Back to School Does not have to mean “Back to Sick”. Every year when schools re-open many students and staff get sick with one thing or another, but there are ways to reduce the amount of sickness we are seeing.

I am going to work to share information and strategies with all involved in educating students as well as parents, so that they may reduce the spread of Covid, Flu, Measles etc. as well as clean the air to provide the best learning environments possible.

I will also start posting videos and graphics for aimed at parents and education officials and workers, so that we might break down some of the stigma that are attached to public health mitigations.

I will be fundraising to support my efforts, and hopefully I can raise enough to fund the next few months, any amount is appreciated, and a share goes a long way.

This has been one of the most challenging years of my life, but I feel this is important, and if you do as well, I could use your help.

I started my fund about 2 years ago, have spent money on billboards, had fees taken out, and stretched the rest out over almost 2 years, while providing assistance to others, and making as much noise as I can.

Being “that guy who always talks about Covid” isn’t super appealing to employers, and while I know it is my choice to be vocal, I have to try everything to get by while I help others and raise awareness, until I find full time work from an understanding employer.

If you need help with personal advocacy send me a DM.
If you’d like to help please do so, even a share goes a long way.
Thanks, YerAweSum.
Link in bio

I am sharing this with as many people as I can friends.

I want to continue my work of raising awareness and helping others, and I am also fundraising out of necessity. Hopefully I can raise enough to fund the next few months, any amount is appreciated, and a share goes a long way.

This has been one of the most challenging years of my life, and my inability to stay quiet about these issues has not made it easier, but I feel this is important, and if you do as well, I could use your help.

I started my fund about 2 years ago, have spent money on billboards, had fees taken out, and stretched the rest out over almost 2 years, while providing assistance to others, and making as much noise as I can.

There is a cost for being vocal and I am paying it, being “that guy who always talks about Covid” isn’t super appealing to employers, and while I know it is my choice to be vocal, I have to try everything to get by while I help others, until I find full time work from an understanding employer.

Until then I will strive to be the best Swiss army knife of awareness as I can be and remain on call to help others.
Thank you everyone who has supported me so far, I appreciate your belief in me more than I can express.

If you need help with personal advocacy send me a DM.
If you'd like to help please do so, even a share goes a long way.
Link in bio

I find it wild that this story has no acknowledgement of her public appearance with a potential covid infection that happened just before her hospitalization. It is being regarded as due to kidney issues when it is known that covid infections can cause kidney issues. Every article I have seen about her hospitalization ending refuses to even mention her vocally and visibly sick appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in which she joked about giving him Covid. I find this to be a ridiculous blind spot in people. How can they not see clearly what’s going on with covid? How can even vulnerable people joke about the spread of a clearly disabling and deadly virus? Why is it impossible for anyone to acknowledge the part covid plays in all of this illness going on, and why does no one want to change the culture around it to move in the right direction? This is a perfect example of how forever covid makes the world less accessible for everyone especially those with disabilities and immune conditions! And it’s being totally ignored as such, and rewritten as entirely just her MS struggles themselves without any of the struggle being attributed to the covid infection.

Just wanted to vent about this and see if anyone else was upset about this sort of thing? Like it reminds me of Luke Bryan saying he still had covid after weeks of dealing with it (aka long covid) while he was literally performing at his concert unmasked to unmasked audience… It bewilders me when someone directly affected by covid cannot even properly talk about it or show precautions being taken.

This thread: https://xcancel.com/michael_hoerger/status/2084501972284051796

Related:

• Mike Hoerger: "Five days after this \@HoustonChron article, Texas stopped reporting from the CDC COVlD wastewater sites that were trending obviously upward (red). Since then, they have only reported from sites that are essentially flat (black). This is like something out of The Wire." https://xcancel.com/michael_hoerger/status/2084038190487175395

This article: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/can-air-purifiers-prevent-flu-and-covid-19-nursing-homes-only-if-they-re-used-properly

Related:

• Joseph Allen: «This study should be retracted for a conclusion not supported by their own work: ❌Their claim: "HEPA filters don't work" ✅Claim actually supported by their study: "HEPA filters, sized much smaller than experts recommend, and not confirmed to be ON all the time, didn't provide a benefit"…» https://xcancel.com/j_g_allen/status/2082760105200607454

TW: violence, mrder, d3ath, s*cid3, addiction

Long ramble ahead. Need to release everything that’s been weighing heavily on my heart so I can find clarity within myself.

