Mask bans already exist in certain States and counties.
Vance spearheaded a federal ban on mask mandates.
Organizing to codify the right to wear medical masks and respirators is (sadly) needed.
Masking is community care and resistance.
Illinois attempting to codify right to mask into law:
This is why respirators need to be mandatory in hospitals.
Babies, people with certain disabilities & some health conditions need others to mask to protect them.
This hospital shouldn’t be “scrambling”. Make masks mandatory & protect patients and staff.
Clean & ventilate the air too!
This #LongCovidAwarenessDay I’m reflecting on how many people have been let down by governments, public health & medical establishments
How Covid has been downplayed, airborne spread ignored & vaxx and relax strategies pushed for the sake of capitalism
How many have Long Covid because of this?
Those of us who were disabled before the pandemic could see this wave of chronic illness coming - and many of us have been screaming from the top of our lungs the last 5 years.
Begging people not to take their health for granted & to wear a mask and protect themselves.
Warning them that there are no do-overs once you become chronically ill. Unfortunately very few people are listening - and many won’t understand the true devastation of #LongCovid until it directly impacts them. At which point it’ll be too late.
Despite seeing these waves of disability as an inevitable consequence of “let er rip” Covid strategy - one thing I did not see coming was how many people would willingly embrace not only ableism - but full on eugenics.
People in my own life who were previously kind & supportive have become cruel and angry. The masks have been ripped off. They don’t hesitate to tell me that they blame me for the restrictions placed on them in the early days of Covid.
That they will never again allow their freedoms to be infringed on in the name of protecting the vulnerable. One even went as far as to say “you’ve been sick for years - just die already.”
People who say these things don’t understand what disabled ppl understand all too well - your health is not a permanent state.
Everyone will become disabled eventually - some earlier than others. Many who think they’re invulnerable are already vulnerable and don’t even know it
Yet rather than adapting behaviour and pushing for a new normal that makes the world safe for everyone - most temporarily abled people have instead doubled down on hateful eugenics talking points and want us to stay home forever (or worse - die). It needs to stop.
Covid is airborne and we all share the air. “You do you” individualism is quite literally killing people. We need to start caring about the air we share as this will lead to a healthier society for everyone.
Until then we need to mask up. It’s easy, incredibly effective & it might save someone’s life. At the very least you will know you didn’t contribute to another person’s suffering - and you will be drastically reducing your own odds of getting Long Covid. It’s worth it.
https://www.disabledginger.com/p/i-dont-know-anyone-with-long-covid
It’s International Long Covid Awareness Day, and my latest article looks at the reasons why people believe they don’t know anyone with Long Covid.
We desperately need increased visibility into this debilitating chronic illness so that we can raise awareness and fund treatments, mitigations and cures.
Anyone can get Long Covid. It’s not limited to ‘only the vulnerable’ or those who had a severe initial infection.
This disease does not discriminate. Even people with asymptomatic initial infections have found themselves disabled by Long Covid.
It’s time we start processing the trauma of the pandemic and stop living in denial.
We are in the middle of a mass disabling event, and the longer it takes us to admit that, the more people will be harmed.
Let’s spread the word that the only way to avoid Long Covid is to avoid getting Covid in the first place.
Wear a mask. Stay home when sick. Clean and ventilate the air.
When we all agree to care about the air we share, we can begin to bring about real change.
https://www.disabledginger.com/p/i-dont-know-anyone-with-long-covid
Second time #CDC has reported estimates for more than two regions at a time since October.
To be clear, national data used for chart above are modeled on regional data collection.
LP.8.1 now estimated at majority in Great Lakes, nearing majority in NY/NJ and Mid-Atlantic.
XEC (incl. XEC.4) still around a quarter share in all three regions.
[For color key, see: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions]
❖ #ThisIsOurPolio #Covid #Covid19 #SARS2 #variants #CovidIsNotOver #CovidIsAirborne #WearAMask #BetterMasks
A FLuQE wavelet opened September, cresting as KP.3.1.1 / MC wave into November. FDA's second-guess vaccine target, KP.2, dropped out in December. Updated #CDC estimates indicate we've been in a JN.1.11 soup pretty much since then.
No new variants broken out by CDC, as KP.1.1.3 / LP descendant LP.8.1 approaches majority.
No recent GISAID data—as Raj's dashboard hasn't updated in near a month.
❖ #ThisIsOurPolio #Covid #Covid19 #SARS2 #variants #CovidIsNotOver #CovidIsAirborne #dataviz #datavis
Today is the 15th March- Long Covid Awareness Day.
On this day we acknowledge Australians and so many others around the world impacted by and living with Long Covid.
Please think of others.
#CovidIsNotOver
#CovidIsAirborne
#WearAMask
@auscovid19
Test, isolate, rest. Mask up. Clean the air.
"The act of forgetting has always been a tool of oppression. We cannot adequately resist that which has been revised, erased, or forgotten by our community members. But few will acknowledge that this is happening with COVID. Just as one may utter that “slavery was back then, get over it”, when we use verbiage like “post-pandemic” we are rendering oppression as a static past event rather than an ever-evolving present that shapes our shared future. This tactic has always been useful to those who wish to profit off of our suffering and the cycle will continue to repeat if we do not acknowledge and act on the truth of our current reality. If we do not reckon with our failures to each other around COVID and do the work to remedy it, are we better than those who try to ban our people’s histories’ from the schools? We aid in the crusade to forget every day when we do not consider the pandemic as both current and deadly."
~V. Copeland
https://forgeorganizing.org/article/reflecting-on-covid-year-5/
This week is Long COVID awareness week. My career has been on hold (and may be over) since I became disabled by COVID. We need to learn from the mistakes of the ongoing pandemic to prevent more people being disabled and killed now AND in the next pandemic. #CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne #LongCovid #CleanAir
I wrote a guest article for Healthy Debate that looks at why we need mandatory masks in healthcare, why surgical masks aren’t enough, and how the mounting threats to public health are putting lives at risk.
If you’re a healthcare worker, mask up.
Show us you take your oath to “do no harm” seriously
https://healthydebate.ca/2025/03/topic/wear-mask-plea-health-care-workers/
Today marks the five year anniversary of Covid being declared a pandemic. Some things I want people to remember:
The threat is not gone. People are still dying and becoming disabled every single day
COVID is airborne. It’s always been airborne. Droplet transmission was pushed incorrectly & then doubled down on for economic reasons. If governments admit it’s airborne, they have to spend money upgrading air quality and providing respirators etc.
The only way to avoid Long Covid is to not get Covid.
A well fitted respirator like an N95 offers excellent personal protection
Mask mandates belong in healthcare
If you’re not masking for your patient, you’re abdicating your responsibility to do no harm
It costs nothing to open a window and it will improve ventilation and reduce odds of viral spread. Air purifiers work well too
COVID is a social justice issue. Masks, tests, air filters, paid time off… these things all cost money. The disease disproportionately impacts those who are most vulnerable and multiple marginalized
Repeat infections don’t make you stronger. They don’t give you immunity. They actually harm your brain, heart and immune system. They’re also NOT inevitable
Kids are harmed by COVID too. They need the adults to protect them. We need clean in schools and on school buses
We went “back to normal” for capitalism. It wasn’t because it was safe. It wasn’t because there was a cure. Governments and those in power Are willing to sacrifice us to keep end stage capitalism afloat a little longer
Repeat infections are NOT inevitable. We can still curb the spread. We don’t have to accept constant sickness and disability as our new normal.
May we be in a much better place five years from now than we are today.
If you know someone suffering from Long Covid, reach out to them. Ask them how you can support them. Remind them they’ve not been forgotten. Wear a mask for them. They are counting on you.
"Demanding clean air just as we demand clean water is the solution." #CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne #LongCovid
https://healthydebate.ca/2025/03/topic/denial-airborne-covid-transmission/
How denial of airborne COVID transmission broke the world.
'The failure to initially recognize and later acknowledge the airborne spread of COVID-19, was the root cause of major shortcomings in the pandemic response.'
"Airborne mitigations would have greatly reduced viral transmission and therefore reduced evolution, that is to say the production of new variants."
For years, folks looked the other way as millions died or became disabled by Covid. They shouted “your health is not my responsibility” or “only the vulnerable” were at risk.
This callous disregard for human life has desensitized us. It helped pave the way for the current atrocities.
You can’t label a group of people expendable and not have it change you.
You can’t turn away in the face of evil and not pay a price.
Wear a mask. Protect one another. Resist.
Stand up for anyone & everyone who’s different than you. Fight for their rights.
Don’t wait until it happens to you.
Pandemics change people. We aren’t used to dealing with the mass death, disability & uncertainty that comes with them.
Unfortunately due to technology & misinformation, society is choosing NOT to process its collective trauma.
Most people are firmly in denial about COVID, and many are grasping on to conspiracy theories and harmful rhetoric in order to return to their 2019 version of “normal”.
That denial is changing us. Refusing to deal with trauma has consequences.
We’re becoming more detached, reckless and apathetic.
There’s still time to change. It starts with acknowledging that the threat has not passed and we all need to do our part to protect our health & the health of those around us.
We have to begin to adapt so that we can heal.