Your ultimate guide to staying covid-safe. Updated October 2024.

Welcome to thePandemic Roundup: an inclusive, curated selection of new information and fresh perspectives on Covid-19 published every Thursday. Bookmark this: What’s in your Covid Emergency Kit? See also:covid safety resources. Take your time and read this newsletter like a weekly magazine.

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A guide for preparing for illness, preventing spread to others, managing symptoms, and recovery

Based on hundreds of sources, the risk for Long Covid hovers around 10 percent for both adults and children. That's the number given by an important study "The Immunology of Long Covid" in Nature Reviews Immunology. Conditions range from "breathlessness and neurocognitive impairment" to "increased risk of stroke, myocardial infarction, and types 1 and 2 diabetes." As the authors put it, "the oncoming burden of long Covid...is so large as to be unfathomable."

Another study in Medical Review puts the risk for Long Covid even higher, at 10-30 percent for a single mild infection. According to this study, that number doesn't include the organ damage caused by mild and asymptomatic infections. Once you take all the research into account, your risk rises to somewhere between 50 and 70 percent. As the authors state, "well over 50 percent of people...who have contracted Sars-Cov-2 suffer damage to their organs." That's worth repeating:

More than 50 percent.

Fuuuuuck

When you wear a mask, you're showing the world you care more about doing the right thing than what's popular or convenient. You're showing the world you actually trust science, and you don't cave to peer pressure or groupthink. It's both a symbol of collectivism and individuality. It's no accident that those of us still masking have already learned how to handle peer pressure, gaslighting, harassment, bullying, and abuse.

The Scientific American piece I opened with makes a good point. We have to acknowledge our mistakes, but what matters most is what we do going forward. We know Covid is airborne. We know there's no such thing as a mild case. We know masks work, especially now.

It's never too late to do better.

Ever.

The CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) dashboard took a break in reporting updated data during the week of June 30 – July 6th, and is scheduled to resume updates during the week of July 7 – 13th. As a result, the weather roundup below is a reflection of national COVID spread as of June 27th, 2024.

Welcome to the Pandemic Roundup: an inclusive, curated selection of new information and fresh perspectives on Covid-19 published every Thursday.

Yes! It is dangerous in both its initial infection phase as well as its long-term phase.

Unless you make it a hobby to follow COVID news and studies, you're probably going off old info. Businesses have a clear interest in you not worrying about COVID and governments want to claim "victory" by hiding the problem.

A zine was made on resisting mask bans. It calls for a different set of strategies than the public health model, advocating for a diversity of tactics. The model proposed in this piece is inspired by the prisoner revolts against neglectful COVID practices in 2020.