#covidisntover — Public Fediverse posts

@leslore @EricCarroll

I think it's many factors interlocking, such as:

• Not wanting to go against the flow socially, or against the hierarchy, when so many colleagues have taken official advice at face value, such that disregarding infection control in this area is "normal".

• Lack of support from the system, and/or an expectation that infection control is organised from above, so that most individual staff aren't thinking in terms of "should we be getting air filters on the ward / in the room" etc.

• Lack of supplies, and/or people further up the hierarchy who will rebuke them for using the more expensive masks when the rule is none or baggy blues.

• Lack of correct info, because the info available to us geeks who read the research is not necessarily the same as the info reaching people who are working long busy days in healthcare!

• Trauma from death, stress and moral injury in 2020, and masking being a reminder of that time, so it's emotionally easier to act as if things are back to 2019-normal.

• An assumption that they themselves will be okay: perhaps selected for because you're more likely to think of doctoring/ nursing as an attractive job if you're a bit blasé about catching things.

• A sort of "sunk ethical cost" which would have to be acknowledged in relation to patients they infected and thereby harmed over the last few years, about which they're currently in denial. And this one of course also applies to management making funding decisions.

That's just based on stories I've heard and my own intuitions about human nature. Would be interesting to see some actual qualitative research on which of these factors or which others are most at play.

#medicine #InfectionControl #covid #CovidIsntOver #doctors #nurses #NHS

@Hellybootwader @pvonhellermannn

It is mind-boggling to me the level of misinformation and misapprehension about covid. I know you were talking about its effects, but it seems to me that even the basic "how not to catch it if you don't want to" is niche subculture knowledge.

Something I keep seeing: people who are quite happy to put on a mask if asked, yet _don't_ have the cognitive framework to evaluate the risks themself.

• They don't know that the virus comes out on the breath, no need for a cough.
• They don't know that you can be infectious while feeling fine.
• They don't know that it hangs in the air like smoke when no-one's there.

Even if you tell someone the facts, they haven't necessarily thought through the practical _consequences_ of it being like that: for example, they forget to take into account that air can move.

And this leads to faulty assumptions, like for example "it's okay to have a mask break in the corridor to eat my snack, no-one else was around".

So if you want to stay safe, e.g. with dentists or plumbers, you have to think ahead all the time to how a well-meaning person might accidentally infect you, because their own cognitive framework for it may have gaps. The level of necessary vigilance and negotiation is exhausting.

And I do blame the WHO and the UK government. They actively misled people, and then when they were proven wrong, they still never followed up "hey, everyone, we got this really wrong, please update your infection control policies as a matter of urgency".

It's like when newspapers print an untrue thing as their big headline on the front page, and then the correction weeks later is a tiny paragraph at the bottom of page 17!

From time to time, I still see old posters advocating handwashing as the main covid protection, not even mentioning air quality: a marker of where the info has never reached. And as far as I can tell, the NHS is basically not bothering any more with covid infection control - though maybe that could change somewhat from the Covid Inquiry conclusions?

Thinking about the perilous information landscape often reminds me of a friend of mine. There are quite a few things they believe that I don't believe (e.g. that the covid vax was some kind of nefarious plot), and those differences can be hard to navigate sometimes - but we find common ground in both having no trust in the government :-/

#CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsntOver

"People who were healthy and active just a few months ago are still arriving at USC’s clinic with cardiovascular and cognitive problems that have upended their lives.

“There has been a societal move to go past COVID as if it’s not around anymore — but it definitely is ... And people will bounce in and out of the ER, and they will potentially have a degree of disability [to] the point where they just lose their job, and no one really is addressing it.”

Thousands of people disabled by long COVID seek answers - Los Angeles Times
https://archive.md/2026.03.14-203506/https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2026-03-14/thousands-of-people-disabled-by-long-covid-seek-answers

#LongCovid #denial #CovidIsntOver

Husband’s first movie since COVID! We specifically found a time with as few people as possible.

#MaskUp #COVIDIsntOver #COVID #N95

"I was lucky. Some people have much worse brain-consequences as part of their covid illness. Some people have much more lasting and drastic limitations on their energy or physical capacities. And of course, some people die of it. ...

"And at the same time… that illness cost me a lot. Two-and-a-half years with far less walking/ dancing/ cycling/ strength-training than I would otherwise have done. Hundreds of hours when I could have been doing writing or recording or making cool stuff happen, and instead I was just exhausted in bed. ...

"How much do I _not_ want all that again?

"A lot more than I _do_ want _most_ things. Most risks aren’t worth the risk, set against another round of that."

