Links: The Covid pandemic is not over

[sonia]

A collection of Covid links for those of us who know the pandemic isn't over amidst the ever-increasing pressure to pretend it is. How to be more inclusive. Some possible good news about a more long-lasting vaccine.

Biobot Analytics, Alameda County. You can check if your county is on the list, or look at the nationwide Covid levels in wastewater.

Broken Sociality: Isolation in the Pseudo-Return to “Pre-Pandemic Normal.”" by Nate Holdren.

Pandemic life remains terribly lonely. It’s recently become differently so. Elements of pre-pandemic normal social life have returned, but not for us those of us who aren’t going along with the so-called “back to normal.” I want a name for this painful situation. Lacking a better one, I’ve started calling it broken sociality.

Practicing Inclusion in the Time of COVID. A set of colorful slides with clear how-tos on how to be more inclusive.

Practicing inclusion during COVID-19 means acknowledging the health and safety needs of all people, then taking steps to communicate and provide safe(r) and more accessible options for gathering. This includes not only working to understand the reasons spaces may be inaccessible to individuals with varying needs, but also committing to following community-centered practices to improve safety for all. Creating inclusive gatherings rooted in disability solidarity makes our movements and communities more powerful.

The above two links via cosmolinguist on heard_community.

Listening to Long Covid’s Lessons and Teachers—Today and Tomorrow by s.e. smith. "We will adapt. We will find new nesting places. But there will be no return to “before.” Not for the flock."

FWD/Forward: Feminists with Disabilities for a way forward. Blog archive from 2009-2011. I went looking for it for a friend, so I'm posting it here so I can find it again.

Why long COVID could be a ticking time bomb for public health by Philip Finkelstein.

Dr. Smeyne elaborated on the seriousness of these findings, telling Salon, "Our studies in mice predict a 30-50% increase in Parkinson's risk for those moderately to severely infected with the Alpha variant. While on an individual basis this only changes a person's risk from 2% to 3% for developing Parkinson's, over the whole of the population we would expect to see millions more develop Parkinon's disease than would have if not for their COVID infection."

Novel Rutgers vaccine may provide more durable protection against SARS-CoV-2 by Emily Henderson, B.Sc. "Animal studies indicate that a new COVID-19 vaccine developed at Rutgers may provide more durable protection against SARS-CoV-2 and its emerging variants than existing vaccines."

https://www.covidresilience.org/community-voices via adrian_turtle in comments.

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

This is so hard.
Have you heard this? (I might have sent it in a response to a previous post, but my memory is fuzzy these days.)
https://www.covidresilience.org/community-voices

My community is struggling so hard with Covid safety, because it is not just a matter of "including everyone" vs "excluding people with immune system problems." We are coming up against "exclude people with immune system problems" vs "exclude people who observe Shabbat rigorously," or "exclude people with immune system problems" vs "exclude small children."

Some of the singers in the video were looking for a seder this year, and a mutual friend asked if we could invite them to a zoom one. We were having a tiny in-person seder with just our little covid-cautious household. Here I am, safe at home with the 2 people I love. And afraid to invite anyone else in. And afraid to take my mask off for anything but dentistry. I felt like all who are hungry, let them come and ^H^H^H we will never break bread in community again.

Oh that's so hard

[jesse_the_k]

When I first got sick, I'll admit it took me five years to alter my interactions to match my (dramatically limited) capacities.

Pivoting to online interaction was just another accommodation in the lives of disabled people. Perhaps if the nondisabled people had spent another three years in the ether they'd be able to accept a way to interact that included our safety.

Re: Oh that's so hard

[adrian_turtle]

I'm currently limiting my interactions to match my capacities. Pivoting to online is challenging because zoom is so often a migraine trigger; with the meds and technology I have now, I can handle it a for a few hours on a good day. With the meds and tech available in 2018 I would have not been able to teach at all, nor do any synagogue activities. It makes me very aware of how access needs compete with one another.

Are you implying that if I had been more completely isolated for longer, I would have been willing to have a zoom seder? Because whether I get a migraine is less important than whether other people are safe from covid? I hope I am misunderstanding you. I actually solved my own isolation by moving in with someone whose immune system is being suppressed by professionals, so I am online less yet more cautious about covid exposure.

Re: Oh that's so hard

[jesse_the_k]

Oh my goodness thanks for checking ... I did not mean that you should have to accept anything that doesn't work for your body! Yes, we all have access needs and sadly they can conflict.

I'm glad you've found a working solution -- matching values around exposure makes for a better home.

I was musing about acclimation time -- how many months of shelter-in-place would it take for folks to accept it as "part of the new normal."

[sonia]

Thanks for the additional link, I added it to the post. I haven't had time to explore it thoroughly.

I'm sorry for your struggles, and the conflict you feel between safety and generosity and inclusivity.

I am not strongly observant nor deeply trained in Judaism. At the same time my understanding is that one of the core precepts of Judaism is that people's safety takes priority over any rules of kashrut, so I give the side-eye to people who can't attend zoom services on the basis of strict Sabbath observance.

Conflicting access needs is a harder problem. My guess is that with a wider lens, more resources, and placing a higher priority on access for everyone, this isn't impossible to solve - taking turns serving different needs or something like that. Sadly we're in a world of artificially limited resources and low priority for accessibility, so this remains a huge barrier.