#pandemic policy

[communistkenobi]

I remember early during the pandemic when there were eviction bans and widespread closures of public spaces and vaccine mandates that the state ‘revealed’ itself to the public in a way that neoliberalism had previously cloaked it for decades. these things were not set in stone, people in power were not asleep at the wheel, these were not automated governmental processes that simply facilitated the market. the state could at any point exercise its power for collective public interest, it could flex its might out in the open outside the scope of police and military violence - and do good things with that power. I have not forgotten that, and it makes all these declarations about how this policy or that proposal are too difficult, impossible to implement, pie in the sky wishing all the more hollow

#I really truly feel insane sometimes like we are living through a global pandemic rising fascist violence & organising #spiralling inequality etc. and the state can do something about all these things but chooses not to. those are conscious policy choices

[thelastmemeera]

"The pandemic is over"

#covid #pandemic #biology #public policy

[dragonomatopoeia]

< guy who had to stop being an english instructor because the cruelties of usamerican academia crushed them into paste and they weren't allowed to help or support students in any meaningful way. lest they be fired from their position that paid less than a living wage

#no money to live and on top of that if you said hey can we help these students somewhat you get told No <3 #anyway did you know that professors aren't required to have pedagogical training #and if you DO have pedagogical training and you say hey i have ideas for activities to better facilitate understanding #so students don't just have to sit blankly in front of a lecture for an hour at a time #you are once again told No and also How Dare You. don't you know that most students are Visual Learners. they LOVE the powerpoint #they would HATE to do a structured activity. #so you ask okay well can we at least give them alternative attendance policies since we're in a pandemic and many of them are working #and then you are told that you are too soft and the students will walk all over you and also No because this is a University policy #and every day you are further ground into paste. yahoo. #anyway that's why i'm no longer a teacher

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

“they’re saying only 1% of people die of covid so why are you worried?” ok then. not looking at any sources, let’s go off that statistic for this post. note: we’ve lost over a million people and counting in the united states alone.

i’ve seen some estimates saying 10%-30% of people end up with continuing symptoms (fatigue, brain fog, etc) after the end of infection, which could mean tens of millions of people. however, if even only 2% had persisting symptoms and we go by that 1% death statistic, that could be 2 million people living with some form of long covid impacting their daily life.

don’t wanna listen about covid? ok, let’s compare it to another disease known for its lasting symptoms and its “long” form: polio.

polio could be asymptomatic, but symptoms presented as flu-like if there were any. all things considered, paralysis was rare in comparison to infection numbers. i’ve seen a lot of polio statistics, and some say only 1 in 1,000 (0.1%) polio cases resulted in paralysis, though this seems like a rough average between the three variants. still, there were tens of thousands of cases of poliomyelitis paralysis. 1952 alone had over 20,000 paralysis cases reported, and that’s one year of many polio outbreaks (the most well known u.s. outbreak was 1948/49-1952).

just because a percentage seems low does not mean the damage is minuscule. be knowledgeable about how information is being presented to you and what the actual impacts are. small numbers do not equal little harm.

#im so tired of people who don’t know shit about disease trying to talk about it #although the cdc is supposed to know things and they’re only spouting bullshit too so who fucking knows #sometimes i wish public policy went with the polio route of ‘scare the shit out of people about this disease to keep them safe’ #because the management right now is complete bullshit #anyway hi i spent years researching disease as a hobby and took an epidemiology class with a semester focusing on polio #i could compare covid to the spanish flu pandemic too but that would be another post #anyway im tired of this bullshit. viruses have the potential to wreak havoc on the body and covid is a prime example. the studies coming out #and the anecdotal experiences of many should be worrying to you and you should be avoiding it at all costs. you will not get lucky every #time against disease. knowledge is power especially when talking about disease #other source if y’all don’t think the research + study were enough and want me to have first hand experience seeing the disease progression: #my dad died of covid. i watched that disease wreak havoc on every part of his body as it progressed. it was absolutely terrifying and #exhausted his body to where his heart couldn’t keep up anymore. this isn’t a fucking cold #coronavirus #my post

[tomorrowusa]

Trump's most famous promise was to make Mexico pay for his squalid and corrupt border wall.

