Expat Repeat

So, ahead of the next covid wave, can we all be absolutely clear on this: Covid is airborne. Each new covid infection adds to your risk of developing long term health problems. Masks work (n95+/FFP2+ ones). Can I get an amen?

I was dreaming about how we have no backup for power or water for emergencies/infrastructure collapse. Then I woke up, and our power was off. I hate it when dreams come true.

Please read and repost the thread below, and like it and comment on it. The Cat has had her account visibility restricted by twitter, and the way to undo it is interact with her. Please follow, and bookmark, and quote tweet. I'll go through later and retweet any quote tweets ❤️

@_CatintheHat Thank you SO much for all that you share.

COVID INQUIRY: MODULE 3 REPORT “Fundamental flaws in the UK’s approach to IPC [infection prevention & control] guidance, for example in relation to the use of PPE, put patients and healthcare workers at risk.” — Baroness Hallett, Chair of the Covid Inquiry Read more here… ⬇️

Yes. I am working on it. It has four separate high quality sensors for PM, Co2, VOC and formaldehyde to cover most of the hazard in the air. The battery can last for 12 hours after fully charged. I believe it can be one of the best air quality monitor in the market. I think we can release them in about 6 month.

Warning about 60 cases of 𝗥𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗱𝗼𝗺𝘆𝗼𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador so I asked the question if it can be triggered by Covid infection and the answer is yes. Covid causes many indirect damages and conditions and it needs to be avoided. 𝗥𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗱𝗼𝗺𝘆𝗼𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 used to be rare. nlhealthservices.ca/news/nl-health… pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12…

@frogess33 Ah... that makes me happy just to hear that I actually have a friend who enjoys mending! I have so much emotional baggage surrounding it that I can easily get paralysed about it. (Many long stories). But I'm proud of myself that I at least started today!

@ExpatRepeat I wish we were closer. I love mending!!!!

I threaded the needle for a mending project. Please applaud. I HATE mending.

@frogess33 Why thank you! Mind you, I then proceeded to stab myself in the thumb with the needle- the same thumb that I took a big chunk out of a week or so ago. I didn't want to bleed all over the mending project, so I quit after the first stitch. 😂 But I started something at least!

@ExpatRepeat YAY YOU!!!!!!

@broadwaybabyto 🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂

I’ve been housebound (and mostly bedbound) for years. When I have to go to the hospital I plan for a pretty significant hit to my baseline. I build in recovery days. This week I had an appointment hit me harder than ever. It’s humbling. It’s terrifying. It’s depressing.

The number of Americans I see on here who list ammo as an essential item to stock up on before prices skyrocket is very disturbing. Like what are you planning on using that ammo for? Oh… to kill your fellow human beings of course. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Falls are deadly. Costly. Bone shattering. Career ending. Finance ruining. Health ruining. Costly to health systems. Those who’ve had a fall with severe injuries, understand this.

@1goodtern Can confirm. My family moved there when I was a teen. The first time they did the pledge I was bewildered and horrified. Later studied intercultural communication in uni. Every culture is ethnocentric, but American exceptionalism is… exceptional.

I've been thinking about America a lot recently. One of the things that has been most on my mind is the prevalence throughout America of American exceptionalism, the idea among Americans that America is a special country that is in some way better than all the others. 🧵

@Kenneth33071904 Maybe if all those determined superspreaders stay in line long enough, they will all just infect/kill each other and the line will disappear?

