All for Health, Health for All

The World Health Assembly is meeting in two weeks for the 77th time. Their theme is in my clunky title up there as they claim collective solidarity around pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR), WHO financing, and emerging threats including climate change. They hope to adopt a new global pandemic accord to "leave the world better protected and prepared for future pandemics" with little mention of the pandemic we're currently normalizing.

A letter in the Guardian from Desmond Whyms reminds us, 

"With the new Office for National Statistics data showing two million people reporting Long Covid, we need to wake up to the need to improve indoor air quality through better ventilation, filtration or UV disinfection. This should be high on the agenda of the negotiating team crafting the pandemic agreement, to be unveiled at next month's World Health Assembly. But it remains silent on these essential public health protections. Without global commitment to action (and accountability) we will continue to be vulnerable to waves of deadly and debilitating diseases, with disastrous consequences for society, economy and health services."

It's still here; it's still deadly, and we're still doing fuck all to prevent the spread. 

Meanwhile, some states are trying to ban wearing N95s in public places. 

Kelly, a writer with a disability and chronic illness, wrote two lengthy threads here and here over two days (in full below), on banning masks in public places. She's talking about House Bill 237: Unmasking Mobs and Criminals, which calls to "repeal the health and safety exemption from certain laws prohibiting the wearing of masks in public. . . . individuals would no longer be able to wear masks in public for health or safety reasons."

NC are proposing a bill to ban masks (including medical masks) in public settings. This is not only discriminatory - it’s dangerous. It’s removing the LAST tool we have to protect against COVID. It also sets dangerous precedent and fuels damaging narratives about COVID. The proposed bill would see all masks banned in public settings. If a person requires a mask - they would need to have a medical exemption. 

Disabled people are exhausted. We’ve been forced into dangerous situations for four years thanks to “you do you” Covid policy. To now expect us to do additional work to procure a medical exemption just to be able to wear a respirator to help us prevent death or further disability? It’s unnecessarily cruel. Doctor’s appts and notes cost money. They’re not accessible to everyone. Covid mitigation is already a significant social justice issue. By virtue of the fact our governments and public health have done nothing to protect people - individuals are left to procure protection for themselves. This protection isn’t affordable for everyone. Respirators, HEPA filters, rapid tests, far UV… all these tools are out of financial reach for many people. We have fantastic organizations attempting to get respirators into the hands of those who need them - but some people are always left behind. 

Now we’re adding an additional barrier by putting the burden of proof that a mask is required on the disabled individual. We’re forcing them to risk exposure to go to a doctor, spend money out of pocket for a note and then carry it around in the hopes they don’t get arrested? If governments and public health would take Covid more seriously, people wouldn’t need to don respirators nearly as often. But when the powers that be take away access to vaccines and anti-virals, refuse to clean the air, provide testing or paid sick leave? We have no choice. Even if everything goes perfectly (which rarely happens) and a person has access to a respirator, can afford to see a doctor and obtain medical exemption, there’s still a good chance they’ll be forced to remove their mask while law enforcement analyze the exemption’s legitimacy. Covid infects extremely quickly. Breaking the seal on your respirator - even briefly - can result in infection. We’re asking people to jump through an inordinate amount of hoops and spend ridiculous amounts of money only to quite possibly end up infected anyways.  

There’s also a bigger issue that stems from the idea that the “medically vulnerable” can and should obtain an exemption. It continues to drive the narrative that Covid is ONLY a threat to people who are already vulnerable. Which we know is untrue. Covid is a multi system disease that has a 10% chance of causing disability. The odds of Long Covid go up with each infection. It’s not 10% in those that are already vulnerable - it’s everyone. Many young and healthy people have had their lives ruined by this disease. The lie that only the vulnerable need to be concerned is one of the most devastating of the pandemic. People are getting infected over and over and think they’ve “gotten away with it”….When there’s good odds that they’ve got silent damage and their next infection will disable them. 

It also propagates the notion that the vulnerable are expendable. That it’s ok if we die or become further disabled because the rest of the world needs to “go back to normal”. There’s nothing normal about a society that turns its back on others. This desperation to return to the way the world was in 2019 is quite literally killing people. It’s ruining lives. It’s dividing people, straining healthcare systems and causing long term health consequences that will have ripple effects for decades to come. This NC bill to ban masks is just the latest in a string of terrible decisions that are costing lives. 

It didn’t have to be this way. Had we admitted Covid was airborne and worked to implement clean air standards - we wouldn’t be in such a dire situation now. If you’re not masking, if you’re making fun of people who mask, if you’re someone who believes all disabled people should just stay home forever so you can pretend the pandemic is over… You’re part of the problem. You’re why lawmakers think they can get away with this. Please help us while you still have your health. Wear a mask and help us normalize protecting each other. Sign the petition against this dangerous bill. Stop treating vulnerable people as expendable. We’ve lost so much of our humanity these last four years, but it’s not too late to turn the tide. Health is temporary for everyone - and each person who refuses to take Covid seriously is potentially only one infection away from disability themselves. Don’t wait until something happens to you or someone you love. You can advocate today for safer public spaces. For access to tests, paid time off and respirators. For clean air in our schools and hospitals. It is far easier to fight when you’re healthy - so please join us. 