Amount collected from Mexico: 0 centavos.

Trump did give tax breaks to billionaires while giving COVID-19 to much of the rest of the country.

Trump's promises are as worthless as degrees from Trump University.

#donald trump #trump's broken promises #republicans #trump's broken border wall #mexico isn't paying for trump's wall #tax breaks for the filthy rich #the trump pandemic recession #covid-19 #joe biden #bipartisan infrastructure law #inflation reduction act #biden's pro-worker policies #child tax credit #biden supports reproductive freedom #biden is lgbtq friendly #biden is pro-democracy #biden isn't a stooge of putin #election 2024 #vote blue no matter who

[auressea]

BAD Leadership and failed Policy.

Predictable and Preventable deaths...

Public Health failures. You've been sold a lie. the government does not care about you.

#BC news #Current events #COVID--19 #it's not over #pandemic #public health #bad policy #failed leadership #wear a mask #stay home #keep your distance #living with chronic conditions

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Starting Jan. 5, the federal government will require air travellers arriving from China, Hong Kong or Macao to provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test taken before their departure.

The temporary health measures, in place for 30 days, are a reaction to a surge in the virus in China and the limited epidemiological and other data available, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) announced Saturday.

The tests must be taken no more than two days before departure and can be either a negative molecular or an antigen test with documentation showing it was overseen by a telehealth service, accredited laboratory or testing provider.

Passengers who tested positive more than 10 days but not exceeding 90 days before their departure can provide the airline that documentation in lieu of a negative result. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #canadian politics #Foreign Policy #coronavirus pandemic

[panicinthestudio]

COVID rapidly spreads in China as government eases strict quarantine rules, December 27, 2022

China is grappling with the rapid spread of COVID-19 after the government began rolling back its zero-COVID restrictions earlier this month. Now, cases are spiraling across towns and cities, hospitals are overburdened, medical staff are outnumbered and crematoriums are running out of space. Judy Woodruff reports.

PBS NewsHour

There is no nuance left in politics or public health policy when there is either an absolute and strict inflexibility of zero COVID or wholesale dismantling of safeguards before the healthcare or support systems are prepared for the waves that have been forcibly suppressed. The political insistence on using their own less effective, non-mRNA vaccines based on the original strains rather than Delta or Omicron, coupled with a low vaccination rate of the vulnerable and elderly is not helping easing the transition at all.

The way they’ve been counting mortality from COVID diverged from nearly every other country since early 2020. A death had to be directly attributable to SARS-CoV-2 eliminating cases of many preexisting or undiagnosed conditions, chronic illnesses, and other high risk factors that may have been exacerbated by the virus which became listed as the direct cause or if they simply tested negative in the few days before dying. The policy as of this week will further limit the count only to deaths caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure after contracting COVID, in addition to dropping much of the remaining inbound quarantines and regular case counts becoming even more inconsistent with lived reality.

It appears the PRC was prepared to stay in suspended animation within an onionskin of self-isolation layers indefinitely, maintaining the appearance of control and adherence to policy that was left to different local officials to execute. Downgrading the classification removes the local, emergency-style powers to lockdown and quarantine which were used capriciously. Residential buildings, offices and commercial areas such as malls, and even theme parks could be suddenly cordoned without warning, causing panic due to the stringency of testing and knock-on effects if a positive case was found rather than fear of having contacted or contracted the virus. Becoming listed as a close contact or a complete stranger’s positive result could mean further quarantining and repeated testing, as well any change in one’s COVID passport status severely restricting mobility for work or education, travel, or even basic necessities. The protests spread because “dynamic zero” was anything but dynamic, refusing to change or amend course in preparation for a transition to an endemic or post-epidemic state. People were simply fed up and the building momentum was becoming a potential danger to a regime that had just renewed its own political mandates.

