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OT: Coronavirus Resources - and other things to not worry about

The answer is obviously no. They're entitled to medical care for their conditions. But get used to care rationing in the future if they want to maintain a socialized health care system. The entire system's function is predicated on "young" (under 60) people costing the system little because we know that the last 2-3 years of an individuals life is what costs the system the lions share of the total health care spend on the individual. When you add chronic illness to significant percentage of "young" people that requires ongoing expense to treat and manage, and can last for decades, you strain the shit out of the system that simply isn't designed to manage millions of people having chronic healthcare conditions for decades.
Actually,

Just as I had faith in vaccine development, I have faith that they will find something to deal with long covid.

My wife, has been living with stage 4 Her2+ breast cancer for 11 years now.

If she had the same diagnosis 10 years earlier herceptine would not have been available and as such, she would likely be dead.

I have a lot of faith that long covid will be addressed.
 
Mental health, disabilities, autism, hearing impaired, etc, are all completely valid reasons to want to get to a place where masks aren’t required. I’m not entirely sure why a fake bad argument was used instead.

Why?

Because this doesn't seem like a place with something like that would be supported.

It has to do with the general tone.
 
This entire thing is just fucking stupid.

A decision to drop mandates should be based on science and not on political gain. We do not have readily available treatments for Covid, we have not created health care capacity from a infrastructure or personnel perspective, we have a sharply declining rate of uptake on vaccine boosters and we are still in cold weather months where all gatherings (unless you're canada soccer) are indoors.

If you're going to do things just because you're daughter is mad at you atleast wait until may.
 
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I guess in the case of bars and stadiums where no one ends up wearing them it looks a lot like security theatre.

Same with in schools. Prior to this outbreak, masks in schools were not being enforced much at all.

Even during Omicron, teachers are maskless drinking tea in their classrooms.

So yeah.

It still looks like security theatre to me.

It has all the appearances of being more performative than effective.
what this tells me is that we need STRONGER mask mandates

in AB we had no food/drink allowed in stadiums

when to an NHL game
masks were on 100% of the time (for 99% of ppl)

once the mask order is lifted here (march 1) i will not be attending sporting events anymore
 
Actually,

Just as I had faith in vaccine development, I have faith that they will find something to deal with long covid.

My wife, has been living with stage 4 Her2+ breast cancer for 11 years now.

If she had the same diagnosis 10 years earlier herceptine would not have been available and as such, she would likely be dead.

I have a lot of faith that long covid will be addressed.

You're going to have to excuse me if I'm not a big fan of creating public health policy based on faith.

The current consensus from the people trying to find a solution is that long covid sufferers might be fucked and the damage is irrepairable. There is not a whole ton of optimism among researchers currently. The prevailing wisdom from them right now is "do whatever you can to not get it".
 
I guess in the case of bars and stadiums where no one ends up wearing them it looks a lot like security theatre.

Same with in schools. Prior to this outbreak, masks in schools were not being enforced much at all.

Even during Omicron, teachers are maskless drinking tea in their classrooms.

So yeah.

It still looks like security theatre to me.

It has all the appearances of being more performative than effective.
YMMV, I guess. In bars people are mostly distanced these days when you don’t have to wear masks. Seated and tables because they still have capacity limits. Stadiums? Yeah. I don’t really get that. They’ve also been closed to audiences at peak transmission times though. And anyway, to the original point, a measure being imperfect is not a good argument for scrapping it altogether.

As for schools, my kids have worn masks in school religiously, indoors and outdoors, for close to two years now. Almost 100% compliance at their school, including kindergarten. I don’t like it for several reasons, but it has helped to keep them safe.

You may be over-generalizing and drawing conclusions that are not based on facts to justify your position (which appears to be very justifiable already for actual reasons).
 
I get the restaurant/bar thing, i only gives anti-maskers ammunition for why mandates are dumb. If you are going to a restaurant you are accepting the risk of transmission regardless of whether or not you have a mask on when you piss.

And yeah, it should be n95, or at least medical grade masks. No point in a mandate for masks that are proven to do nothing. Again that only provides ammunition.
 
This entire this is just fucking stupid.

A decision to drop mandates should be based on science and not on political gain. We do not have readily available treatments for Covid, we have not created health care capacity from a infrastructure or personnel perspective, we have a sharply declining rate of uptake on vaccine boosters and we are still in cold weather months where all gatherings (unless you're canada soccer) are indoors.

If you're going to do things just because you're daughter is mad at you atleast wait until may.
I agree and I think he would scored the exact same political points if it was ending in May instead of March. Totally unnecessary.
 
You're going to have to excuse me if I'm not a big fan of creating public health policy based on faith.

