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Items tagged with: publichealth
#Free #covid tests by mail program revived by #Biden administration
People can again order 4 #CovidTests per household. The move comes ahead of an expected winter #coronavirus wave.
People can request the free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday.
#PublicHealth
washingtonpost.com/health/2024…
Free covid tests by mail program revived by Biden administration
People can again order four covid tests per household. The move comes ahead of an expected winter coronavirus wave.Washington Post
Florida's new COVID-19 booster guidance is straight-up misinformation.
From CBS News: "In what has become a pattern of spreading vaccine misinformation, the Florida health department is telling older Floridians and others at highest risk from COVID-19 to avoid most booster shots, saying they are potentially dangerous. Clinicians and scientists denounced the message as politically fueled scaremongering that also weakens efforts to protect against diseases like measles and whooping cough."
For more fact checks, follow @fact-check-ElectionCentral
#COVID19 #COVID #Misinformation #FactCheck #Florida #Desantis #PublicHealth
Florida's new COVID booster guidance is straight-up misinformation
State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo spread anti-vaccine misinformation by telling Floridians to avoid mRNA vaccines. Vaccine experts and historians can't remember another state health leader urging residents to avoid an FDA-approved vaccine.CBS News
Me (in ER for issue unrelated to throat/mouth): “I would prefer not to remove my N95.”
Dr: “You’re not dictating care. I’m in charge. If you don’t like it you can leave.”
Me: “I’m extremely high risk - please let me keep it on.”
Dr: *sigh* “You’re not going to get Covid HERE”
I resent the “you’re not dictating care” line. It’s MY body. I should get SOME say in what happens to it.
I wasn’t self diagnosing or telling them how to do their job - I just wanted to keep my necessary PPE.
I would understand if examining my mouth, nose or throat was relevant to the emergency I was having - but it wasn’t. This felt like a “test” to see how compliant I would be - and it’s not right to test patients and expose them to a deadly and disabling virus.
I also loathe the emphasis on the word “here”. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it in the hospital either. Many HCWs act like the idea you might catch Covid in their care is absurd.
I feel like it should go without saying that it is NOT absurd. Hospitals and schools are consistently the places that drive community spread. The ER is arguably the highest risk setting because it’s crowded, you’re there for a LONG time and people with covid will go there if they need care. To suggest it’s impossible to catch covid there is to basically show you’re completely detached from reality.
I asked them to check my chart to see how clinically vulnerable I am (they skimmed it). I asked if there was any diagnostic reason I needed to remove my respirator (they scoffed and provided no answer). I declined.
At this point the energy in the room shifted. I was there for a cardiac emergency and up until then had been taken quite seriously. It changed on a dime. I finally asked if I could speak to the charge nurse or get a cardiology consult called down as I didn’t feel my issues were being properly addressed.
I was told “if you’re unhappy with the care you can avail yourself of MAiD”
For those not in Canada - that’s our medical assistance in death program.
To be clear - I don’t think this doctor was actually suggesting I end my life. I think they were just pissed off and trying to hurt me. That said it’s wildly inappropriate to EVER say that to a patient - and I hate that I didn’t have an advocate with me to witness that atrocity.
I ended up leaving and going to a different hospital where I was diagnosed with a serious issue - and I didn’t have to remove my respirator for them to figure it out.
Encounters like this are why I say you should always have an advocate when you’re in the hospital. It shouldn’t be necessary - it’s appalling that it is - but we have to play the hand we’re dealt.
I did lodge a complaint but as of now nothing has come of it - and based on past experience I doubt anything will.
I did wrote a guide on how to be a good advocate for a disabled patient - and it also includes what to do when you don’t have one. Though this story proves that sometimes even if you do everything “right”… you still receive horrible care. It’s one of the reasons I tell my stories and advocate for patients - I want to change things so that no one is ever treated the way I’ve been treated.
disabledginger.com/p/how-to-be…
#CovidIsAirborne #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #Dysautonomia #mecfs #pots #mcas #communitycare #wearamask #chronicillness #keepmasksinhealthcar
Sharing yesterday’s Canadian Press wire story (that’s running on multiple media in Canada) on why Whooping Cough aka Pertussis peaks are more difficult to predict, including the impact of lowered vaccination rates.
“Provincial counts show the vaccine-preventable disease — also known as pertussis or the "100-day cough" — has exceeded peak pre-pandemic numbers in Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. “
cp24.com/mobile/news/unpredict…
#PublicHealth #Canada #WhoopingCough #Pertussis #100DayCough #Vaccinations
Whooping cough outbreaks see cases rise in Ontario
Whooping cough is on track to reach a record number of cases in Ontario while infections climb in eastern provinces and decline in Quebec, but experts say trying to predict the course of the highly contagious disease has been especially difficult thi…Hannah Alberga (CP24)
I read a beautiful article today from someone who was effectively “coming out” as chronically ill. She spoke of the struggles of admitting to the world that she was sick - of putting it in writing for everyone to see.
It says a lot about our society that people are so afraid to admit they’re disabled or chronically ill - but I get it. I fought the label for SO long. My illnesses are invisible - so I could generally hide how sick I was from other people.
Until I couldn’t. Hiding your true and authentic self takes a toll. Pushing through the pain, plastering a smile on your face and ignoring what your body is crying out for? It never ends well.
