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gumjrop · 4 months

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The Weather

In the US, 41 out of 54 states and territories are at high or very high COVID wastewater levels as of 1/18/2024. Ten states and territories have no data available. It’s important to note that levels of “moderate,” “low,” or “minimal” do not necessarily indicate a low risk of COVID exposure in our daily lives. Viral spread is still ongoing even if at lower levels, and precautions are warranted to protect ourselves and others.

Looking at the CDC’s national and regional wastewater data over time, we continue to see “Very High” levels nationally. It’s important to note that the last two weeks are provisional data, indicated by a gray shaded area on the graph, meaning that those values can change as additional wastewater sites report data.

Although wastewater data does not provide the same level of detail as previous PCR-based testing data, wastewater monitoring is an important ongoing resource to inform us about the current COVID situation. While the provisional data tentatively shows a downward trend this week, time will tell whether this is a true decrease in the final data. A downward trend does not mean continued decreases are guaranteed or that protections should be relaxed. Multilayered protections help drive COVID spread lower, and relaxing protections can lead to a resurgence of viral spread.

Visit the CDC’s State and Territory Trends page to see available wastewater testing near you, including the number of wastewater sites reporting. Write your elected officials to let them know you want to keep and expand wastewater testing in your area and nationally.

Wins

In November 2023, the CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) passed a series of draft proposals that will further weaken already insufficient protocols employed within healthcare settings. HICPAC refuses to reckon with the airborne nature of infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2, and does not propose crucial measures such as universal masking with well-fitted respirators, isolation periods, and ventilation. The People’s CDC has penned a letter to the ACLU alerting them of HICPAC’s irresponsible decisions, and the ramifications associated with them. We hope that by working together with the ACLU, we can implement public advocacy and legal actions in order to tackle this critical issue.

You can read the full letter here.

Johns Hopkins reinstated healthcare masking on 1/12/2024, in response to high respiratory virus levels. As with many other healthcare systems and public health departments that have restored healthcare masking when facing public pressure, we hope that universal masking can become a standard of care rather than a short term response to a surge. See “Take Action” below for more information.

Variants

JN.1, now the most prominent variant in the United States, is estimated to account for 85.7% of circulating variants by 1/20/2024. HV.1 is expected to drop to 5.3%, and all other variants are estimated to make up less than 2% each. Although ongoing viral spread allows opportunities for new variants to emerge, the latest 2023-2024 COVID vaccine boosters, COVID tests, and COVID treatments are still expected to be effective for JN.1.

Current updated booster uptake is low (as of January 19, 2024, the CDC reports that only 21.5% of adults and 11% of children have received it). It is not too late to get the updated booster, and to protect yourself against the latest variant!

Hospitalizations

In the most recent week (ending January 13, 2024), we see a slight downward trend in new hospital admissions, currently at 32,861. We see a similar slight downtick in currently hospitalized patients with COVID , at 27,879. This most recent week shows a slight decrease in hospitalizations, although it is too soon to say whether hospitalizations for the current surge have passed their peak. Hospitals continue to be overwhelmed. The data also lacks information on hospital-acquired infections. We urge you to continue taking stringent precautions, such as donning a well-fitting respirator (e.g., N95, KN95) in all indoor spaces–and especially in healthcare settings.

Long COVID

Amid ongoing advocacy by Long COVID groups, the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held a committee hearing on “Addressing Long COVID: Advancing Research and Improving Patient Care.” The hearing included testimony from three Long COVID patients and four Long COVID physicians and researchers, bringing much-needed attention to the urgent need for funding for Long COVID research and treatments, and to the need for improved access to care for Long COVID patients. We recognize the community care modeled by some of the panelists and attendees who wore masks for the hearing, and we wish the senators on the committee would mask up as well.

Take Action

Write your elected officials to let them know that Long COVID impacts all of us, and that we need ongoing support for Long COVID research and clinical care. Ask Senators to support bill S.2560, the Long COVID Support Act. Ask Representatives to support bills HR.1114 (Long COVID RECOVERY NOW Act) and HR.3258 (TREAT Long COVID Act).

Although some healthcare settings have reinstated masking in response to high COVID levels along with high respiratory virus activity, ongoing pressure is needed to restore, keep, and expand masking broadly. Use our letter template and toolkit to call or write your elected officials in support of healthcare masking.

Want to do more to support healthcare masking? Consider starting, sharing, or joining a local campaign. Check out work in Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin, just to name a few. Also, sign and share our letter to the ACLU asking them to join us in supporting safe and equitable access to healthcare. Sign on is open until 2/1/2024.

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cellarspider · 3 months

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Spider's Big Prometheus Thing: Index Post

Being a list of all the posts produced in the course of this inexplicable project of mine. This post will be updated as more entries are added, on days when I remember I made an index for these.

All entries will have at least a minimum level of citations for where to start looking for more facts on a subject. Be aware that there's also hidden rambling and bonus facts in the image alt text.

0. Introduction

Setting the scene, including my background, my intent, and where this movie is going.