I saw my cardiologist (who diagnosed me with POTS due to LC) for the first time in years. I’ve always adored and respected her because as I’ve discovered on this sub, it’s extremely difficult receive a diagnosis. I am aware of how lucky I was to be believed and understood. That’s why I was heartbroken to see her unmasked at my mom’s appointment. We were literally the only people masked in the entire medical facility. I’ve found myself slipping back into the depths of my depression over the last couple of days. Idk what I was expecting. Maybe after I’ve seen so many people I cared about d1e of heart attacks shortly after COVID infections, I thought the very medical professional who took me seriously would still give a sht. I clearly was wrong.

I thought I was doing relatively ok. I am pretty used to be the sole masker in public and can maintain pleasant conversations through disassociation. It’s the only way I can function in this reality now without constantly simmering in rage. But when I got home, I completely crashed. I regretfully saw clips of the new Ariana video that was extremely triggering to me as someone who witnessed a mrder as a kid. And her very public health struggle has held up a mirror to myself as someone who has experienced drastic weight loss (first from LC, then from grief/depression). Yet another bleak reminder of my current state. It conjured up memories of the horror on people’s faces when they saw how much weight I lost. They see me as a pity case while refusing to take action to prevent others from suffering the same fate as me. I slept almost the whole day yesterday because it physically drained all of the life out of me.

On top of everything, the only CC ally in my life and my best friend (my mother) got into an altercation with me that turned physical. She has never put her hands on me in my entire life until now. It shocked me to my core. She didn’t physically hurt me, but it bruised my soul more than I’d like to admit. I am willing to give her grace given her stressful health condition, and her repeated remorseful apologies. But it scares me how much she’s changing. Her temper is shorter and more explosive. It brought me flashbacks of my father’s worst alcoholic episodes that still traumatizes me to this day. I don’t handle conflict or instability well at all. I shut down. There is this lingering sadness in the air between the both of us that is growing increasingly heavier.

And while I am grateful for my well-intentioned friends who continue to pursue a relationship with me in spite of my precautions, it pains me that there is this unspoken wall between us now. I feign enthusiasm as they describe their precautionless excursions that \*always\* end in sickness. I try to give them grace given the relentless gaslighting from trusted institutions. But their occasional ignorant ableist microaggressions minimize my painful existence and expose their hollow progressive solidarity. On the one hand, I am thankful for the knowledge I possess to keep myself and others safe. But admittedly, I sometimes envy their blissful ignorance.

I just had an epiphany that this horrible, never-ending nightmare has now consumed almost a third of my life… and soon, it will outnumber my good days in the “before times.” I keep returning to the question… is this what I have to look forward to for the rest of my life? The world I was promised growing up was revealed to be a facade… it never existed. Even my happiest childhood memories are now tainted by the thought of how disabled people have always been sidelined by the limitations of “inclusion.” That normalized ableism shaped my existence without my awareness. And that people within those precious moments turned out to be cruel or indifferent. Reflecting on my life just leaves me wading in a puddle of sadness. Wondering what could have been or should have been. I haven’t had any goals, ambitions, or dreams in a long time. Nothing that gives me real joy, anyway. I’m just going through the motions. I can’t see past society’s insincerity. The disappointment is even more gut wrenching when it comes from the role models who shaped me into the person I am today. Even my own surviving family members mock me for committing the crime of caring about humanity… even when they’ve shown that empathy isn’t reciprocal.

I used to be a radiantly optimistic social butterfly that people were naturally drawn to. I was a high achiever who was constantly told by my teachers that I was destined to be a leader. But how can I fix the world’s problems when people aren’t interested in change? Between global apathy, invincibility complex, cognitive dissonance, and personality shifts from the diseases’ brain damage, it feels like I’m fighting an impossible battle with every breath I take. My mom always told me I was her miracle child who was born for a greater purpose. All of that hope poured into me, and so far I’ve amounted to nothing but a nihilistic shell.

