This is brilliant. Covid is not over. 🤢ðŸ¦
covid vid
12 Friday Jan 2024
Posted in coronavirus, covid, video
Category Archives: covid
masks are back!
09 Tuesday Jan 2024
Posted in coronavirus, covid, hope, sevilla, spain
Tags
As of Wednesday this week there is a return of the national mandate requiring the use of masks in all hospitals and health centres in Spain. THANK FUCKING GOD (or what/whoever). And about time. Though of course once governments make these decisions it’s always way past the time they were actually needed. Still I guess… better late than never?
We are still not being given accurate information about recent rampant global Covid and Flu infections and deaths, let alone any recognition of Long Covid sufferers. The WHO and other such organisations started “recommending” the use of masks a few weeks ago which of course was a red flag for people who aren’t running around living their “normal lives” as if the pandemic never happened. THE WHO KNEW THEN that a huge Covid wave was coming and… oh look there it is.
From mid-December I have cut my tours to a bare minimum and would have stopped totally but, you know, financial suicide. I’ve also cancelled the two short research trips planned in January while I was “off work”. Though if there was still a mask mandate on public transport I would have considered doing them.
It was honestly killing me the last few times I had to go to various hospital appointments during the past couple of months and NOBODY had a mask on, not even cancer patients waiting for treatment in the waiting room. AND NONE OF THE DOCTORS. I mean…
Sometimes I’m a bit nostalgic for those lockdown days when it felt like, for a brief moment, we actually cared about each other. But as soon as the governments told us we were free to go back to our normal lives people doubled down on being selfish and uncaring. It was the death of empathy. Well, hopefully it was “just” the beating to a pulp of empathy and she still may recover. At least I hope so.
the c word
22 Friday Dec 2023
Posted in coronavirus, covid, health, sevilla
This notice was on the door as I walked into the hospital yesterday. Translation…
BE RESPONSIBLE On Your Visits
STOP FLU
IF YOU HAVE FLU SYMPTOMS (fever, cough, sore throat, rhinitis)
Please don’t enter, so you don’t put patients at riskIF YOUR VISIT IS URGENT, wear a mask
(you can ask for one from the staff on your floor)
Flu, huh? It’s like everyone is afraid to say the C Word anymore. I mean, as you know, I’ve been a regular hospital visitor for well over 15 years and I don’t remember ever seeing Flu warnings posted before, and especially not with a request to wear a mask.
Meanwhile it seems Covid is taking the world by storm once again with its latest variant JN.1 which only yesterday the WHO finally publicly recognised as a “variant of interest”, recommending masks in all hospital and health care settings. But as we all know, recommending does fuck all.
Gotta say this global “save the economy” strategy was expertly played by simply relying on peoples’ inherent selfishness and creating the us-and-them “healthy vs vulnerable” thang whilst withholding crucial data from the public. As expected, the majority of the (first) world decided that a small inconvenience was too much for them to bear because they were the healthy ones and so the rest could either JUST STAY HOME or THEY could wear a mask if it made them feel safer. Us and Them. Them and Us. But you know, which one is which? Because it turns out that we are ALL the vulnerable ones, no matter how much the “healthy” people tell themselves otherwise. That FAFO situation is already unfolding as we speak but unfortunately it will take irrefutable evidence before the Covid deniers will accept what is actually going on in front of them.
Shame that none of this evidence reaches us anymore. It’s always been there but now it’s all “don’t test don’t tell” and just telling people what they want to hear. Meanwhile JN.1 sounds like a big time motherfucker and so I will be taking precautions. Stay safe out there, amigos.
boosted! (again)
02 Thursday Nov 2023
Posted in coronavirus, covid, health, sevilla
Got my Covid and Flu boosters this afternoon. Pfizer. Was hoping for Novavax but was told this was the only one they had. Was also supposed to have a blood test tomorrow morning (booked before vax appt) but put it off until next week, mostly in case I have a reaction overnight. But hopefully, like all the other times, I will just have sore arms.
I had also arranged for a telephone appt with my GP this morning but instead got some other doctor who didn’t know anything about me (apparently my GP is on holiday). I was hoping for some info re: the MRI and what the next steps would be. Turns out there are no next steps until I am in such pain that I can’t walk at all. And no treatment other than to down paracetamol when it hurts too much. No mention of physiotherapy, other than the suggestion to ride a stationary bike to build up muscle strength. I mentioned having to give up the recumbent bike about 8 years ago because KNEES but he insisted that if I took things poco á poco I would see improvement. 🙄
Starting to see how the whole pain-killer abuse thing happened… doctors not giving a shit. Also, I was the only one in the health centre today wearing a mask, other than one nurse wearing a baggy surgical mask UNDER HER NOSE.
sinusitis vs covid
13 Wednesday Sep 2023
Well dammit. It’s back! Or is it? A month ago I had a serious bout of what I assumed was rhinosinusitis as it mostly stayed in my head. And while I had symptoms I kept testing for Covid, just in case, since who knows what the symptoms are the new variants (not us, because we’re not being told). So I wasn’t too concerned when this started up again on Sunday as it was pretty much the same-old with runny nose, facial pain, dripping down my throat (ick), plus I have had sinus issues all my life. But then yesterday things took a turn.
A small “tickle” that had developed in my throat turned into full-on coughing my lungs out during the night, so bad that I could barely sleep. And yet I still tested negative for Covid this morning (I’ve been testing daily since Sunday). WTF? Using this venn as a guide, the only overlapping symptoms I have are cough and slight congestion, the rest is all sinusitis stuff. And sinusitis could be the result of either a bacterial infection or “just a cold”, both of which can spread to the lungs. Obviously a bacterial infection isn’t contagious, but “just a cold” is.
I mean, I don’t feel terrible or anything (other than my face still hurts, lots of pressure) and today the cough seems to have disappeared as quickly as it showed up.
MEANWHILE… a couple of weeks ago I booked tickets for one of the fabulous Catas Magistrales that are taking place during the Jerez Vendimia (grape harvest), this one being hosted on Friday evening by Bodegas Lustau in the splendid Alcázar gardens. I also booked train tickets and a hotel for overnight. And now I don’t know what to do.
So what to do? If I’m going to cancel then I have to do it first thing tomorrow morning so I don’t end up having to pay for the hotel (train and event tickets are non-refundable). Back in the day I would have thought nothing about travelling – or even going out somewhere – with “just a cold”. Those days are gone. But if I am no longer sneezing and coughing… oh I don’t know, maybe it’s just sinuses. Of course I’ll have my FFP2 mask on while travelling on public transport. And most of the things I’ll be doing in Jerez will take place outdoors. It’s quite a dilemma. What would you do? And yes, am looking at you Kate.