1. Opening

Expectations, landscapes, and aliens.

Rambles: DNA, whether aliens would have it, and why it doesn't look like a pale bacon ladder.

Alt-text rambles: nano-bubbles.

2. Discovery

The Isle of Skye is gorgeous, the movie attempts to establish its themes, and why it had already got my hackles up. Rambles: how cool ancient and pre-modern peoples were, the implications of humanoid figures in European cave paintings, and misplaced lions. Alt-text rambles: seriously, Skye is just so cool. Erich von Däniken and modern publishing royalties are not.

3. David

We meet the loneliest android, and his fandom of choice. Rambles: I go nuts for a paragraph over Proto-Indo-European. Alt-text rambles: Help me remember a dude's name, that time Ron Perlman saw Sigourney Weaver do something so cool he forgot to act, and a Coronation Street conspiracy theory.

4. Humans (Derogatory)

We meet the human crew, and analyze why they're a mismatch to the movie's established expectations, and what subgenre they fit in most. It isn't the one the movie seems to be aiming for. Rambles: 50s B-movies and their Men Of Science, modern movies and their quietly suffering scientists. Alt-text rambles: inconsistently moist characters, Idris Elba's christmas tree decorations.

5. Pseudoarchaeology (Extremely Derogatory)

We meet Old Man Capitalism, poor logistics, and how the movie began to really lose me through dropping in some racist pseudoscience tropes. Rambles: more logistics (of alien bioengineering), historical art styles, what the world was getting up to in the 600s CE Alt-text rambles: Linguistics, more ranting, the life and extraordinarily ornate death of Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal. Rants: the existence of writing, people who don't look like you can still think, stargazing and how conspiracy theorists don't understand it.

6. Roads

Poor firearm safety with Chekhov's Gun, when movies move too fast, atmospheric chemistry, and the moment I began to yearn for blood. Rambles: First contact protocols, why 3% CO₂ won't kill you but it will make you weird, my personal experience digging up a Roman road. Alt-text rambles: the logistics of securing items in moving craft, linguistics, atmospheric science, colorblind-friendly diagram design, swearing about orology, and cursing the crew for their fictional crimes against archaeology. Rants: Why they should've stayed in orbit, and my impassioned defense of historically significant transportation infrastructure.

7. Masking

The bit that made most people realize these characters were idiots. Featuring an attempt at themes. Rambles: NASA's policies on biological contaminants Alt-text rambles: Benedict Wong having nothing to do, helmet design, driving on dusty track, the tiny overlap between archaeological horrors and Minecraft, the CDC's excellent captions on men sneezing. Rants: Nominating a man for the Heinrich Schliemann Archaeology Award, all these people are catching space covid

8. Ghosts

Comparing the Engineers to their series antecedents, and I develop a slight soft spot for the geologist. Rambles: Set design in Alien, how carbon dating works. Alt-text rambles: Adventure games, GET DOWN MISTER PRESIDENT, I get very excited for Dune: Part Two, the archival devotion of people with rare blorbos.

9. Dignity

Personal, professional, social, and media context for the treatment of people's remains. Rambles: Personal experiences around the archaeological discovery of human skeletons, professional codes of ethics, movies that handle dead bodies better by being more crass about it. Alt-text rambles: None, the main text gets full focus this time.

10. Atmosphere

How intertextual imagery is overused, how the one major character arc is developing, and a whole grab bag of miscellaneous shambolic events. Rambles: How tourist-breath can destroy artifacts, and a deleted scene Alt-text rambles: Whether explaining mysteries is always the wrong decision in fantasy, the usefulness of helmets, Mass Effect's loading screens, please someone give me more recommendations for things where Giger creatures aren't all bad, and how cultural variation in gestures can make you look like an asshole. Rants: they aren't done desecrating the dead oh boy it's just gonna get worse

11. Decontamination

How to present an audience with events that make no sense, how to do it eerily, and how Prometheus does this by accident. Rambles: NASA's Apollo 11 quarantine policies Alt-text rambles: How 2001: A Space Odyssey put on a cosmic lightshow, how traditions are faked for political and social power in Midsommar, confusing lab equipment, robot arm safety, the use of camper vans in space exploration, umarell behavior, and robot horror movies. Bonus text rambles: pressurized gas cylinder safety, and how the cargo of one truck apparently tried to join Roscosmos. Rants: Laboratory safety

12. Shocking

Mary Shelly would not be proud of them. Rambles: Which home electrical appliances their tomfoolery is equivalent to. Alt-text rambles: Semiotics and Alien, reuse of props and art department equipment, the cast's inability to look at things, how the first chestburster scene intelligently incorporated spontaneity, and I completely lose my mind over a single computer readout, finding out in the process that the Engineers are close cousins to the common house mouse. Rants: I didn't think that "don't stick electrical plugs in people's ears" would be something that needed to be said, but here we are.