These things aren’t happening in isolation, China is also changing tact on its travel restrictions domestically and internationally. The Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau have been trying to reopen ports and travel with the Mainland for years now for travel and economic reasons. Both were forced into accepting one-way policies where it was difficult for their citizens to enter China or even between one another, while rules were softened for travelers and politicians entering from and returning to the Mainland for short trips with the reason that the pandemic was less well-contained than within the Mainland.

As news of the highly visible current outbreak within China is continuing to emerge, the Hong Kong SAR is now proudly announcing agreements have been made with the Mainland to drop their travel restrictions posthaste. It’s being reported that many are travelling specifically for mRNA vaccines which are approved in Macau and Hong Kong.

#China #covid 19 #coronavirus #pandemic #public health #politics #Chinese Communist Party #Xi Jinping #pbs newshour #seriously #fundamentally ridiculous #bureaucracy #zero covid policy #vaccination #epidemiology #reuters #financial times #news #current events #health care

[tittyinfinity]

I don't think that kids should be exclusively homeschooled, but I also don't think that kids should be going to a building with hundreds of people 5 days a week during a pandemic. It's one of the main reasons why it keeps spreading so rapidly and won't go away. They don't take any preventative measures at schools anymore (at least not around here). You got kids? You're getting sick. Your coworker has kids? You're getting sick.

Schools are back to counting attendance. You can't even keep your kid home long enough to recover from covid before sending them back. They literally send a "truancy" (police) officer to your house if you keep them home too often.

I feel like we could be doing something better. I'm not entirely sure what the solution is. But this isn't it.

#.bdo #I tried homeschooling 3 kids at the beginning of the pandemic my ADHD is way too bad for that #this doesn't even touch on how I think the modern public school system needs to be abolished and rebuilt #the kids don't get enough breaks bullying isn't properly addressed the history they teach them is biased and/or outdated #attendance policies are ableist and classist and a fuck #PE shouldn't be something you're graded on and exercises should be given based on the individual child's abilities and needs #there should be more counselors and actual child psychologists in the building #school breakfast and lunches should always be free for every kid (thankfully they started doing that here in my town a year ago) #there should be different times of the day you can drop your kid off instead of one set starting time and one ending time #to work with different people's work and sleeping schedules #kids should not be required to be at school before 9 am but we have schools starting between 6:50am-7:20am now #my school years would have been 10000% easier if I could have started at 11am instead #kids need to be met at their level instead of forcing the same curriculum on everyone #MORE TEACHERS! More than one per classroom! Why are we making one person watch 30 kids at once! #this needs to be a whole separate post but I needed to get this rant out now

[rhizomehaunt]

never not wild to me how people are risking covid infection and resulting life long illness/disability that as a sick person I would love to exist just a day without and they’re doing it all so they can eat at a mediocre restaurant

#obviously governmental failure around public health policy means that some people genuinely do not know the risks #but this is directed at all of my former friends who ditched me as soon as biden said the pandemic is over #also being disabled/sick is not a bad thing but it is hard to live within and there’s absolutely no support for you!!! #I’m like damn would love a symptoms free day & then ppl are going for brunch playing russian roulette for which of my illnesses they’ll get

[dihalect]

my department is apparently no longer hybrid, but “on-site with ad-hoc remote work”. i’m just gonna see how long i can get away with ignoring that

