/fulltext -- Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @paimadhu 10 apr 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/paimadhu/status/1512986681103708162 ......................... * "This will be the year of reckoning. People are going to actually start to realize what an unrestrained pandemic of a hazardous virus can do to an entire society. Next year will be the year of regret. The damage already done is unfathomable. The damage to come unimaginable." -- Xabier Ostale @xabitron1 4 apr 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/xabitron1/status/1510869380262936577 also: long covid ......................... * Covid Is Not Over Covid is a collective crisis, not an individual one. Wear your mask, limit physical closeness -- protect yourself and those around you. "1. Something interesting is happening with COVID19 in MA, where case incidence appears much higher right now in wealthier suburbs. My guess is one of two things is happening, neither of which bodes well." "Hypotheses 1: This is the UrgencyOfNormal crowd. Wealthy suburbs with high vaccination and booster rates are dropping pandemic precautions at a faster rate." "Hypothesis 2: With the 'individual responsibility' model now prevalent and reduced testing access, wealthier households who have stocked up on rapid tests are more likely to get diagnosed, and if positive, more likely to get PCR confirmed and reported." Thread: 12 tweets of explanation; many replies with supporting observations. -- Jon Levy @jonlevyBU 2 apr 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/jonlevyBU/status/1510242880329293825 also: living w covid "For those who don’t agree that we can return to pre-Salmonella normal, I ask: What should we all do? Perpetual refrigeration? Forever thoroughly cooking, avoiding restaurants with poor hygiene, etc? Virtually everything has risk, and zero Salmonella is not a viable strategy." -- David Kent @DaveJamesKent 24 mar 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/DaveJamesKent/status/1507048488684728328 ......................... * "What does "living with cholera" mean in the 1854 epidemic? It's going about your life. Seeing friends. Dining out. Drinking water, no matter the degree of fecal contamination. Occasionally developing fatal shock from severe diarrhea. Yes, we must live our lives." Great thread with more analogies and comments. -- Neoliberal John Snow @NeoliberalSnow 17 feb 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/NeoliberalSnow/status/1494096044010921986 ......................... * Why US and India have comparable Covid-19 rates - image and comments apr 2021 https://imgur.com/gallery/e3MAlDs ......................... * Not my responsibility: "Whom they don’t even know; My neighbours two streets away from me may have someone older in poor health who’s susceptible to disease, but it is my responsibility to be ensuring that they getting into good health and are protected? I don’t think so as I my own life to live." -- Sheevam Sharma @sheevam_sharma 8 feb 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/sheevam_sharma/status/1489577843403202565 ......................... * Who is Doctor Fauci? https://imgur.com/gallery/OMdvXk2 ......................... * Discussion of pandemic situation. NZ PM Jacinda Arden https://imgur.com/gallery/4Kv9Xf6 ......................... * https://twitter.com/IChotiner/status/1299538705380564995 ......................... * "I’m done with stopping at stop signs. Most people wear seatbelts now, and most car accidents are very mild." A great thread, continuing the theme. -- Kashana @kashanacauley 30 jan 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/kashanacauley/status/1487489282033913858 ......................... * "Behaviour has been as critical as medicine in combatting the pandemic. Yet, if anything, Government ignored the behavioural science even more than the medical and physical science -- with the result that the behavioural errors were every bit as egregious as other errors..." Short thread. -- Stephen Reicher @ReicherStephen 27 jan 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/ReicherStephen/status/1486616941058002947 ......................... * "This toolkit is … (pauses to gather my angst) the most irresponsible thing I have read all day. Its been terribly frustrating to see remote school and masks blamed for the negative mental health impacts of living in a PANDEMIC rather than a focus on keeping kids physically safe." -- Rebekah Fenton, MD, FAAP @RFentonMD 26 jan 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/RFentonMD/status/1486119060458901510 ......................... * Twilight Zone for Mango Head https://imgur.com/gallery/ljhNgpF "The most depressing thing for me about his presidency has been how much evil it exposed. I knew there was evil and cruelty in our country, I didn't realize how much, or how brazen it could become. The world is darker to me for having seen the last four years." -- http://imgur.com/gallery/ljhNgpF/comment/1993909547 ......................... * I'm not sure I'll ever get over the slow motion horror of seeing a society accept a lot of people dying because they didn't want to deal with a small inconvenience." -- Kris Pigna Thread with more observations. 23 jan 2022 @KrisPigna https://mobile.twitter.com/KrisPigna/status/1485128252742119426 ......................... * Survivor Corps https://www.survivorcorps.com/ ......................... * Photos capture haunting isolation of Brazil's Amazon region in a time of COVID 17 jan 2022 The Picture Show : NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/01/17/1061784984/photos-amazon-manaus-brazil-covid-pandemic ......................... * ‘Authoritarianism’ may be necessary to fight climate change, Cambridge study argues “Is authoritarian power ever legitimate?” 5 jan 2022 Foundation for Economic Education https://fee.org/articles/authoritarianism-may-be-necessary-to-fight-climate-change-cambridge-study-argues/ ......................... * Powerful message from a hospital apr 2021 https://imgur.com/gallery/l01q8xk ......................... * Meanwhile, elsewhere... (an Imgur guide to the ongoing global pandemic) jan(?) 