13. Family Tree

A soothing ramble about some of the cool bits of my job. Rambles: How evolution has made some vertebrate blood white or green, how genomes are sequenced, and how to determine the relatedness of species. And more. A lot more. I love my job. It's so cool. Alt-text rambles: How Nickelodeon slime was made, how hecking tiny molecules are, why blue-tongued skinks have blue tongues, my review of Dune: Part Two, how hard I worked to not turn Gene Wilder into a jumpscare, lots of enthusiastic explanations of DNA sequencing techniques, the aesthetics of the machines wot do that for you, how "snip" no longer sounds like a verb to me, and how I started out as a computational scientist.

14. Cheers

David poisons a man, and how his character arc ties into christian-influenced existential dread. Rambles: series continuity, gnostic theology, Ridley Scott's beliefs. Alt-text rambles: How to ruin petri dishes, Vickers' questionably carbon-based existence, the game of Operation, hand doubles in filming, how the funniest possible misidentification of an early church figure is wandering around the internet, the cool genders of suit actors, gnostic Archons, and the Engineers as Sophia. Rants: Holloway seems unaware that archaeologists study dead people, Ridley Scott is his own biggest problem.

15. Unworthy

The movie does something I'm not going to joke about. Don't read this if you're having a bad day. Big content warning for Holocaust imagery.

16. Intimacy

Your asexual commentator grapples with Hollywood's terrible track record on romantic and sexual chemistry. Rambles: Why we don't say an archaic-looking species is "older" than another, how religious scientists do what they do Alt-text rambles: the human family tree, Abbott and Costello, pitcher plant cultivars, the creative possibilities of a Buddhist version of this movie, and Stephen Still's lack of accordions. Rants: I've never been a boyfriend but I'm pretty sure that's not how you do it

17. Threat

Prometheus takes a hard turn into old slasher movie tropes. Rambles: A movie trailer that gave Wee Spider the screaming heebies Alt-text rambles: The age rating of Prometheus, a spontaneous X-Files crossover AU, Pitch Black, how likely it may or may not be that the images in the post will get flagged, critter behavior, insufficient EVA suit design, and the content balancing I take into account when selecting screenshots. Rants: This movie does not seem to know what it is. Alt-text rants: Ditto, focusing on characterization.

18. Flames

"Mac wants the flamethrower!" Rambles: I wandered off in the middle to watch a 40k comedy video, does that count? Alt-text rambles: More content-balancing, what kind of very English critter David appears to be, dune buggy design, Star Wars: The Old Republic is worth your time, Dune: Part Two is worth your time, an extremely long ramble about integration of CG background elements, and Oblivion memes. Alt-text rants: Movie color grading and lighting, undercutting scares.

19. Stars

The movie shows how good it can be when no dialog is involved. Rambles: The movie Contact and how Prometheus could've learned from it. Alt-text rambles: How I estimate large numbers from a still image, a brief Baldur's Gate 3 appearance, the set design and staging of a room made for giants with squishy computers, the use of color to make a cohesive scene, facts about Uranus, visual intimation of threat, VFX wizardry, practical FX wizardry, Michael Fassbender's wordless acting.

20. Expectant

The movie shows how good it can be when character choice is removed from the horror. Rambles: the inspiration and place of chestbursting in Alien movies, the continuing religious symbolism in the movie, the clunky dialog, how to build or undermine tension, and the good blending of practical and CG effects, and how tiny creatures of the ocean manage to be more uncanny than horror critters. Alt-text rambles: reading details the prop department never meant for you to see. Alt-text Rants: the return of the head-exploder and the first sight of actual PPE, slowly mangling a plot point's name until it has been thoroughly folded, spindled, and mutilated.

21. Underdelivered

The movie shows how terrible it can be when horror doesn't build tension. Rambles: Contortionists in horror, hillbilly horror/hixploitation movies. Alt-text rambles: Resident Evil 7, Dead Space and "strategic dismemberment"

22. Hubris

The movie tries to do some themes again Rambles: my ineffable desire to genetically sequence ditch weeds, Left Behind Alt-text rambles: Brad Dourif's commitment to the bit in The Two Towers, nigh-invisible wheelchair product placement, the Fallout series in general and the upcoming show in particular, praise for an epic-length critique of Left Behind, Robert Zemeckis' bizarre quest to mocap everything Rants: This movie does a terrible job representing both religiosity and atheism

23. Informed

Exposition is delivered, and plot points try to knit together. Rambles: The Silent Hill movie, Pacific Rim Alt-text rambles: Pyramid Head's secret unclothed backside, demanding environmental enrichment for scientists, greebling, Tumblr's favorite shitty copper merchant Rants: What could've been done instead of an exposition dump and daddy issues Alt-text rants: these people and their interior design are tempting fate and testing my patience