#txt #i do have an accommodation that says i can wfh when i have a migraine. #but when i was asking for the accommodation i guesstimated that that’d intersect with my in-person days like once or twice a month. #i do absolutely need to have the option to wfh multiple times per week. #but getting an accommodation for THAT is going to be way more difficult. bc it’s not JUST migraines‚ it’s a combination of my various psych #afflictions and not-properly-diagnosed chronic pain *and* the complex whole-body rube goldberg pain machine that is my chronic migraines. #it’s not necessarily ‘i will be in unbearable pain if i do this’. #it’s ‘i will be perpetually drained and my low-level pain will be worse snd i will have no life outside of work and recuperating from work’. #it’s also weird that they’re ending hybridhood *now*. #it’s not like we’re at a particular milestone in pandemic recovery. although our admin did mention entering a ‘busy period’. #it’s not even necessary lmao. we get by fine. we get by BETTER when we’re not all there. #oh man. i just realized. everyone being on-site is gonna make the autism/anxiety so much worse. #i honestly think this policy shift might be related to me. #bc our program director started emphasizing the importance of being onsite on x days… shortly after i started working hybrid‚ but had to wfh #on some of those days #for disability reasons. #anyway. government pleeeaaase give my old lab more money so i can go back. pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaazeeeee #edited

[satellitedyke]

apparently my fucking coworker came in to work yesterday w/ covid (masked! but still) & i swear to god if i get covid a second time b/c of her. i'm gonna start killing

#'i started having symptoms on saturday but it was just like a cold so i thought it was nothing!!' WE ARE IN A PANDEMIC!!!!!!! #OUR COVID POLICY SAYS PPL SHOULD ALWAYS DEFER TO WORKING FROM HOME IF THEY FEEL EVEN A LITTLE BIT ILL. #god i'm gonna go crazy. this is exactly fucking why we're still in a pandemic b/c ppl won't fucking take it seriously. stay the fuck home!! #a

[rotzaprachim]

ok some seriously chewy thoughts I’ve had before about kaz breakers out-of-narrative white quasi Western European privilege

#Like idk that’s a young man in a gang with a gang tattoo sporting obvious signs of gang affiliation #Using incredible amounts of violence on behalf of said gang #Because the IDEA of Latino and Black and Eastern European young men in gangs - #The idea ALONE - #Is enough to fundamentally enact nationally racist and xenophobic policies in regards to policing and discrimination and immigration in man #Countries #it’s just … inseparable that so much of how kaz gets away With It. Gets to be such a cool sexy character guy #Is because he is a quasi Western European quasi white man #An example of a fandomization of a major social issues and an extreme thematic dissonance from the actual source text #I think the book is extremely in touch with the intense tragedy of the circumstances that lead to kaz joining the dregs #As well as the social upheaval that lead him there! Land dispossession! Urbanization! Hyper capitalism and pandemics! #But the broader fandom response and…. Aestheticisation is so inextriacle with a kind of narrative white privileged #Privilege* #Tw gangs #Tw racism #tw xenophobia

[sakebytheriver]

I'm supposed to get the covid booster today, but my insurance has just decided to not cover it for whatever reason and so the pharmacy wants to charge me $190.99 to get it

This is literally extortion

People should not be priced out of getting a fucking vaccine

Why the fuck is this booster almost $200 when we know for a fact that the manufacturing cost is a fraction of that?

Absolutely disgusting

People die in this country every day because we've turned medicine into an industry and have let the insurance companies become a legal mob running protection rackets on the entire population

#ignore me #personal #i have to get this #im traveling on sunday #i shouldnt have to pay $200 just to avoid getting a life threatening disease #the pandemic has not ended and at this point with policies like this it never will #covid is never leaving our population because of policies like this

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A Montana Republican is pushing a bill to bar those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine or suffer from "long COVID" from donating blood—a proposal some critics say could effectively eradicate the state's supply of blood.

Formally introduced in the Montana State Legislature on February 17, House Bill 645 proposes a misdemeanor offense for anyone who knowingly donates whole blood, plasma, blood products, blood derivatives, human tissue, organs, or bones containing "gene-altering proteins, nanoparticles, high-count spike proteins from long COVID-19, or other isolates introduced by mRNA or DNA vaccines, mRNA or DNA chemotherapies, or other novel mRNA or DNA pharmaceutical biotechnologies."