2021 https://imgur.com/gallery/Ez16dRx _______________________________________________________ > Effects on society: Excess deaths: Due to Covid? How to determine? "with a persistent 300 deaths/day in on US covid graph, trying to understand -- "are these 'deaths from covid' or 'deaths with covid' (not caused, just had covid upon death). ..." Deaths in US: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/#graph-deaths-daily Excess deaths in US: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm#dashboard Difficulty of counting excess deaths and cause: https://theconversation.com/578-555-people-have-died-from-covid-19-in-the-us-or-maybe-its-912-345-heres-why-its-hard-to-count-161068 Discussion, more links. -- Brewster Kahle @[email protected] https://mstdn.social/@[email protected]/109727999659814484 pub 21 jan 2023 578,555 people have died from COVID-19 in the US, or maybe it's 912,345 – here's why it's hard to count Chart - DO use on home page https://theconversation.com/578-555-people-have-died-from-covid-19-in-the-us-or-maybe-its-912-345-heres-why-its-hard-to-count-161068 pub 24 may 2021 "Why are 2-3 million people missing from the US workforce? Well, hundreds of thousands of working adults died of COVID, millions developed long-term disabling health problems, and someone has to care for those folks. Remember — over 150,000 kids lost their primary caregiver in the first year of COVID alone. Someone has to leave the general workforce to care for those kids. COVID. The answer is COVID." -- McNadoMD @[email protected] https://mstdn.social/@mcnado/109713378300793161 pub 19 jan 2023 _______________________________________________________ > Messaging: Is WHO ready to end the Covid emergency? Maybe not just yet "On Tuesday Tedros hinted he doesn’t feel the time is right, noting that Covid deaths are on the rise again globally. Over the past eight weeks, more than 170,000 such deaths have been reported, he said, adding that figure is certainly an underestimate." A lot of interesting things here -- too many to just summarise. -- Helen Branswell https://www.statnews.com/2023/01/25/is-who-ready-to-end-covid-global-health-emergency/ pub 25 jan 2023 "Nicole's rule of social media engagement: You do not owe the world, the interwebs, and especially the trolls anything – not your time, not your expertise, and definitely not your peace." -- Nicole, MD MPH MHPE @[email protected] https://mstdn.social/@[email protected]/109707534643054798 pub 18 jan 2023 "But how is agreeing to disagree going to work? Those who do not mask put those who want to be safe and mask at risk. "It is a repeat of the indoor smoking discussion. 'I am Ok with you not smoking, if you are OK with me smoking' would never be a valid argument. "Breathing in a bit of second hand smoke is relatively harmless compared to breathing in SARS-2. -- Frouke Hermens @[email protected] https://mstdn.social/@[email protected]/109693924265800140 pub 15 jan 2023 _______________________________________________________ > Social support: _______________________________________________________ > COVID Hegemony: ......................... ** "A new COVID19 class war of HAVES versus HAVE NOTS— 📍Schools for rich kids — HEPA filters, Upper Room UV disinfection, UV in HVAC, unlimited free testing, and N95 masks. 📍Poorer public schools — Often nothing, zero, zilch. 📌Bonus — Richer parents have HEPA filters at home too." Thread - info and discussion. -- Eric Feigl-Ding 13 mar 2022 https://mobile.twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1502858763136430083 ......................... * Rethinking COVID hegemony "... the idea of “COVID Hegemony” to explain the transformation of our pandemic outlook. Hegemony, in short, refers to the dominance maintained by those in power to ensure that their preferred worldview is seen as natural, inevitable and beneficial to all, largely by manufacturing the consent of the people. "COVID Hegemony, then, can be understood as the normalisation of widespread infection achieved by those with power through coercive persuasion, to gain our consent and even approval. Divorced from realities of widespread transmission, the media, politicians and certain experts have been pushing for a 'return to normal', to 'live with COVID', and to move away from 'COVID exceptionalism'." -- Blair Williams Croakey Health Media https://www.croakey.org/rethinking-covid-hegemony/ pub 1 feb 2023 ......................... * ‘Ethical Concerns Over Rich Countries’ Access to Foreign Nurses During Omicron' 27 jan 2022 The Wire Science https://science.thewire.in/health/ethical-concerns-over-rich-countries-access-to-foreign-nurses-during-omicron/ ......................... * Jeff Bezos buys Washington Post -- and it shows https://i.imgur.com/zXJ2utw.jpg 2021? ......................... * "Am i my brother's keeper? ..." "No man is an island ..." Am i an individual, a unit, discrete and bounded? or am i one node in a web of relationships and life? What is my role and my responsibility in that web? what am i called on to do? ......................... * "Where have all the masks gone?" - Chasing the capitalists and thieves who got rich while we got sick. https://imgur.com/gallery/RNxNalz _______________________________________________________ > disinfo: Matrix Files http://matrixfiles.com He obviously strongly believes what he is saying. Why i am i skeptical of it? See the links for critical thinking, etc. Or maybe he's just in a differental reality than me. retr 22 oct 2022 _______________________________________________________ > Looking ahead: We're never getting back to normal. You don't have to pretend anymore Links at end to similar posts if hers. -- Jessica Wildfire https://jessicawildfire.substack.com/p/were-never-getting-back-to-normal pub 18 jan 2023 ......................... * Can China Ever Reopen? "Xi Jinping’s first and only priority is political security, making a quick reopening almost untenable." "COVID erupted at 'a convenient time, which has been instrumentalized to accelerate China’s polity and society’s isolation and self-protection, ...'" -- Timothy McLaughlin The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/02/china-covid-zero-policy-restrictions/621476/ pub 5 feb 2022 _______________________________________________________ begin dec 2021 -- 0 --