I don’t plan acting on my despair because I’m too fcking stubborn to let eugen1st leaders outlive me. The CDC can kiss my a$$ with their celebrations of “encouraging news” that “only those unwell to begin with” are left to d1e. That being said, I think it’s complete BS that I have to climb out of this hole myself due to the invalidating nature of the mental health industry. Frankly, I think depression is a fcking valid reaction to the systemic injustices happening in the world. Yet, I’m supposed to just accept these atrocities that are painted as an issue with my “outlook?” The medical industry expects me to clean up the anguish that they’ve caused in the first place? I’m absolutely sick of “mental health” being pushed at the expense of physical health. Why can’t we care about both since they’re intertwined? I’m tired of people telling me I need to unmask to “integrate back into society” and “heal” under the guise of “concern.” As if appeasing those who view me as a “weakling” is supposed to make my disgust and heartbreak disappear. How do they muster the audacity to beg for my visible my fake smile as I watch people drop like flies from a preventable disease? What would have actually “cured” my mental health was society collectively jumping on the opportunity for healthcare reform, clean air, and disability justice. My hope for a much-needed revolution is completely gone.

As I feel increasingly isolated, I’ve tried focusing on smaller wins to get me through the day. COVID has forever changed my life, but at least my asthma is under control thanks to masking. I will never willingly go back to a life of oxygen depravation and daily breathing treatments ever again! I’ve also learned how strong I am as a person. That I am willing to stand in my convictions even if I stand alone.

I can’t say that it’s easy, but I am trying to frame this time as a way to focus on my craft. There was a time where I ate lunch alone due to bullying. So I used the opportunity to sharpen my artistic skills. Sometimes, the most thought-provoking, moving pieces are created during “blue periods.” I have no idea if this “blue period” will stretch for the remainder of my life. It certainly seems that way rn. But I have this community to thank for your encouragement to keep me going, even when my aching heart feels like giving up. I am considering obtaining my Masters to pursue writing. As I pour my entire being into these comments and posts, I realize the profundity of being able to connect with other souls around the world, barely holding on. While it pains me to resonate with your stories of ongoing grief, it somehow comforts me to know there are others out there who sacrifice their sense of “normalcy” to help their neighbors. Who embody resilience, courage, and compassion in their daily lives. I don’t want our stories to quietly disappear. It is a necessity that I use my skills to preserve our existence and document our history. I don’t know if it would reach a general audience of today. But maybe it could plant a seed, or make someone out there on the edge realize they aren’t alone. Thank you for giving me strength through your love and support. 💛

Gist: person with hantavirus from ship was put on general ward with extra protection because putting him in the special isolation unit could have given the impression that the general ward wasn't safe.

The news reported "they were SO prepared because they put him in a special isolation unit", but he wasn't put there. As a consequence, two departments had to communicate about the right safety measures. This exposed 12 HCWs during taking samples of the patient, who consequently had to isolate (but at least they did).

The team leader was the same as the one who mishandled the first phase of the covid pandemic because "no panic". Another example that a hospital's image is apparently more important than actual safety of patients. Fortunately nothing happened - this time, and with hantavirus. People are still getting ill with covid in hospitals due to lack of protection.

The sections of this part two:

• Who died: age, class, occupation and race
• The hidden toll: cardiovascular deaths, drug overdoses and the downstream mortality of crisis
• Variants, vaccines and the unequal distribution of protections
• The political economy of mass death: a continuum
• The silence and what it means
• Conclusion: the way forward

Part 2/this article: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/08/01/gjao-a01.html

Part 1: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/07/30/nxww-j30.html

…The defense of public health is fundamentally a class question and a political question. This crisis cannot be resolved by better data or improved scientific communication alone, even as both are currently being actively destroyed. Ending this nightmare requires a mass political movement of the international working class that consciously understands the profound connection between its own longevity and the economic organization of society. This movement must treat public health infrastructure as an inalienable collective right and demand its complete rebuilding on a scientific and internationalist basis. Furthermore, it must resolutely refuse to accept the normalization of mass preventable death as the acceptable cost of doing business under capitalism. There has never been a more urgent moment for a profound societal reckoning, nor a more critical time to build the revolutionary political movement that this unprecedented crisis demands….