The legislation, which has yet to receive a committee vote, comes over what the bill's sponsor, Representative Greg Kmetz, described as fears from his constituents of ensuring a "safe" blood supply—even as experts assert that it is safe to donate blood after receiving a COVID vaccine or being diagnosed with COVID.

"Many of my constituents question just because we hear these two words, 'safe and effective,' a million plus times, does that make them true?" Kmetz asked colleagues in a hearing on the bill last week. "[...] These are the people that are concerned about our blood supply. These are the people that put me in this office. These are the people that I represent."

Kmetz has been backed by fellow Republicans, Rep. Jodee Etchart, who is the bill's requester, and Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway.

Many of the concerns pushed by the bill's proponents often cited uncredible or even biased information to support them.

Some who testified in favor of the bill claimed, without evidence, that friends and family died prematurely as a result of receiving the vaccine. There is currently no proof linking the COVID vaccine to premature death.

Another woman cited a Facebook post pushing claims that COVID-19 vaccines turned the blood of embalmed corpses into fibrous clots, a finding medical fact checkers have already debunked as the result of a heavily flawed study.

Others cited concerns over a spike in myocarditis cases among teens who received some types of vaccine, which U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data found to be rare.

Meanwhile, opponents of the bill, which included multiple medical professionals, said its language was overly broad and would, in effect, decimate Montana's blood and organ donor supply.

According to data from the CDC, approximately two-thirds of Montanans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while just 3% of eligible donors nationwide donate blood. Cliff Numark, the Senior Vice President of Donor Services for blood supplier nonprofit Vitalant, said the bill would cause "devastating harm" to the state's healthcare system, and potentially reduce the state's overall blood supply by as much as 80%.

Numark said there is no test available to verify whether the vaccine was in someone's bloodstream, making the bill impossible to comply with if passed into law.

In recent weeks, Vitalant has urged blood donors to come forward amid a shortage that has been worsened by adverse weather. Nationwide, the American Red Cross, which in January 2022 declared its first-ever blood crisis, says that someone in the U.S. needs blood and/or platelets every two seconds.

"Our blood is safe," Vicky Byrd, CEO of the Montana Nurses Association, told lawmakers. "Our scientists and our practitioners, we have to trust them. We know what they're doing."

While COVID-19 patients are barred from donating blood while infected with the virus—primarily because of the precondition for donors to be in "good health" when donating—all blood donation groups and the American Red Cross have maintained that it is safe to donate blood after receiving the vaccine.

"Blood donations from individuals who have received a COVID-19 vaccine approved or authorized for use in the U.S. are safe for transfusion," Red Cross officials told Newsweek in a statement.

"Similar to other vaccines such as those for measles, mumps or influenza, COVID-19 vaccines are designed to generate an immune response to help protect an individual from illness, but vaccine components themselves do not replicate through blood transfusions or alter a blood recipient's DNA."

"In summary, there is no scientific evidence that demonstrates adverse outcomes from the transfusions of blood products collected from vaccinated donors and, therefore, no medical reason to distinguish or separate blood donations from individuals who have received a COVID-19 vaccination," they said.

Though the bill's opponents said there was no evidence to support a ban on vaccinated donors giving blood, the bill's proponents said that was because studies have not yet been done.

From a practical standpoint, Numark said a ban would result in "unnecessary and unconscionable" death.

"This house bill would criminalize the act of attempting to altruistically donate blood," Numark said. "It would decimate the blood supply."

Newsweek reached out to Greg Kmetz for comment.

#us politics #news #newsweek #2023 #montana #republicans #conservatives #gop #gop policy #gop platform #blood donations #covid vaccine #covidー19 #coronavirus pandemic #coronavirus vaccine #Montana Legislature #long COVID #House Bill 645 #Greg Kmetz #Jodee Etchart #Lola Sheldon-Galloway #center for disease control and prevention #Cliff Numark #Vitalant #American Red Cross #Vicky Byrd #Montana Nurses Association