24. Inscribed

I go rogue and ramble about constructed languages and cuneiform for an entire post. Guest appearances from Klingon pop music and a delightfully eccentric Assyriologist. Rambles: All of it. Alt-text rambles: the self-awareness of conlangers, fingernail length, Schleischer's Fable as a warm-up for the next section, my primary conlang derangement, speculation about whether cuneiform was legible for the blind, my beef with the cowards at Lucasfilm for refusing to use Star Wars' coolest letters, my love for Warframe's Grineer, going into far too much detail about redesigning Prometheus' Engineer script, and finally, the many crocodiles of ancient egyptian hieroglyphs. Rants: None/all of it

25. Judgement

We discuss some of what the movie doesn't. Rambles: Fiction and morality, Blade Runner, biblical allusions the story could've made and doesn't Alt-text rambles: Lance Henriksen's insane career, the paintings of John Martin and a surprise George Washington, Rutger Hauer's effect on Blade Runner, my tentative plans for the next essay series. Rants: Germs, old man makeup. Alt-text Rants: The characters are reading ahead in the script again, the half-assed Engineer writing system continues to hurt me

26. Awoken

I go bananas over PIE. Rambles: fix-it fic for this damned movie, PIE, how to avoid PIE, how to analyze PIE, and my personal alternative to PIE. Alt-text rambles: calculating how long the Engineer's overslept, their potential spiritual kinship to Moominpapa, behind the scenes photos of the suit actors, Prometheus rants in the days of LiveJournal, the game Hades, how hard it personally is to get PIE right, the linguistics nerdery of the Hittite empire, and watermarks. Rants: how the movie fails its premise and hurts my soul with linguistics

27. Shortcomings

The characters, and movie, fail to get their message across to someone bent on their destruction. Rambles: David's confused religious symbolism, Star Trek Alt-text rambles: My desire for fanfic, behind the scenes photos, what other critters the Engineer's suit actor has played, the naming of Australopithecines, crash-proofing a movie set, alien gender, Gandahar and how French animated SF in the 80s was awesome, Scorn and its expert consultation from a cenobite, and Doctor Strangelove. Rants: the assumptions of the human characters, I go from trying to be measured to actively spiting the writer for his take on thoughtful SF Alt-text Rants: Del Toro is the only one who gets me, the movie has forgotten its main character just had a major surgery, one last rant about how terribly unsafe the Prometheus was as a ship, before it becomes definitively not a ship.

28. Momentum

It's the bit where she doesn't turn. Rambles: How to fix the dumbest thing we've seen in a hot minute, Edge of Tomorrow and feeling Tom Cruise's fear, how the dead thing is never really dead in horror. Alt-text rambles: How hard it is to find the most catchy song in We Love Katamari, more behind the scenes pictures of my blorbos, Friday the 13th Part IV, bad braille, and trilobites. Rants: I mean how can you not when the movie forgets how space works? Like, the idea of 3D space as a concept? Also, a particular rock earns my ire, and my ranting about interior designs on ships finally pays off.

29. Dissonance

The ending of the movie, and its tonal incoherency. Rambles: Protagonist-centric morality and lack thereof Alt-text rambles: Star Trek TNG, green blood, caecilian teeth. Rants: shallow christian themes, sequels that could have been, Shaw's confusingly deployed robo-racism Alt-text rants: sequel disappointments, inadvisable post-caesarian activities, how the hell do you fit that much 'burster into one chest, biological plausibility in alien extend-o-mouths

30. Justification

A breakdown of a post-release interview with Ridley Scott, explaining some missing details. Rambles: Gnosticism again, Mesoamerican and European human sacrifice and the exoticization of shared cultural practices, and a hearty book recommendation. Alt-text rambles: Icelandic volcanoes, The Collector (2009), Stephen Speilberg's War of the Worlds and how scaring the shit out of someone isn't necessarily the job of a horror film, the Tollund Man, unique cultural practices, Hello Future Me, and my opinions on what we've seen of Alien: Romulus. Rants: Ancient peoples weren't stupid, an unexamined christian-centric worldview, an unexamined christian-centric worldview, I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGh

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centers-for-disease-control · 4 months

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Hello i am slowly regaining unzonked from my wisdom tooth but do you have resources on sterile protocol (specifically masks on while surgery and IV inseryoon x) and what to do if the doctor doesycomply (i at least only has to ask once while i was awake and they did put their masks up)

The CDC recommended PPE for dental healthcare workers includes gloves, face masks, protective eyewear, face shields, and protective clothing (e.g., reusable or disposable gown, jacket, lab coat).

If you are concerned that your provider did not practice proper safety protocols, you can try opening a medical negligence investigation. However, I do need to disclose that I am not a doctor or a lawyer so take this with a grain of salt.

#centers for disease control

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lovergirl-78 · 8 months

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REDEMPTION

Rick Grimes x Dalia Thompson(oc)

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

AN:This is a test run. Seeing if you goes like this version if not just tell me please I would really like your feedback. Bare with me this is my first fanfic.

Warnings: mention of death, apocalypse,suicide, depression

659 words.

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

The night was still; the beeping from the monitors and chittering from the people were still, yet Dalia seemed unmoved. Imagining what could be wrong with the world, her family and friends are all dead, while she remains untouched by the atrocities right outside the building. You see, Dalia often imagined that if she just opened that door and got eaten alive by the dead, just like her family, she would be free from the guilt of leaving them to die.

