JimmJan 22, 2023
Augie Ray

People ask why I post so often about #COVID19 considering most people are convinced it's a mild disease and no big deal any longer. I can answer with three links:

Vaccine protection fades in 6 months, and almost all nations have seen fewer than 20 doses per 100 people in the past six months: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Over 140 studies have found COVID damages hearts, brains, immune systems and more: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12VbMkvqUF9eSggJsdsFEjKs5x0ABxQJi5tvfzJIDd3U/edit?usp=sharing

Immune-evasive variants are rising: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/what-to-know-about-xbb-1-5-a-new-and-highly-transmissible-covid-19-subvariant

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations

Explore data on COVID-19 vaccinations across the world.

Our World in Data
Jan 22, 2023 at 1:29pmWeb
Show threadKatherine Stiles Jan 22, 2023
@augieray
I have been posting a lot, too, about Covid on Twitter; not much on Mastodon yet as I am new here. I got the impression that I am preaching to the coir...
Show threadAugie RayJan 22, 2023
@KatherineStiles Given how Twitter's algorithm works, you're probably speaking to the COVID cautious there, too. There are more people on Mastodon that seem to be COVID cautious, but I think “preaching the choir” is a wrong way to think of it. I think of it as continuing to encourage those who are being careful so that they don't falter and giving them info they can share further. Besides, every tweet helps Musk build his business model, and he sounds like an antivaxxer these days.
Show threadKatherine Stiles Jan 24, 2023

@augieray
I hope you are right – that some people have taken note even though not engaging with the posts. Haven’t stopped posting every single article on Covid as soon as it has appeared.

As for Elon… Not sure whether any tweet, or... anything, may help him anymore to build / rebuild this business – whatever the model. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the past November was the beginning of the end of Twitter.

Show threadAugie RayJan 24, 2023
@KatherineStiles My feeling is that anyone who refused to join Truth Social because it would help Trump should now be abandoning Twitter for the same reason. Every tweet simply helps Elon succeed, and he's spreading misinformation and reinstating hateful, abusive accounts. Sure, a single tweet does little, but if we all cared and left Twitter, it would make a difference.
Show threadKatherine Stiles Jan 27, 2023

@augieray Thank you for your reply.

Re ‘abandoning Twitter’: Not that easy for certain communities to reassemble elsewhere quickly if at all possible. Take the academic community for example. Unless universities and the various educational institutions, think tanks, and foundations migrate to another platform, academics and scientists cannot leave. And universities need the general public.

Re ‘if we all cared and left Twitter, it would make a difference’: It would – but in which direction? Could it possibly be that people who can contribute something positive would make a greater difference by staying than by leaving? Who will be there to counter misinformation if they leave? I am not sure what the right move is… We are all in the wait-and-see mode…

Have a great weekend!

Show threadNed WilcoxJan 22, 2023
@augieray I am convinced there's an epidemic of stupid sweeping the country. The science recommending vaccines is beyond question, and the potential health risks are as well. But I am seeing this across the spectrum. Companies I deal with, even banks and healthcare companies, seem to be slipping badly. It's almost as if the Russians put something in our water.
Show threadDrooling Fan GirlJan 22, 2023
@augieray People are also often very, very, very, very stupid about things. Please keep posting about covid. Thank you and take care.
Show threadAAA365Jan 22, 2023
@drooling_fan_girl @augieray In the summer during the UK heatwave contracted second bout of Covid19 after having the vaccination and I wasn’t infected prior as too much time had lapsed, felt so disheartening. Continue to receive boosters but don’t believe they work.
Show threadDrooling Fan GirlJan 22, 2023
@AAA365a @augieray they do work somewhat, unfortunately that don’t work well enough for the number of people who don’t take the vaccine. Because of that I have never stopped masking up.
Show threadAAA365Jan 22, 2023
@drooling_fan_girl @augieray I was very unwell last summer with it, not hospitalised and continue to mask and follow strict hygiene sanitation as have done since November 2019 when starting to follow social media developments in China, that was before national health measures were introduced here. I always use a certified FFP3 mask but recently have had comments made in public, I simply ignore what other people say. It is everyone’s right themselves to choose what they want to do.
Show threadJimmJan 22, 2023
@janelleconlin