Holy fuck
I gotta get a booster right now
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This is horrible.
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Reminder to everyone that we need to be masking, in a well-fitting respirator, as much as possible. I wear a respirator religiously. I have never gotten covid that I know of (if I have, it’s been asymptomatic).
The covid vaccine efficacy wanes after 6 months and it’s hard to get a 6 month booster. I keep getting denied a booster when I try to get it because apparently having conditions the CDC says are high risk is not enough to get some arrogant pharmacist phuckhead to administer a dose. Even then, by 6 months covid has mutated a lot anyway. We see these 2x/year apikes in wastewater dsta, or we did when there was better dsta collection, becauae of the mutation rate. So I’ve been living 6 months out of every year operating under the assumption that I’m not properly vaccinated, because i can’t get that booster.
But even then, since all major governments braced perpetual spread of covid, it gets the chancs mutate so quickly that we should be getting updated vaccines at least 2x/year.
All of this is to say: the ugly truth is that while vsccines are important, theyre the lsst line of defense and we have never been given good ones on a proper schedule (which would be 2-3 updated covid vaccines /year for everyone). Wear a respirator. Wear a respirator that properly seals on your face. Respirators have been the most effective intervention and will continue to be, vaccines or no. This was always the case, but if vaccines are banned it will be even more important to wear a respirator
I mask all the time but with things like this I worry it’s only a short matter of time before masking in public is banned as well.
Trump will say anyone masking in public is antifa and start leaning on states and cities to criminalize it. Stores and businesses will mostly happily go along as they don’t give a fuck about your safety and worry about it enabling ANY level of shoplifting or crime and it also only would impact a tiny fraction of their customers at this point. Public institutions will fold and treat you like a criminal if you’re wearing a mask, the cops will gleefully start targeting anyone wearing a mask in public for inspection, shake-down and harassment.
I have worried about that too, but it got to the point where I realized I could do nothing about it. If they want to ban masks, they’ll ban masks, and if they want to use that to bring the hammer down on me, they will. I, in turn, will live by this mantra: “They can pry my mask off with their cold dead hands.” But until/unless they dig their own graves by trying to forcibly infect me with covid, I don’t worry about what they might do. Maybe they’ll do it. Maybe they won’t.
Dems like Kathy hochul suggested that mask ban too.
Which respirators do you like?
The 3M Aura is a great place to start, since it’s a high quality N95 respirator that fits a wide range of people. I’ve also heard good things about the 3M VFlex, especially for people with big faces and/or people who are sensitive to breathing resistance (since the VFlex has one of the lowest pressure drops out of any N95). They also happen to be one of the cheapest N95s out there, which I think is related to the duckbill construction (versus the trifold of the Aura) I personally had trouble getting a good seal in a standard size VFlex (there’s also a small), but fit is very individual, and unfortunately there isn’t yet a comprehensive database that can help you find a mask based on your face shape.
If you can find a mask bloc local to you, you may be able to get samples of individual masks to try them so you don’t have to buy a whole box just to try one out. Some retailers will also sell individual masks, with Wellbefore coming to mind; in addition to 3M Auras they’ve got their own great KN95s with both earloop and head strap configurations, and they even have a sample pack. Head straps tend to give a better fit (and are IMO much more comfortable, especially when wearing for long periods), but in situations where you can’t wear head straps (e.g. getting a haircut) it’s nice to have an earloop option.
Aaron Collins (a.k.a. The Mask Nerd) did a great overview of a bunch of different masks which covers fit and quantitative breathability, including all three of the masks I mentioned above.
Finally, if you’re looking to take the plunge and go with a reusable option, Lola Germs has a guide on elastomerics[1] (although with elastomerics in particular, be careful of knockoffs!).
How long can one wear the 3M Aura? Is there a good rule of thumb? At $2/pop I’d have to be reusing it for a decent amount of time I would think.
Here’s a reddit post which looks at some study data on this topic:
It’s hard to give a specific number, since it’ll depend heavily on the type of mask, the environment(s) it’s used in, and what someone is willing to risk. It basically comes down to how contaminated the mask gets (degrading filtration performance) and how the fit deteriorates over time due to failure of various materials (stiffness of nose wire, rebound/attachment of foam seal, elasticity of straps). So when reusing, keep these factors in mind and monitor the condition of the mask carefully, replacing when necessary. Speaking from experience, it’s pretty obvious when the straps on the Aura start to wear out and can no longer provide enough tension to get a good seal. If you really push the envelope, you can even end up snapping a strap, although from what I’ve seen you’d have to use them well past the point where the straps are obviously loose. I haven’t tried it myself, but some people say the somewhat pricier 9210 (fabric straps) is better than the standard 9205 (rubber-like straps) in this regard.
