• Aradina [She/They]English
    31·
    2 months ago

    I saw a guy in a full on bulky mask the other day. Filled me with solidarity.

    I’m stuck on KN95s due to availability and price.

    • CommunistCuddlefish [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      14·
      2 months ago

      Hi comrade, I used to think I couldn’t do better than a KN95 due to availability and price, but then I learned about elastomeric masks! I got a reusable P100 elastomeric mask that fits my face better, seals better, and fits better than the cheap KN95s I was getting, all for only $5 more than a one-month supply of KN95s. I only have to replace the filters on my elastomeric once very few month, at about $15 / replacement pack. It’s much cheaper and is more protective. I’d recommend you look into finding an elastomeric respirator that will fit your face.

      • Aradina [She/They]English
        10·
        2 months ago

        Do you have any specific ones to recommend? None of the options I’ve seen are even close to the same price, let alone cheaper. I’m very low income so I can’t really afford anything more expensive, or anything that requires a large up front payment like a reusable mask seems to be.

  • peeonyou [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    2 months ago

    just went on vacation, drove from CA to Alberta and then back again… first time we’ve not worn masks basically anywhere – partner’s parents are done with the masking and while they don’t tell us not to it does make it seem pretty pointless since we were going to be sharing a car and hotel rooms for 2 weeks straight

    luckily none of us got sick, but now that we’re home again my partner is insisting everyone mask up everywhere we go again

    she’s so strong

    • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      Do you realize the longer everyone ignores it the worse things are going to get? Y’all are basically killing the entire concept of herd immunity and causing mass immune dysregulation. Covid is now just one of many pathogens that we’ll need to mask for.

    • coolusernameEnglish
      111·
      2 months ago

      Would you rather become permanently disabled or die am early death? Also covid is not endemic. Words have meanings.

        • Ildsaye [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
          10·
          2 months ago

          A qualifying criterion for being endemic is the virus settles into seasonal patterns. Covid has been mutating too rapidly for that. Allowing it to be on the loose is anti-human.

          Smallpox and polio were “here to stay” in the past. Containment of Covid with vaccines at this time doesn’t look hopeful, but China already demonstrated, many times in a row, that Covid can be eradicated with the firebreak method, which has also seen use in the eradication of past diseases, efforts led primarily by the USSR and US. The eradication of Covid is not materially or physically impossible, it is just that neoliberalism runs contrary to gathering the necessary political will.

          Since Covid continues to cause acute deaths more than is generally assumed, and since long Covid appears to follow in 1/5 to 1/4 of cases with the rate increasing with successive infections, and since long covid can entail anything from weird little changes to body functions up to ME/CFS, early heart disease, early cancer, cognitive decline, and immunodeficiency, it is absolutely a worthy effort to build that political will by any means.