A Day in the Life of a Masker

You Wouldn't Take This Risk on Other Things There has been a repeated term of "Knowing your risk", often with a tangent of: "higher risk individuals do this", and "most people are ok". It's a scammers way of saying things, really. " Most people" can mean 51%. Compared to 49%. Practically a coin flip. So that phrase should be eliminated. But you hear it all the time, " most people" will recover. But will they? Define recover. If you look into it, you will see they mean only in the acute phase that most people won't get hospitalized and/or die. Even that isn't a guarantee as COVID-19 remains a top killer. But let's go with that we live.  Some studies show between 10% and 50% get long COVID, even in mild cases. I've even seen studies that go up to 70% when they follow people long enough over more than one infection. But even in the more conservative percents, that technically are not "most people", those...

Yes I am still masking.  In case you are still asking. No I don't want to go on a vacation.  It is not relaxing to stay there  And share the air  with Covid everywhere.  Yes I still want masking in healthcare.  But I don't even believe in healthcare anymore. They've all exposed themselves as frauds.  So that is a lost cause.  No I don't want to play pretend  that this pandemic will ever end Without you first becoming a friend And wearing a mask Until the end.  No I don't want to cry.  No I don't want to die.  So I guess I'll say good-bye. 

I do think all of us covid-aware folks are experiencing trauma. And it's not PTSD because we arent in the "post" phase of this. We experience it daily. And yet we have to survive around this severe Covid-denialism resulting in people injuring themselves, others, and posing threats to us. It isn't easy. Because we can't get pulled into denial or false reality, but also we can't deal with being gaslit all the time, and we depend on some of these people and institutions, even if temporarily until we find safer substitutes. Navigating them safely is very hard. And tiring. But, we are fast and strong, and we can get by the tricks.  What I recommend is finding what you are comfortable functioning in both professionally and personally. Think about what you can do. Find a profession/job/education that keeps you and your family safe. Look at virtual/remote positions and/or schools. Virtual and remote positions are rapidly expanding and have not went back to pre-pandemi...

The Chosen Warriors I realize, and I hope you all do too, that we are the abled in this situation. That we are strong enough to cope, and thus we are able to see the reality of the situation. Denial is a psychological defense mechanism, often fully or partially unconscious. For whatever reason, our life circumstances maybe, our education level, our ability to stand against the crowd, our strength-- we are the chosen warriors in this battle, not just against Covid but against this denialism at mass scale. Many of us are from the disabled community and we are at advantage bc we often have some supports in place, know our vulnerabilities, don't have to feign strength and wellness, have a head start in advocating for our needs our survival. We know how to be different and stand against the crowd. We have a head start. Those trapped in denial are putting not just us at constant risk, but themselves. And the future of society at that, our system can't handle mass disablement of workf...

It has been a while since I have blogged. It is now February 2023.  I still am making new Smokies every day. Right now the family is in a cave hiding out.  The-maskers-comic.yolasite.com/comic-drafts And we feel similarly pushed into a sort of radical underground-- where radical is just using the tools we have the way that is recommended for effectiveness in prevent Covid.  Mostly, it has been virtual socials and digital games/ platforms that have kept us social. We have mad a few masked outdoor meets with family, and we met friends--  about an hour and half from here, that we have met up with and talk to virtually in between meets.  I started writing more serious pieces, like Worms in Your Spaghetti, to Fact-Check government and Media, and I also am part of volunteer advocacy  groups where I work with others to create resources on COVID-19.  I can't seem to create enough, and yet I wonder at times if it matters at all. And how to make it matter? Socie...

Safe, Social Gathering It has been a long time since I wrote. Things have changed.  I started a new series called The Smokies, as a way to protest the current public health messaging (or lack-there-of) among growing infections and increased transmissibility.   We also upped our precautions. First and foremost, we mask outside now. We used to not mask if we could keep a good distance and it was not crowded, but as the variants get more contagious, and require less time and amount to give infectious dose, we decided it was necessary to mask even outside. Plus, people do not give distance as well anymore, making masking even more important as we also constantly back up and walk around and reminding others we need distance too. The other thing is, we really want other to be masked as well, as one-way masking really isn't enough, especially for longer than an hour, and especially if inside. We want two-way masking inside and outside, along with distance/ventilation.  We recent...

  Tongue in Mask There are so many issues with masking and distancing right now! I am thrown into a defensive sort of stance. I am tired of being defensive. I am tired of trying to convince others. But I am firmly rooted in wearing a mask. I feel like... I am not firmly rooted in masking alone. This is new and this does not feel good or right. There seem to be a lot of barriers, such as not knowing if one-way masking is safe with the contagious new variant, feeling intimidated and gaslighted by others, seeing and hearing if others who are not following isolation/masking policies recommended by the CDC during and after they get COVID, hearing people say everyone is going to get it anyways, seeing protective programs and policies in the government, workforces, and schools disappear, feeling my voice is not being heard and my health and life not being respected by society not making room for those of us who want to/ NEED to mask and distance still, and are recommended t...