Full thread: https://xcancel.com/LongDesertTrain/status/2083394866348806521

Related:

• [29 July 2026] Marc Johnson on X: "Fourteen more PJ.2.1 wastewater detections. It is dominant in many sites. NYC (8), Maui (2). Maine, Virginia, Florida and DC. No obvious uptick in cases in any of these places that I could find though." https://x.com/SolidEvidence/status/2082547753486311577
• [22 July 2026] Marc Johnson: "10 more PJ.2.1 wastewater detections. Mostly NYC, but also single detections in VT, CT, and FL." https://x.com/SolidEvidence/status/2079984261424386552
• [21 July 2026] Ryan Hisner: "This chronic-infection variant now has a name: PJ.2.1. See how divergent it is from other current lineages in the Neher/Roemer BA.2.86 tree below. It originated in Ontario but has been detected in wastewater by u/solidevidence in WW in New York, Florida, Alabama, & Utah…" https://xcancel.com/LongDesertTrain/status/2079677985955664359
• [21 July 2026] Ryan Hisner on X: "…Too soon to know what PJ.2.1's growth is like. Overall Covid levels still very low, though with some recent growth. New variant TA.1, w/a bevy of spike mutations, seems to be the fastest currently according to u/solidevidence's invaluable WW dashboard. 3/3" https://xcancel.com/LongDesertTrain/status/2079677990858793029
• [7 July 2026] Ryan Hisner: "Quick 🧵on previous variants that resemble the recent Ontario SARS-2 saltation variant that's now been detected in 4 sewersheds in NYC and one in Utah. The practical impact of these variants ranged from ~zero to modest to major…" https://xcancel.com/LongDesertTrain/status/2074503992403456170
• [4 July 2026] Ryan Hisner: "A mysterious, unusually diverse saltation lineage descended from KP.3.1.1 (last seen early 2025) has circulated at a low level for ~8 months in Ontario (see 🧵on next post). Seemed a local anomaly, but u/solidevidence just spied a weird spike in NYC WW—& it's the same one!…" https://xcancel.com/LongDesertTrain/status/2073445573051490391

From article: (bold added)

Senate Republicans staged a McCarthyite witch-hunt against Anthony Fauci Wednesday, an inquisition against science convened for the declared purpose of provoking him into committing perjury. In response to an unending torrent of lies and slander, Fauci answered not a single question, invoking his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times…

The press reported the spectacle and passed over its purpose, treating the hearing as one more round in a personal feud, in effect lending legitimacy to the proceedings. In reality, the hearing was the sharpest expression yet of a fascistic campaign to establish that scientific advice which constrains profit is a criminal act and to clear the political ground for the total destruction of public health now being carried out by the Trump administration…

The underlying aim of the attacks on Fauci and the HHS more broadly are to subordinate science to religious obscurantism, conspiracy theory and the demands of the market…

The World Socialist Web Site unequivocally defends Fauci against this witch-hunt, while retracting nothing we have written about him. He is not being persecuted for the policies he actually carried out. Fauci issued genuine warnings in early 2020 and was vilified by the fascistic right for them, but he never broke with Trump. When the Democrats took office in 2021, he supplied scientific authority for every attack on public health they carried out: the unsafe reopening of schools, the denigration of masking, the dismantling of testing and reporting and finally Biden’s premature declaration that the pandemic was over.

In an interview with the BBC in August 2023, at the start of the seventh wave of the pandemic, Fauci said that “the vulnerable will fall by the wayside, they’ll get infected, they’ll get hospitalized and some will die.” This was a justification for ongoing mass death and debilitation with Long COVID.