A Reddit link was detected in your comment. Here are links to the same location on alternative frontends that protect your privacy.
From what I know you can use them 5-7 times each (40 hours total is a number I recall), provided you rotate between 4 masks to give them time to dry out between uses. The straps are typically the first thing to go in my experience.
If they get wet or dirty though they’re done and have to be tossed immediately.
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2:
So, fit varies a lot by person based on face shape and size, and fit is the most important thing. Fluid flow (air is a fluid) takes the path of least resistance, so if there’s a leak, air will be coming in through the leak. 3M Auras don’t fit me well at all, they’re too big for my face. But I have liked the Laianzhi KN100 from PPEO.com ( I really should see if / how much the tariffs have impacted cost since I’m running low but I’m almost afraid to look) for disposable masks. I reuse them on a rotating basis unless they get filthy so I can make one stretch for a good long time. I think there’s also a KN95 version of this that is good and I might even switch to trying that style out with my next order because KN100 is technically overkill, and the cost of going with that overkill is that the higher breathing resistance seems to lead to sinus congestion, so with extended wear I have to periodically pop outside to take the mask down and blow my nose.
I’ve also liked the reusable washable elastomeric GVS Ellipse with P100 filters because it’s so much cheaper than disposables, and I get a very good seal with it based on qualitative testing. There’s a version with an exhalation valve which I don’t have, but I might get if I end up having to do long shifts where I can’t go outside to take the mask off and drain the water that builds up. This one also has a high breathing resistance.
I had wanted to like the 3M VFlex as it has a lower breathing resistance, but it was so big I couldn’t get it to fit well unless I applied mask tape to it. I decided to try it out as an outside mask in crowded spaces since it was light enough to not get so hot. But then when I’d walk away to take it down and drink some water, between the tension from the mask tape and the design of the mask, it would rip along a seam. After 2 or 3 instances of this I gave up and donated mine to a local mask bloc because they weren’t working for my use case.
AernaLingus’ advice is good and I’ll add just one more thing: testing proper fit. If you have a good seal and the mask is at all flexible, breathing in should suck the mask into your face while breathing out should push the mask away but not so much that it loses seal. Breathing in and out quickly makes this more obvious. If I do this with a mask that is not fit well there is no sucking in / resistance because air is coming in through the leaks. This is how I settle on masks for myself aside from checking for NIOSH / equivalent ratings.
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I truly believe the US cannot be saved. The corruption runs way too deep. But man oh man is it going to be a wild fucking ride on the way down.
I hope they don’t start a war with China but the more days pass the more it seems they’re committed to this path.
They are desperate to start something with China. But they don’t seem to be willing to make the economic sacrifices to engage in what will most likely be a failure. Plus they failed in Ukraine and Israel is morphing from a useful tool of empire to a completely parasitic entity (this will become especially pronounced as climate change becomes more and more extreme).
This is comically bad and honestly is much faster than I thought they’d go with this shit. I’m not really sure what to do now besides becoming a full hermit.
Fuck. I really wanted to start going to the goth club near my house. Petty complaint, obviously, I might end up getting disabled or killed by this, but fuck I was just about to start doing that.
i think “i was going to enjoy something and this prevents me from doing so safely” is a fair complaint
I suppose. Honestly, it was already kind of risky anyway, which I guess is why it feels stupid and petty to me. I knew already it’d be an enclosed space where almost nobody is wearing a mask - but god this puts it over the line for me no matter how desperate I am for IRL community with the sort of people I’ve been drawn to my entire life.
I mean, you won’t look out of place wearing a respirator if you go cybergoth.
i feel you comrade, this shit sucks
yea :/ I’ve felt really isolated lately too and I wanted to go out more, but this kinda makes things more difficult. like even if it’s not actually more dangerous since i wear a mask and what not, the anxiety is gonna get to me too much to actually go
I genuinely don’t understand what the bourgeoise has to gain by spreading disease among its population. Doesn’t it need workers?
Imo it’s important to remember that the bourgeois are not a monolith, and they do not always act rationally. Trump is driven by pure ego, and RFK is a crank who sincerely believes his own bullshit, and how many other billionaires are Elon Musk-level detached from reality? To the extent that they do act rationally, we can look at the early days of the pandemic where the focus was on people just going to work normally because a disruption of day-to-day life was seen as disastrous to “the economy” (read: the stock market). I think this is just more trying to memory hole COVID so that they can cling to the status quo, which is going well for them.
A similar question is that if climate change is going to, at bare minimum, cause massive economic damage and an ensuing crash, why are those in the haute bourgeoisie not trying to avoid the worst outcomes? Again, I think it comes down to just wanting the status quo to continue, regardless of whether that’s actually tenable.
There’s been a surplus of workers in the United States for a very long time at this point from the perspective of capital. As has been argued for a decade or more, the massive rise in prison population in the United States is in part because they’re just holding sells for surplus reserve army of labour. They think they can afford to lose a lot more.
It is eugenics, they are doing a “survival of the fittest” purge to get rid of the “undesirables”
Most of them probably also think every worker can be replaced by ai by end of quarter
This is really starting to look like the only plausible explanation for some of these choices. Like sure RFK and some his constellation of grifter/wellness quacks might actually believe some of bullshit they say, but ultimately, all the other powerful forces that really govern must sort of be ok with this sort of thing for it to happen… which means they certainly know it’s bullshit and will kill more people, but they don’t have a problem with that outcome.
I think they are well aware of climate change and the coming water wars and mass migrations so they are looking towards a future where mass death is inevitable
Increasingly not in the amounts they have so think of this as a cull not extermination.
They’re afraid of what happens if they do perfect robotics and AI and fire half the population (something they desperately DO WANT to do to forever resolve things in their favor). Unless they kill a hell of a lot of people there will be a revolution or they’ll be forced to make extraordinary concessions like universal basic income at which point the proles start thinking about other basics needing to be free like medical care and gasp nice things.
So their choices are a massive war (may still be coming with China) though presently that mainly kills young men (not ideal as you’ve already spent money educating and raising them to the minimum age for compulsory service and that’s basically throwing away what’s considered an important investment before its matured, though it does have the benefit of resolving problems of too many angry young men without romantic/sexual partners by creating a surplus of women to men and thus also increasing the value of the remaining men and beating down further feminist impulses among women in favor of settling) and disease (which disproportionately kills the elderly and disabled who are considered of lesser value to these monsters) for quickly killing off a lot of the unneeded excess labor pool.
As usual the bourgeoisie will be able to fly to Europe to get a vaccine for themselves so this really only impacts the workers most likely to be targeted by automation at the lower rungs who absolutely cannot afford to even go to Mexico for a weekend to get some shots. Service workers, retail workers will get this disease repeatedly and be weakened by it and perhaps killed off at younger ages just in time for the imagined dawn of automation and the final triumph of the bourgeoisie over labor (as they imagine it anyways).
this is a time of great confusion, there’s rational terrifying fascists laying the groundwork for mass slaughter but also a lot of genuinely unhinged believers in all kinds of magic, who can say who is what when they’re all working together?
smart money’s on RFK just believing though, the worm compells him
I don’t think there’s specific logic to it, they’re just listening to the wild hogs that make up the anti-vax right wing.
The pandemic killed over a million people and it didn’t even faze these assholes.
And it’s still causing suffering.
Because they enjoy people dying
It’s the American way
Time to buy thousands of masks.
The best masks I’ve found I get from China, which means the tariffs are going to fuck trying to get those.
I’d like to ban RFK Jr from breathing within the next few months.
Sirhan Sirhan Jr. take my energy
literally timing it for when the new vaccine comes out in october, and just before the upcoming holiday covid waves too
The year is 2028 and the only legal protection against communicable diseases is drinking apple cider vinegar and sleeping with a quartz crystal under your pillow
under your pillow
You mean under My Pillow™️
Our Pillow, comrade
I’m standing in line to vote for Hilary Clinton, it’s her turn - although I think Bernie still has an inside chance
Ok how about this: Bernie as president, Hillary as vice, and then when they win we take Bernie to the shed out back
Am I going to have to go to Canada to get a damn vaccine?
RFK Jr. May Roll Back Major Achievement Donald Trump Called ‘Monumental’
They’re really burying the lede with that title, the journalist is probably pretty upset
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Cuckservatives are a death cult. Cutting social safety nets that could save people, cutting down on climate change measures, endangering public healthcare and cutting that too. Etc. I mean several countries conservatives are fucked up but i don’t see them go to this level anatagonistic towards their own constituents. These mfs could approach pol pot levels of sabotage and I wouldn’t be surprised
You have to keep in mind that this might literally be the worms talking from inside his brain
PatriotsPathogens in control 🫡
What the fuck is that headline?
An attempt at a “gotcha”. Libs still don’t understand that conservatives have never cared about being logically consistent.
Liberals have yet to realize that conservatism requires neither logic or consistency. It is a reaction, it requires an emergent thing to struggle against. It is invariably defined by what it opposes not what it supports.