Marking an anniversary – Uncharted Worlds
https://www.uncharted-worlds.org/blog/2025/11/marking-an-anniversary/

#LongCovid #CovidIsntOver

Excellent post from @janet:

"Today is labelled a day of awareness, but we must recognise in the case of Long Covid, we are not merely raising awareness. We are combatting willful ignorance. People actively _do not_ want to know about Long Covid, and the long-term health consequences of Covid infections. They do not want to see us. This is the plain truth."

https://janetgunter.net/willful-ignorance

#covid #LongCovid #denial #erasure #CovidIsntOver

I read this article yesterday and I'm still musing on it. There's something I really like about the idea of framing our position & commitments as "a subculture". That rings true to me.

Some snippets from the article:

"the COVID Conscious community’s vision for the future lives in the ever-present now – without denial."

"This pragmatism allows for an actual future, not a fantasy future"

"we have an aesthetic ... we have shared resources, language and references"

"Referencing the past is essential, but copying it reflexively is unproductive."

"While solutions aren’t always easy, we believe they exist—whether it’s masking, clean air, COVID-safe events, or free testing and vaccinations, our resolve remains: we’re not giving up on a good future."

"this community spans drag kings, cartoonists and activists, musicians, rappers"

"We’re showing that there’s hope and liberation on the other side of a realistic risk assessment – and there’s no need to pick and choose safety based on the criteria set by capitalist forces."

https://positivedeviancenyc.substack.com/p/covid-consciousness-as-a-subculture
(on Substack unfortunately)

#CovidIsntOver #community #subculture #CovidConscious #CovidCareful #Masks4All

Article about how #COVID impacts the brain:

https://archive.ph/2026.02.25-120841/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-02-25/how-long-do-covid-s-effects-last-brain-issues-are-still-being-found

We’re so fucked.

#MaskUp #covidisntover

@zeblarson

Great piece of writing - thanks for sharing.

This part in particular...

"The failure of trusted institutions to do what we expect them to — keep people safe, protect them, hold bad actors accountable — deepens trauma and its costs to individuals and collectives by eviscerating social trust. The trauma stems not only from interpersonal violence but also from the awareness that a collective body purporting to be just and protective is the opposite, instead more likely to punish the vulnerable than to help them."

Now I'm thinking of the abdication of infection control around covid, currently being perpetrated by the NHS and most dentists.

I thought, are we being actively _punished_ rather than abandoned though? And then I thought of things I've heard (heard firsthand but not experienced firsthand) about how wearing a fitted respi mask in hospital marks you as a troublemaker, whereas using a non-fitted baggy blue signals compliance and leads to kinder treatment.

#NHS #systems #InfectionControl #covid #stigma #CovidIsntOver

"I started making mask chains in 2025 because I wanted my respirator to look like an intentional part of my outfit. I found that this increased my confidence when interacting with other people. I enjoyed making them so much that I decided to start selling them to raise money for Breathe Easy Sheffield, a volunteer-led organisation working to make indoor social and cultural spaces safer, more inclusive, and more accessible."

Vis Makes Chains on Folksy
https://folksy.com/shops/vismakeschains

#masks #fashion #Masks4All #CovidCareful #BreatheEasy #Sheffield #CovidIsntOver

Link: https://www.meiji-seika-pharma.co.jp/meiji-rep/for-public/list/

⚠️ HOWEVER
I will go so far as to say MOST of the sites listed do not mention covid vaccines on their pages
Even if you can read enough Japanese to navigate them, you will likely need to make phone calls to confirm

☝️ ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE
For Kostaive vaccines specifically, you will need to click on the square with the building icon that says (コスタイベ筋注用) and search from the drop-down menus there (Don't worry about the 問い合わせはこちら; the label placement is just unintuitive)

Because Kostaive is still less popular than the other major vaccines, there are some locations which will only offer the shot in even numbers (for stocking reasons)
For the location I asked myself, they said you may make an appointment as a single person, but if no one else does the same for that day, you will have to cover the cost yourself (essentially risking paying double) 2/2

#CovidVaccine #CovidIsntOver #Covid #CovidJapan

As we pull out of the New Year's holiday, we can expect the 14th wave of covid to start to surge

Covid shots are available under the same schedule as influenza shots, meaning this season's batch is available until the end of March

As with the 2024-2025 season, if you are 65+ years old, your municipality most likely sent you a vaccine ticket in fall to cover some of the cost
If you are 64 years old or younger (regardless of risk status), you will have to pay the full price (¥15,000 or ¥16,500 with tax)

For the search itself, long story short, you will need a Japanese speaker to help with at least some of the process

Meiji Seika Pharma, the distributor for Kostaive in Japan, has organized a list of medical establishments which they claim are offering covid vaccines
You can search by prefecture → more local municipality via the drop-down menus (link in the next post) 1/2

#CovidVaccine #CovidIsntOver #covid #CovidJapan