Lastly, even if you genuinely believe Covid isn’t a threat, have compassion for those who think differently: Who’s health is different and who’s risk assessment doesn’t match yours. Respirators are ALL we have left to protect ourselves. Don’t let them take that away. As long as good people keep fighting for what’s right - there’s still hope. I invite everyone to join us. Help us create safer spaces and cleaner air. Say no to banning medical masks and show disabled people we are NOT alone. 

Just when I think things can’t get bleaker for disabled individuals - something happens to lower the bar further. Today it’s the people celebrating the possibility of banning medical masks. Saying we “deserve it” for making them wear masks at the beginning of Covid. 

I’m someone who masked before the pandemic. I’m immune compromised with severe allergies and chemical sensitivities - and masks helped keep me safe and lessen my symptoms. People never cared before the pandemic. Now? They yell, mock, and threaten to remove it. In hospitals HCWs would see my mask and intuitively put one on themselves. Now it’s a battle where I have to carefully choose my words to avoid being labelled as “anxious” or “difficult” and have my care compromised. But at least I CAN choose to wear a respirator. We’ve done away with all Covid mitigations in favour of chasing elusive herd immunity - leaving the individual with very few options beyond masking in all public spaces. And now governments want to ban that too. 

Truthfully the governments move to ban masks doesn’t surprise me nearly as much as the glee I’ve seen on my timeline from people who think this is an acceptable “punishment” for making them wear masks at the height of the pandemic. It’s heartbreaking. I don’t understand why people can’t see the difference between a mask mandate and a mask ban. When masks were mandatory Covid was new and overwhelming hospitals. We didn’t have the vaccine, we didn’t have to treatments, and we didn’t have clean air. [We still don't have treatments or clean air!] Masks were mandated to protect people - to attempt to slow the spread. Would it have been better if we mandated respirators instead of cloth masks? Sure. But two way masking was effective and even eradicated an entire strain of flu. They worked to slow the spread. Mandates were dropped far too quickly because people were up in arms about their freedoms. They weren’t willing to do this small thing to protect those around them, and they weren’t quiet about it. Governments caved, and now we’re lucky if we see masks in high risk hospital settings. 

But the people who are so angry about mandates didn’t stop there. They’ve stigmatized, teased and taunted those of us who still mask. They’ve done everything they can to prevent us from normalizing this TOOL to protect ourselves and others. They’ve made it easy for governments to propose banning medical masks. When we cry out that this law could quite literally kill us? We’re gaslit and told it’s our own fault for supporting mandates in the beginning. That we are getting a taste of what they went through. It’s painful to listen to. It’s not even remotely the same. We aren’t asking others to mask. We aren’t running up to people in public and trying to force a mask on their face. We just want to be able to protect ourselves. We want the freedom to wear one. Yet these people who yelled about their freedoms nonstop for the last four years are currently laughing at the possibility we will lose the freedom to wear a medical mask. They’re telling us - once again - That if we don’t like it we should just stay home. 

Disabled people have compromised and sacrificed so much over the last four years. Every day it feels like another tool is taken away, accessibility further reduced and our agency stripped back. We are constantly told that we don’t deserve to survive. That we are acceptable losses. I’m so tired. I’m sad. I’m wondering where empathy and humanity have gone. Even IF you’re an anti-masker who believes you were treated inappropriately during mandates, since when did two wrongs make a right? Why do you insist on treating us badly in return? Why can’t people realize that disabled people didn’t create the policies they hate so much. We weren’t in the streets yelling at them for their choices. But we are the ones who are paying the price. As we’ve been doing over and over again for four years. I’ve always believed the adage that “hurt people hurt people” and I think that’s what we’re seeing now. People have unresolved trauma from the beginning of the pandemic - and they’re lashing out at disabled individuals because we’re the last reminder that Covid is NOT over. We need to start healing, and I don’t know how to make that happen. All I can do is share my story and the fact that I’m genuinely scared by the growing hatred and ableism in society. All I can do is plead with people to consider whether their anger is aimed at the right group. 

If mandates upset you because you believe in freedom and bodily autonomy - then the idea of banning medical masks should upset you too. Taking away my only tool to protect myself from repeated infections is the ultimate violation in bodily autonomy. Asking me to stay home forever or consent to infection with a disease that would likely kill me is wrong. Mandates are over and not coming back. Let us keep masking so we can keep safe. The idea of freedom and bodily autonomy should exist for ALL people - not just the healthy ones. For everyone else feeling hurt and scared - I’m right there with you. These proposed mask bans, the rise in medically assisted death, inaccessibility of healthcare, inequities of covid mitigation… it feels like the tip of the iceberg. It’s a slippery slope leading nowhere good. Please remember that you’re not alone. That the disabled community is large in numbers and will continue to push back against ableism and eugenics. We invite others to join us - all health is temporary so help your future self create a better world for when it happens to you.

A while back she also commented on this: