Pitting Health Against Education as We Debilitate a Generation

Covid is definitely causing a variety of longterm illnesses and public health still can't manage an effective PSA that undoes damage caused by their previous misinformation: teaching people how easily we can get infected, how harmful the virus is, and how to prevent it with N95s and cleaner air. And in many places, like my old school, people are still not allowed to bring in CR boxes or open windows if it's cold out or teach about Covid, and in some places masks are flippin' illegal! And children are in the middle of all this mess. 

from here 

It says, "Forcing families to choose between biosecurity and education is one of the great injustices of our time, violating children's fundamental human rights to life, health, safety, and education.

LONGTERM ILLNESS

In this 20 minute INET podcast with Dr. Phillip Alvelda, they explain that we are effectively debilitating a generation: 

"The danger is clear and present: Covid isn't merely a respiratory illness; it's a multi-dimensional threat impacting brain function, attacking almost all of the body's organs, producing elevated risks of all kinds, and weakening our ability to fight off other diseases. Reinfections are thought to produce cumulative risks, and Long Covid is on the rise. Unfortunately, Long Covid is now being considered a long-term chronic illness -- something many people will never fully recover from."

The Heart Research Institute in the UK wrote about the recent paper showing that even a mild or asymptomatic case can increase stroke, heart attack, and heart failure.  

AIRBORNE AIDS

If that's not enough to be concerned, the World Health Network wrote about Covid's overlap with AIDS:

"SARS-CoV-2 triggers a new airborne form of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. . . . This is not AIDS as we know it from a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, it is a new type of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome with different deleterious effects on immune function, but both resulting in increased vulnerability to infections. . . . There is no 'cure' for any of the damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 including immune dysregulation." 

When SARS, the first, was studied in 2003, researchers pointed to the similarity to HIV-1 as key to an anti-SARS strategy, and suggest trying Enfuvirtide to inhibit the virus: 

"Sequence analysis reveals that the two viral proteins share the sequence motifs that construct their active conformation."  

With SARS-CoV, the second, further studies support that drugs used for HIV patients should also be used for Covid patients.     

CRYPTOSPORIDIOSIS

One of the original AIDS-defining conditions was cryptosporidiosis, a parasite infection that causes massive diarrhea and sets up home in people with a weak immunity. Now it's very clearly connected to Covid surges:

TUBERCULOSIS

And consumption is set to make a big come back - from Dr. Sean Mullen and Emmanuel:

"Hey folks, ONE QUARTER of the global population (1.7 BILLION) carries the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, in a dormant state. All it takes to activate >>> lowered immune functioning >>> SARS2. Get it now? Good luck getting TB to go away!

💥 CO-INFECTION is the NEXT TIME BOMB 💥 SARS-CoV-2 + MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS (Mtb), Mtb which was before the pandemic, the leading infectious cause of death worldwide due to a single infectious agent. This study highlights the rise of SARS-CoV-2 (SARS2) as the top cause of death globally, surpassing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which causes tuberculosis (TB). Both pathogens primarily affect the lungs, and the effects of co-infection are not fully understood. The authors . . . discuss Mtb's historical death toll and the implications of co-infection, suggesting that SARS2 may worsen TB and vice versa. The study aims to provide insights into the combined effects of these infections."

PUBLIC HEALTH FAILURE

In The Conversation, Jalgris Hodson explores why we're experiencing such an incredible summer surge of cases - worse than at almost any other time:

"The likelihood of a person taking action towards a particular health outcome depends on the person’s perception of the risk of the negative health outcome to themselves personally, and also their perception of the benefit of the risk reducing behaviour. People also need to feel like they have the ability to take the necessary action, and that the action will be effective. . . . Public health communicators and the media need to illuminate both the risk of the negative health outcome, and the benefits and effectiveness of the risk reducing behaviours that will help people avoid the health danger. Both of these elements have been lacking since the end of the global emergency declaration for Covid-19. . . . When public health officials communicated the end to the global emergency stage of COVID, they unwittingly gave the public the impression that the danger was over. This decreased perceived risk and, with it, the likelihood that people would engage in regular vaccination, mask wearing and hand washing. . . . Many people have no real idea of the relative risk to themselves for gathering in public spaces, making them less likely to take precautions and more likely to pass on the virus."

CITIZEN SUCCESSES

BreatheEasy! is a group of educators who created Air Aware lesson plans for grades 1-12 about indoor air quality. 

Dr. Funmi Okunola, a Canadian doctor, was disappointed by colleagues ignoring Long Covid, so made a resource to educate them and the public at this amazing site: longcovidtheanswers.com.

Hazel Newlevant makes these great zines with pretty much everything the average person needs to know -- download, print double sided, staple in the middle, and fold in half. 

And then there are teachers, like Sphagnum Moss who pledges,

"When I talk about a safe classroom, I will cover science safety and include emotional safety of all people regardless of race, ethnicity, LGBTQ2+ identity, medical vulnerability. Ablism will be discussed. Masks will be available if kids choose to wear them."

There are many more citizens groups, and from the very beginning with the Vaccine Hunters who helped people find and book vaccines (my MPP refused to believe that it was actually really difficult for the average person to do since it was such a shitshow, and refused to act on it!), we have always relied on the intelligence and perseverance of random strangers to point to the best studies and help to navigate this mess. Also check out this article that if parents don't try to change things, nobody else will. 

So why do we need these expensive elected officials with ties to corporations and media? Do we really have to keep having these outrageously costly elections and all the bullshit that comes with that when many of the elected do way more harm than good, and if feels like we're perpetually hoping that the next one will somehow be better??