The current consensus from the people trying to find a solution is that long covid sufferers might be fucked and the damage is irrepairable. There is not a whole ton of optimism among researchers currently. The prevailing wisdom from them right now is "do whatever you can to not get it".
Until they discovered the Her2+ marker, people were not super optimistic about young women with aggressive breast cancer too.
 
I get the restaurant/bar thing, i only gives anti-maskers ammunition for why mandates are dumb. If you are going to a restaurant you are accepting the risk of transmission regardless of whether or not you have a mask on when you piss.

And yeah, it should be n95, or at least medical grade masks. No point in a mandate for masks that are proven to do nothing. Again that only provides ammunition.

Yup.
 
Yes. If you were a young woman with aggressive breast cancer, your prognosis was not that great.
if you have long covid, your prognosis is not that great.

that may change based on treatments etc (I expect it to), but remains the case today.
 
Actually,

Just as I had faith in vaccine development, I have faith that they will find something to deal with long covid.

My wife, has been living with stage 4 Her2+ breast cancer for 11 years now.

If she had the same diagnosis 10 years earlier herceptine would not have been available and as such, she would likely be dead.

I have a lot of faith that long covid will be addressed.
I think we could be within 1-2 years where we could have improved vaccines that suppress transmission and are more varaint-proof. And 1-2 years till we have widely available treatments for those at high risk. Things still won't be perfect by then but they'll continue to get incrementally better with each development.

But long covid is a different story. Research is messy and there are so many symptoms that it's really difficult to understand what the mechanism is for it. You can treat certain symptoms but getting to the root of it is the hard part and may legitimately be impossible. Eventually there will be a treatment plan to make things more manageable but it's possibly likely that the immunosuppression that surrounds long covid is a lifelong thing; and maybe even likely that many won't get back to their previous selves and quality of life. Who knows how long it will take to give these people some relief though. There really aren't many trials going on for long covid treatments and none seem particularly encouraging.

My suggestion: I get it.. you want to live your life. Go ahead if that's what you want. But be aware that this long covid thing isn't as rare as we want to believe. Take precautions. You don't want this. Your odds are alright in 1 infection.. Maybe even 2. But if you live normally you'll get hit on average probably twice a year. Eventually you may not like your fate.
 
if you have long covid, your prognosis is not that great.

that may change based on treatments etc (I expect it to), but remains the case today.

I don't expect the treatments.

And, I have hope.

I've been living for years based on hope (as in I hope your next scan is clear) and it's kept me married and mostly sane.
 
start by asking.

Your writing leaves little room for reply or rebuttal.
my first post was an implicit invitation to reply/explain. my second post was explicit. and ultimately you did raise some legitimate concerns. I'm not sure how we strike the right balance, but, at this point in time at least, I tend to lean on the side of the collective good rather than individual inconvenience/incompatibility.

and this may surprise you but I like being challenged on my views. sometimes they change, others they don't, sometimes the process is messy. that is the beauty of this place, even if there is general agreement on many things.
 
I don't expect the treatments.

And, I have hope.

I've been living for years based on hope (as in I hope your next scan is clear) and it's kept me married and mostly sane.
and this is okay (hell sometimes needed) on an individual level, and I am glad your wife was able to find a treatment that works.

I just don't think we can apply that approach to society finding a solution for long covid while simultaneously 'letting it rip' based on that hope
 
my first post was an implicit invitation to reply/explain. my second post was explicit. and ultimately you did raise some legitimate concerns. I'm not sure how we strike the right balance, but, at this point in time at least, I tend to lean on the side of the collective good rather than individual inconvenience/incompatibility.

and this may surprise you but I like being challenged on my views. sometimes they change, others they don't, sometimes the process is messy. that is the beauty of this place, even if there is general agreement on many things.
Thank you for this.

I'm going to try to be delicate here. Let me know if I'm rude.

There is something about how you write where I (stress on my experience) do not see any room for engagement.

I think what I pick up on is an arrogant dismissal in your disagreements - as though you know better and we should awaken to the truth as you see it.

Perhaps I'm being sensitive. And, your posts didn't seem like an invitation. More of an admonishment. "How could any believe" has a tone that's purdy durn dismissive.
 
Speaking of LC treatments, new results from a trial released:


At the 21-days follow-up, patients in sulodexide group presented lower long COVID symptoms especially chest pain, palpitations, fatigue and neuro-cognitive difficulties associated to a significant amelioration of endothelial function

No data, not randomized, not sure what the primary outcomes were(?), high risk of bias overall. So this is sorta where we're at with Long covid. You have a bunch of things that maybe kinda sorta work for some people. But you're just relieving some symptoms (often temporarily). We'll get there, but long way to go.

This drug in particular is an anticlotting drug; basically busts microclots, which are common in nearly all long covid patients. So you bust them, some symptoms are relieved, but then they return. Need to get to the root of the issue.
 
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