Dalia... DALIA!" a voice exclaimed, breaking Dalia from her zoned-out state.

Huh," Dalia responded.

"Did you not hear anything I just said?” Candace questioned.

"Is it about the cells?

"Honey, I know it’s hard right now, but you’ve got to understand that I’m here for you. Everyone lost something, and you staying alive is something your family would want.

Candace Jenner was a mother figure or a mentor figure for many, especially Dalia, who is fresh out of college. It’s been hard on everyone here at the CDC with the minimal scientists that remained. Some scientists decided to stay; some left to be with their families, while others decided to opt out of this nightmare. Dalia didn’t blame them; if she could, she would have too.

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

Vi, start recording!" Dalia yelled.

"Starting recording in three, two, and one," Vi replied.

"Well, here we go. Hi, my name is Dalia Thompson. I am currently twenty years old and a scientist at the CDC. Ummm.. I honestly don’t know why I did this, but Candace mentioned it’s good to keep a video diary to document or rant. Dalia sighed while taking a deep breath.

"It started on April tenth, two thousand and ten... I woke up with a crazy hangover from partying the night away with my friends Savannah and Mindy. I was tired as hell. I checked my phone, and I saw a barrage of messages from my parents angry about me missing Susie's seventh birthday. I really didn’t understand why they were so upset. There isn’t anything a seven-year-old and a twenty-year-old have in common. I digress. I worked at the CDC as a public health analyst, which is an entry-level job. When I entered work that day, Candace Jenner, who leads the CDC, reported about a strange virus that was found in France that changed people into empty, cannibalistic versions of themselves. We needed to research the effects immediately, but I guess it was too late.

It started small and manageable, and the government told us they had it under control. They sent out nationwide messages about the dangers of going outside and staying safe. Scientists and researchers were told to keep looking. Many hurried to leave to be with their families, and some decided to opt out. Since then, we've gotten rid of the bodies and placed ourselves in lockdown. No one can come in. Many came in hopes of food, shelter, and protection, but we couldn’t break protocol; we had to keep the doors shut. A family came by a couple days ago pleading for help, but we couldn't, and I watched as they got torn apart by the dead. Dalia takes a long pause. Her eyes tearing up and lips crumbling together at her meager attempt to hold in a cry.

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

Later that day,

Candace, Edwin Jenner, and I walked into the test room, which holds one of their dead colleagues. They needed a sample of the colleagues' DNA. Dalia offered to do it, but Candace said she would. They took an ample amount of safety precautions to prevent any way for them to get hit or scratched by the disgusting piece of sh*t.

Candace went in a full hazmat suit, looking like a marshmallow, which made Dalia laugh her ass off. But as Candace was turning away from collecting the DNA, all of a sudden it came back to life.

"WAIT!" Dalia screamed.

TBD..

#carl grimes #rick grimes #rick grimes x reader #shane walsh #the walking dead x reader #twd fanfiction #twd x reader #daryl dixon #lori grimes #dale twd #dale horvath

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skitter-queen · 1 year

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cdc recommendation to cure RFAS (Red Fog Agnosia Syndrome, also known as Bonesaw's Disease) is u have to kiss ur besties on the lips lesbian style. taylor was just being a responsible citizen and keeping herself up to date on epidemic safety protocols. thats why she did that (kissed rachel, and lisa, on the lips. it was to cure their prion disease). we should all strive to be like her, in every possible way, i think

#parahumans #worm #taylor 'girl kisser' hebert?

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ovaryacted · 3 months

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I have THOUGHTS about Leon and a an s/o in STEM. Especially if it’s medical research/virology/CDC type career.

Maybe he visits you in your lab and you’re wearing a lab coat. The first thing he thinks isn’t “omg they’re so cute in their coat” it is “Birkin”

There’s automatic distrust with your research. He doesn’t mean to, but after everything he’s been through? He sees all potential biology advances to be something that can go horribly wrong.

He listens when you info dump about your research. He’s interested, but not out of pride or genuine interest. He listens to make sure that nothing can go wrong. No one will mutate. No zombies will come out of your protocols.

He doesn’t mean to. He really loves you and is proud of you. But god damnit, he just has to be on guard with scientists.

Like, if you invite him to go with you to a conference or meeting? He’s going to analyze everyone there. He tries to memorize who you speak to incase their face comes up in one of his future missions.

He will celebrate when you publish your papers, get a grant or invited to present somewhere. He IS proud of you. He really is.

But in the back of his mind is a constant nagging of “what if…”

-angsty anon (totally not me projecting from my own career LOL)

Hey angsty anon. I know I owe you a few responses, I really apologize. Now that I’m on a long a train ride I’m gonna take advantage and just start on some of them LMAO. But I agree with you 100%, I feel like even though Leon is considerate and also smart enough to know the difference between right and wrong, he would develop a big distrust to the government and all of its branches.