It’s a big part of why I started The Disabled Ginger. My hope is by sharing my stories and struggles - by being loud, vulnerable and honest about my disabilities - I can help others arrive at a place of acceptance faster than I did.
There was something else in her piece that’s been niggling at me though - which is that we share the same diseases and we were both diagnosed before they became “trendy” on social media. As a result - we have fewer barriers to care than younger women who are trying to get a diagnosis now.
This fact makes me livid. We should ALL be livid. We owe a debt of gratitude to the content creators who are making videos and art about these rare but not so rare chronic illnesses. If not for them many women would never figure out what’s happening in their own bodies.
The average length of time to a POTS diagnosis for a female patient is SEVEN years. Please read that again. Seven years.
That’s years of suffering with debilitating fatigue, tachycardia, gastrointestinal issues, fainting and more. Years of being told you’re “just anxious” or worse - a hysterical woman.
The people making videos and talking about these conditions are arming young women with valuable knowledge they can use to (hopefully) get diagnosed faster. Early diagnosis is key to avoiding worsening symptoms and setbacks. I had so many injuries from fainting - some permanent. How many could have been avoided had I know what was wrong with me sooner?
I so appreciate the author for writing such a vulnerable piece about coming to terms with being chronically ill. It’s a hard thing to do. Taking that brave step of putting it out into the world - of admitting to everyone that you’re disabled - takes courage. We should support the heck out of people when they do it.
Also I agree with her rallying cry - don’t feel sorry for us. Feel livid. Livid at the time it takes to be diagnosed. At how few treatments there are. At how much misogyny, discrimination and ableism we have to endure.
Get loud. Get angry. Let’s change things.
Article here: meandorla.substack.com/p/somet…
My website The Disabled Ginger is here: disabledginger.com/
#CovidIsAirborne #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #Dysautonomia #mecfs #pots #mcas #communitycare #wearamask #chronicillness #keepmasksinhealthcare
When you say “just stay home” or “your health is not my responsibility” in response to pleas for masking in hospitals - you’re telling us our lives don’t matter.
Disabled & high risk people have been shut out of ALL public spaces. Tossed aside for “back to normal”
We’re asking for masks in ONE place - the place we have no choice but to go.
We’re sick, vulnerable and scared. It’s not unreasonable we want to avoid catching a deadly and disabling virus while in the hospital for necessary medical care.
We didn’t choose to be sick. We aren’t out having a fun time when we go to the hospital. It’s already stressful and difficult without the added fear of infection or being psychologized for wearing a mask.
Lastly - our health kinda IS the responsibility of healthcare workers and hospital administrators. We are literally there to get better. They have an oath to do no harm.
They’re letting us down. Infecting patients despite knowing how to prevent it. Most hospitals aren’t even TRYING anymore.
If you’re that anti-mask … YOU can stay home from the hospital. You have literally every other public space.
At a certain point you have to recognize that the world doesn’t revolve around you & that while you’re throwing a temper tantrum over your “freedom” to not mask… we’re fighting for our lives.
Please - help us fight for masks & clean air in hospitals. It will benefit patients & staff. It’ll stop more than just covid. Even if you don’t care about the vulnerable - you may one day become one.
When that day comes you might wish you had helped us create safer care.
Until hospitals and institutions start taking airborne spread seriously - individuals must take steps to protect themselves. It’s costly, exhausting and unfair - but it IS our best chance.
My guide to staying Covid safe in hospital: disabledginger.com/p/how-to-st…
#CovidIsAirborne #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #Dysautonomia #mecfs #pots #mcas #communitycare #wearamask #chronicillness #keepmasksinhealthcare
I just had my first doctor tell me to ‘take off your mask so I can see your pretty face.’
I was there for an issue with my FEET. There was absolutely no reason for me to remove my mask.
I don’t know how much of this was misogyny and how much was related to pandemic politics (ie perhaps this doctor resents having to mask)… but I was incredibly uncomfortable with his remark.
I declined - as politely as humanly possible - and the whole tone of the appointment changed. I didn’t even get a diagnosis - I was told that the issue on my ankles was ‘not as ugly as I think’ ( I didn’t think it WAS ugly) and sent on my way.
I waited 18 months for this appointment - and the ‘issue’ is likely related to my vEDS and possibly severe. Multiple other doctors have expressed concern but said I had to wait for a specialist.
When patients are treated this way - it causes harm. It causes a distrust of the medical system. I can’t just ‘get a second opinion’ when the first one took 18 months.
When I’m less angry I may write an article about this - because patients (especially female presenting) deal with this crap FAR too often.
In the meantime - this experience underscores why we must always have an advocate with us in healthcare settings. It shouldn’t be this way - but it is.
My article on how to be the best possible advocate for a disabled patient: disabledginger.com/p/how-to-be…
#CovidIsAirborne #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #Dysautonomia #mecfs #pots #mcas #communitycare #wearamask #chronicillness #keepmasksinhealthcare #MaskBans #NoMaskBans #bullying #CleanAirClassrooms
How to be an Effective Advocate for a Disabled Patient
Disabled patients are rightfully terrified of being hospitalized. We are stripped of our agency and control in a hospital environment. Having an effective advocate can vastly improve the experience.Broadwaybabyto (The Disabled Ginger)
I've got #covid again, for the third time.
Shame that my individual act of masking every single time I use public transit or enter a store isn't enough to protect me.
Almost like #publichealth policy can't be based on individual risk assessment.
Stay safe out there, y'all.