If you’re STILL in the TSA line at the airport STAY in line !! #VoteHard

I think that in some cases, the better someones grasp of science, the stronger their need to reject aerosol transmission. Because if they accept that it's a dominant mode of transmission and really understand what that means, the implications are far-reaching and incredibly frightening. For the layperson, it's just "Oh, so like coughs but further yeah? Well I'll take extra vitamins LOL" and they get on with their life of episodic illness, possibly debilitating, but with (to them) unclear vectors. For someone with a good grasp of science, if they really understand what almost every respiratory infection having airborne potential means, than they understand that if true, almost all of the modern indoor spaces we have would be unsafe without massive IAQ upgrades- and in many cases those upgrades might not even be physically possible. If airborne transmission is dominant = Nearly all of our indoor physical infrastructure is dangerous and obsolete without costly upgrades. That is a massive, massive social, political, and financial upheaval to contemplate- and people able to see the big picture implications, rejecting it at a visceral level, when a comfortable, nostalgic paradigm of handwashing and coughing into their elbow is right there for them to cling to, is somewhat understandable. It will take a long time, and a great deal more work before many come around- and many never will. Semmelweis's findings were not accepted during his lifetime- and those were a comparatively minor upheaval.

for covid conscious folks who get demoralized, thinking there’s no point to posting about covid for those who aren’t yet informed: in 2023, i was persuaded by the density of high-quality research y’all post here. and i’ve done my best to pay it forward. what you say matters.😷

We're looking to conduct a pilot run of a COVID Defense Kit to reduce the risk of reinfections among people in the U.S. with #LongCOVID. Do you have any suggestions? Our prior pilot was specifically for people with cancer and published in JAMA-NO (link in next). That COVID Defense Kit included the following: -An educational booklet on airborne transmission and multi-layered mitigation (this will be a public website soon) -5 FlowFlex rapid tests -50 N95/KN95 masks tailored to the sizes/needs of the individual and their household/family/visitor needs -2 DIY air purifiers We could mail the kits anywhere in the U.S. To track the data needed to yield generalizable knowledge for academic research and push for program scaling and eventual policy change, we had all participants do a brief survey pre-kit and then a 1-month follow-up survey on what from the kit they used, what they liked best, etc. We compensated $100 for that time, in addition to the kit being free (about a $220 value, so about $320 total). Possible improvements: -We could include a DIY fit-testing kit -We could include fewer masks initially and then send a 2nd batch once the "best" mask(s) get identified -For a 1-month follow-up, 5 rapid tests seemed sufficient, but open to ideas on that -The booklet is very mitigation focused. We could add info on fundamental coping strategies (this is not psychologizing LC, just acknowledging ostracism is stressful for anyone taking C19 seriously), provide suggestions for how to talk to family, friends, co-workers, etc. I'm not sure if any of this is needed or what the greatest need would be. As noted, we're working on a website, so it's not a big deal to have "too much" info, and people can use what they want. -We could do a longer follow-up window (3 or 6 months), but this gets tough in a pilot project that's a limited total time frame -Other ideas? Sorry if any of that seems offensive. I've mostly steered clear of substantive LC work because the important priorities are diagnostics and treatments; there's also a lot of incorrect psychologizing of LC. That's not my intent. I'm increasingly concerned about the impact of repeat infections 6+ years into this with a pessimistic near-term horizon on the treatment front. I'm also seeing in our real-world data that things like mask fit discernibly matter in terms of cumulative infections, even in the CC community. Thanks for any thoughts! 🙏

EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ADD THEIR NEEDS HERE! My stove broke. ~$100 to replace. Major trigeminal neuralgia flare. Meds need refill. Need soft food so I can eat. Please help if able. gofundme.com/froglet26 ko-fi.com/froglet80 cashapp/paypal/venmo: Froglet80

@LadyChuan This actually made my day. You are a genius. (And your old friend is probably my sister. Or my other sister. Or my cousin. Or....)

An old friend calls and talks about themselves NON-STOP. I knew that she would be calling because I had been warned that she was making rounds today. She talked about her concert tickets for the Summer, her intended travels, her Ozempic weight loss, new LV wallet, her new nail stylist, all the compliments she gets everyday…. and then I interrupted and said yeah, I just got off of a call about the Covid cases… “Oh, let me call you right back, she said.” That was 5 hours ago!!! Yup! The mention of COVID still works!!! It both silences and gets people off the phone expeditiously!