I mean, he was basically groomed to become a killing machine, he knows the inside outs of the government, knows that everything is a lie. So the same would apply to healthcare and anything dealing with biology/viral research.

After the events of Raccoon City, he’s seen what happens when viruses and all of these biological weapons get into the wrong hands. He watched a whole city become annihilated by a virus and the government left people to die, while he had to partake in killing them for his own survival. It isn’t that science and this research is inherently bad, but moreso he doesn’t trust the intentions of making these things in the first place.

You could be doing revolutionary research to find the cure to Alzheimer’s or cancer, and in the back of Leon’s mind, he’s thinking about every way that research can fail or be manipulated for the worst. He knows you have a good heart, that you’re doing it for the greater good, and Leon pretends to understand that for your sake. But the truth is that “greater good” stuff is bullshit. The whole idea of having some patriotic honor and duty to the government and thus the world falls short as a result of his personal experiences and traumas:

He was like that once, thought that he was doing the world a favor by becoming a cop and helping people. Once that blew up in his face, he doesn’t believe there’s such thing as a pure heart in this world especially if you’re doing this type of work. Leon will still be a good partner, will go to your conferences in moral support and be disgusted surrounded by so many white coats. He’s silently thinking about how many Birkins are amongst them, how many people are trying to gain control by preying on the most vulnerable.

He loves you, he’s proud of all of your accomplishments especially in male dominated STEM fields, and he knows you want to use your research to give the world something that’s needed to advance humanity.

Still, no matter how many times you reassure Leon that you’re not one of the bad guys, he’s waiting for the ticking time bomb in his head to go off once everything falls apart.

#leon kennedy #leon scott kennedy #resident evil #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy imagine #ovaryacted asks #₊˚⊹ ♡ ─ angsty anon

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goverment-agency-bracket · 1 year

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Our bracket!

(We knocked out CDC early even though we accidentally voted for them because... they had some issues with ableism and eugenics towards high risk groups in some of their covid protocols early on. That being said, their work is still extremely invaluable and if this wasn't just a silly tumblr poll and was determining funding or something we'd vote for them hardcore)

Man, you point about the CDC is valid and true but it still makes me sad to see them knocked out out so early

#brackets #mx gov speaks

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pandemichub · 3 months

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For the sake of guidance, I hope people will follow the highest precautions possible. The worst of SARS-CoV-2 is not limited to 2020, despite what is stated by politicians, media outlets and other public figures and professionals to whom it applies.

I want to inform readers the CDC has officially ended the 5 day isolation period for SARS-CoV-2 and this does not suddenly mean it is not contagious or that our protocols should be lapsed or relaxed. Spread is more rampant than ever. So please do not let this announcement and decision give a false sense of security.

Piece by the incredible Lucky Tran.

Note, please do not use the Washington Post as a source for quality coverage of the ongoing pandemic.

As others have said, if SARS-CoV-2 cannot be eradicated (I still hold out hope and think it imperative in fact), it means adjusting and adapting, not ignoring it, treating this virus and disease as harmless or of little harm and create hostile untenable conditions and daily situations for any efforts of prevention and control of it.

Of what I've read over the course of 4 years, SARS-CoV-2 continues to mutate, kill and disable. This cannot last and will end in an ever escalating disaster if we continue to allow it. - Admin and mod

Additional: Immunity rates are a concern as are vaccination rates. The boast of vaccines administered does not often enough include a breakdown based on how many in the series per person (e.g. 1 dose, primary series, x number of boosters and how recently).

Vaccine rates vary by country, but in regard to the U.S. rates have been on a decline, thus compromising effectiveness on a population level.

#Updates #News #Admin #Moderator #Public health #SARS-CoV-2 #Covid-19 #Covid 19 #SARS CoV 2 #SARS 2 #Pandemic #Ongoing pandemic #Lucky Tran

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is-the-snake-video-cute · 2 years

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since you've talked about the protocol of what happens immediately after getting bitten by a snake, what happens in the following days while the person is recovering? i'm sure you have to report the bite somewhere, but if the person makes a full recovery, what happens with them? do they get let go or fired even if the bite isn't there fault since getting envenomated once can make you more sensitive? is it possible for the facility to be shut down?

Yes, the bite is reported to whatever organization funds the lab - for us, that's the CDC. The lab's director will send in an incident report, and usually someone will pop by to check out the facility and make sure everything was handled properly. Venom extractions will probably stop until the lab is cleared - this only takes a few days.

I've never heard of the person who was bitten being fired over it. Hell, the director of my lab has been bitten a handful of times! It's mostly a myth that one envenomation makes you more sensitive to further bites, it's true that repeated exposure to venom can increase the odds you'll develop an allergy to that specific venom, but that doesn't apply to other venoms and it's still a very small chance.

The facility would only be shut down if there were severe breaches of protocol happening, and things are so highly regulated that it would probably be noticed long before a bite ever happened. That would be things like not securing snake enclosures properly, free-handling snakes without hooks, or not using protective equipment - all things that are grounds to get a facility shut down on their own.