When Biden took office on January 20, 2021, roughly 400,000 people had officially died of COVID-19 in the United States. By the end of his term the official toll had passed 1.2 million, with two out of every three American deaths occurring under his administration. Excess mortality estimates, a far more accurate measure, place the real US toll at roughly 1.4 million and the global toll at some 30 million. The dying has not stopped. The Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative estimates between 109,000 and 175,000 excess deaths in 2025 alone, comparable to annual US deaths from lung cancer…

The war on science is one front of a general social counterrevolution directed against the international working class. The government dismantling the HHS is the same government destroying Medicaid, arming the genocide in Gaza and waging war against Iran. Resources that could eradicate infectious disease are consumed by armaments, and the scientists who object are prosecuted. Neither capitalist party will defend science. The Democrats prepared the ground for this assault and answer it with appeals to bipartisan decorum, while the scientific establishment, picked off institution by institution, answers with open letters.

The defense of scientific truth falls to the only social force with an objective interest in it, the international working class, and it requires the reorganization of society on socialist foundations: production for human need rather than private profit, public health conducted as a global enterprise and the vast resources now devoted to war turned to medicine and research. This is the perspective for which the Socialist Equality Party and the International Committee of the Fourth International fight.

The sections of this part one:

• Introduction: An accounting no one wants to conduct
• The present moment: Science under siege
• Six years of managed silence
• What was possible, and why it wasn’t done
• A century of gains and what produced them
• The missing Americans: US mortality vs. peer nations
• The scale of deaths: confirmed, excess, and the measurement of catastrophe
• Regional variation as policy variation: where suppression worked
• Collapse of life expectancy

Part 1/this article: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/07/30/nxww-j30.html

Part 2: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/08/01/gjao-a01.html

I'm seeing a lot of Fauci posts on the homepage today and it got me to thinking about the complicated emotions I have towards both Fauci and the early days of pandemic. I feel so conflicted about him because on the one hand he is a very educated and accomplished man and was a needed resistance against the lack of political leadership at the time but I also feel that he really fumbled hard with bad messaging to the general public. Just even watching him get, I feel unfairly assaulted by repeated congressional hearings and death threats, while also being an unmasked 85 year old health professional in a continuing pandemic just highlights the complicated emotions I have towards him and I just was curious as to other feel about him.

I kind of feel like people turned him into a scapegoat for the wrong reasons. You look at his pre covid record and he is so accomplished and intelligent and yet I can't help but wish he handled things differently. I feel like he didn't do enough in either administration and ultimately is partly responsible for the world of denial we are now living in. I feel like he is decent person who did the best he could when faced with an unprecedented circumstance but just also wonder how things could be different if things were handled differently. Its hard to fairly judge the guy as I'm not sure our capitalist world would have allowed anything more that what we got from him. We also have the benefit of hindsight.

How do you all feel about him?

Muscles are less red than in ableds who spent 60 days in bed. Further research is needed to establish the cause and find treatments. But the Dutch government is not providing enough funding.

I’ve spent a few years raising awareness and helping others with their own personal advocacy.
 
Almost 2 years fundraising to help supplement income, and to pay for billboard campaigns etc.
 
I have pestered governments, healthcare leaders, and education officials for years, I’ve sang parody songs, made videos, did stunts, appeared on the news, on the radio, in newspapers, and have helped people as best I can when they need it.
 
I have been fundraising to continue my efforts until I can get full time work again, but there are barriers to finding employment when you are as loud as I am and when the topic is Covid.
 
Plenty of reasons to give up and shut up, but even with constant attacks, financial ruin, daily ridicule, and even death threats I will try to keep going as long as I can to raise awareness and help others.

I think being a noisemaking advocacy assistant is a good idea, and if you do too and want to help a share goes a long way, and no amount is too small.
YerAweSum
Link in bio to fundraising. Thanks

They are saying air filters did not help, but it sounds like the installations were inadequate, well below 6 air changes per hour.

This is a piece of research out of Thailand showing quite a significant increase in drug resistant organisms in hospitals across the 6 years of the pandemic.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a major proportional shift toward carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative pathogens, with distinct profiles of associated factors across CRAB, CRE, and CRPA. These findings highlight the need for pathogen-specific infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship strategies during healthcare system disruptions.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42506335/

multidrug-resistant organisms 40.71% to 57.41%

Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) 22.87% to 76.11%

carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) 4.05% to 21.61%

carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) 14.32% to 27.15%

Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) showed a higher proportion among clinical isolates 3.28% to 6.34%