#not a rating #venom labs #snake bites

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renthony · 2 months

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Just curious. How bad has Biden been at controlling COVID-19 in your view?

First: I already responded to a similar question you left on this post.

Second: Biden has been atrocious for COVID-19 safety and management. COVID-19 is still killing people, and our president has done a horribly insufficient job in mitigating that. "Better than the Republicans" is not the same thing as "good" or "effective." Biden's abysmal reaction to COVID-19 is part of why I'm so thrilled that the Uncommitted campaign for the Democratic primary has achieved some success. That particular campaign is focused on ceasefire in Palestine, but the People's CDC explained in a statement how Palestine is also very much a public health issue. We need to scare the bastard and actually do some of that "pushing him left" that people claimed they'd do after getting him elected. Though it seems to me like a lot of people just settled for, "okay, we got rid of Trump, we don't have to worry anymore."

Third: While I'm at it, people have to do more than vote. You have got to get involved. You have got to do more than participate in the presidential election once every four years. Join a union (may I recommend the IWW?), follow the guidance of The People's CDC, volunteer for your local Food Not Bombs, get involved in a tenants union like the Autonomous Tenants Union Network, read Riot Medicine, get trained in first aid and get involved in a street medic group, read up on your local politics and get involved on the small-scale, do something in addition to voting in the presidential election. Even if you're limited in how much you can personally participate, find the people who are talking about these issues and signal boost them, and share the information with others who may be more able to participate more. If you can tell people to go vote in the presidential election, you can also tell them to go do other things, too.

Now, with all of that out of the way, here are some links related to Biden's abysmal COVID-19 response:

During his 2020 campaign, Biden promised immediate $2K stimulus checks. Instead, he delivered $1,400. Sources: [x] [x] [x] [x] [x]

Velena Jones for NBC Bay Area: "‘Too expensive': Bay Area residents shocked over new COVID vaccine prices"

Reuters: "COVID vaccine manufacturers set list price between $120-$130 per dose"

Joseph Choi for The Hill: "Free COVID-19 test program to be suspended for now"

Disability activist Alice Wong writing for TeenVogue: "Covid Isn't Going Anywhere. Masking Up Could Save My Life," and the follow-up article, "COVID and the 2024 Election: What Biden and Democrats Owe High-Risk People."

Laura Weiss writing for The New Republic: "Democrats Can't Keep Ignoring Covid in 2024."

David Cohen and Adam Cancryn for Politico: "Biden on '60 Minutes': 'The Pandemic is Over.'"

Alex Skopic for Current Affairs: "COVID-19 is Still a Threat. So is Biden’s CDC."

Adam Cancryn for Politico: "Biden Appears to be Over Covid Protocols."

Paul Thornton for the Los Angeles Times: "Covid Still Rages, and the Biden Administration Isn't Helping."

Eric J. Topol for the Los Angeles Times: "The U.S. is facing the biggest COVID wave since Omicron. Why are we still playing make-believe?"

We should have free, universal testing. We should have free, universal vaccination. We should have free, universal treatment. We should have financial assistance for those of us who can't work outside the home. We should have mandated work-from-home for any job that can be done remotely. We should be emptying prisons and paying attention to the way disease and abuse proliferate inside their walls. We should have COVID-19 safety PSAs and government support for universal masking. We should have free distribution of N95s. We should have mandated masking in medical settings and public spaces. We should have a higher minimum wage. We should have healthcare reforms. We should have strong worker protections. We should have improved infrastructure. We should have a president who gives a single flying fuck about how many of us are dying.

And we have none of it.

But we sure seem to have money to keep dropping bombs, arming cops, terrorizing the vulnerable, and imprisoning innocent people to use for slave labor.

#original post #covid 19

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gumjrop · 4 months

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The Weather

More than half of all US states remain at high to very high levels of SARS-CoV-2 detected in wastewater since January 25, 2024. As more people face reinfections, COVID remains a serious disease and we recommend that you continue to take precautions as the risk for infection is high at this time.

Although wastewater levels have dropped for multiple US regions, wastewater levels in the South have climbed higher than we’ve seen for any region this season and are currently the second highest peak we’ve experienced in the duration of the pandemic. This is a particularly concerning rebound as at the beginning of the year, Southern levels were experiencing a sharp decline. CDC’s national and regional wastewater data over time also show high levels nationally. As a reminder, the last two weeks are provisional data, indicated by a gray shaded area on the graph, therefore these values may change as additional wastewater sites report data. We want to remind you that multiple layers of precautions will protect against a COVID infection.

Wins

We thank many of you this week for joining us and in signing on with our letter to the ACLU regarding the actions taken by the CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) that previously weakened already insufficient protocols employed within healthcare settings. We had many concerns with the actions taken by HICPAC. As a result of your actions, as well as support by many of our allies at previous HICPAC meetings, the CDC responded on January 23, 2024, with a request to consider clarification questions in distinguishing masks and N95 respirators. The CDC asked HICPAC to consider these questions prior to submission to the Federal Register for more public comment. This success demonstrates the importance of working together and holding the CDC accountable for ensuring safe healthcare settings for all patients and healthcare workers. You may also submit an additional comment or a reply to the CDC’s official response to HICPAC at the bottom of the news release.

As many healthcare systems and public health departments have restored masking in healthcare settings only when facing public pressure, without further action this important measure may not last. We ask you to support national and local groups to advocate for everyone’s safety in maintaining universal masking in all healthcare and healthcare-like settings. Universal masking can become a standard of preventative care rather than a short term response to infectious disease already surging.

Variants

JN.1 remains the dominant variant in the United States, and is approximately 93.1% of circulating variants as of 2/3/2024. HV.1 drops even further to 2.3%, and all other variants are estimated to make up less than 2% each. The updated 2023-2024 COVID vaccines updated with the XBB.1.5 variant were recently shown by a MMWR report to be at least 49% to 60% effective against symptomatic infections during the Fall season, from late September 2023 to mid-January 2024. By ensuring additional precautions including testing, masking, ventilation, and air filtration, the additive effect will ensure a higher effectiveness.

Vaccine uptake remains limited with only 21.8% of adults and 11.6% of children receiving the updated COVID vaccine as of 2/02/24. The Bridge Program remains available for those underinsured or without insurance for no-cost access to these vaccines.

Hospitalizations

A downward trend continues with new hospital admissions, currently at 22,636 the week of January 27, 2024. We still do not know the total number of hospital-acquired infections, since reporting over these numbers was halted in May of 2023. Despite this decrease in new hospital admissions, please consider that wastewater levels are still high nationwide, and that hospitalization does not reflect the current amount of circulating virus. Please continue to exercise caution and wear a well-fitting respirator indoors.

Testing and Treatment

A study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID) found that SARS-CoV-2 viral load peaks around the fourth day of symptom onset. This may suggest why tests do not seem to be picking up positive cases early on. This does not mean that transmission is unlikely prior to the fourth day of symptoms, but rather, one should continue to employ serial testing and isolation measures beyond the first few days of illness. If you have tested negative on day one or two with a rapid antigen test (RAT), you may still have a COVID infection, unless you test negative on day four or five with a RAT.

Because of a lack of RAT sensitivity, people may mistakenly believe they do not have COVID, and both enter isolation too late and exit isolation prematurely, leading to increased transmission within the population. For this reason, it is important to wear a high quality respirator at the onset of COVID-like symptoms, regardless of a negative test. We must demand for more sensitive testing and no-cost access to better tests (such as PCR), as well as an infrastructure that allows for longer sick leave and sick-time pay. At this time, limited testing options remain at no cost including the Test to Treat program and Walgreens PCR program as well as treatment options including the no cost antiviral program operated by Pfizer and supported by Health and Human Services. Remember to check for regional offerings as well such as the “Express Testing” PCR program in New York City, which could be more accessible to you.

Vaccines

On February 1, the CDC published in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) that the most recently updated monovalent XBB.1.5 booster offered 54% increased protection against symptomatic (self-reported) COVID. Note, the study was limited as it did not evaluate the effectiveness against asymptomatic COVID cases. The CDC recommends that all individuals older than 6 months of age should receive the updated vaccine. If you have not yet received your vaccine, please do so.

Current updated vaccines being somewhat effective against symptomatic acute infection is not enough, and we should demand for sterilizing immunity of COVID through vaccines. Intranasal vaccines, which may induce a more robust mucosal immunity based on animal models, seem to be in the pipeline. However, it is unclear whether production of such vaccines is receiving appropriate funding or will be available to the public anytime soon.

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is having a meeting on February 28-29th and COVID vaccines will be on the agenda. We will be sending information on a request for actions in the coming few weeks on how to participate in ensuring the CDC takes appropriate steps to protect the public from ongoing COVID infections.

Take Action

Further research and investment is needed for effective treatments against Long COVID. PCORI, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, is seeking individuals to represent patient voices on their advisory panels. This is an invaluable opportunity to advocate for Long COVID research as this research and funding organization has an annual budget of nearly 300 million dollars for medical research. Applications are due March 29, 2024 and those selected to be on their advisory panels can participate virtually. Lending your voice to this is invaluable.

We must also ensure constant access to no or low cost high quality masks and respirators. Request that the federal government ensure that there remains ongoing local manufacturing of high quality masks and N95 respirators to prevent a future shortage by contacting your representatives.

Many people rely on pulse oximeters in healthcare and at-home settings as a medical device to check blood-oxygen levels during an active COVID infection and recovery. For several decades, it has been established that these medical devices have failed to measure accurately when used with darker skin color. In response, a recent lawsuit has been filed against 12 manufacturers. In addition, the FDA is currently seeking comments through the Federal Register on this matter. We ask you to submit a public comment asking the FDA to act immediately and ensure future pulse oximeters are properly manufactured to support all people.

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