Shimrra ShaiJan 25, 2024
T. Ryan Gregory

2024: "We have respirators that electrostatically capture viral particles, ventilation and filtration systems to clean indoor air, and UV lights to kill viruses."

1918: "That's incredible! What's it like living without all this illness?"

2024: "Oh, we don't actually use them."

Jan 18, 2024 at 7:30pmWeb
Show threadLeslieMaggieJan 18, 2024

@TRyanGregory

I often think about this. Plagues and communicable diseases ravaged people in the past but here we are with answers and options for keeping people well but they are being ignored. Preventative action has been politicized. People have been fooled into thinking Covid is over and vaccines are dangerous. It’s hard to believe.

Show threadLars Marowsky-Brée 😷Jan 18, 2024

@LeslieMaggie To the point of even doing *less* then before the pandemic started because it's now a political statement to not want to get infected at a hospital 🤷

@TRyanGregory

Show thread🌈 Kerblambuli 🦄Jan 20, 2024
@larsmb @LeslieMaggie @TRyanGregory ... and being ridiculed by family + peers to protect oneself from their supposed "simple cold" while happily coughing and sneezing right into your face. Then going right to mommy, daddy for lunch and next to their single remaining grandparent for coffee and cake. I'm not joking. I'm flattened, disgusted and don't even care to confront them anymore. At this point I just leave when I've got the chance.
Show threadLukefromDCJan 20, 2024

@ChrisUplus @larsmb @LeslieMaggie @TRyanGregory
For some people (myself included), a "simple cold" guarantees secondary bronchitis from tough bacteria that unless treated with antibiotics can last 4-6 weeks. Now factor in the growth of antibiotic resistance-get the picture.

For me, colds alone are reason enough to mask and clean hands after going into stores and indoor crowds, especially in winter.

Show threadAnitaVosmerJan 22, 2024

@LeslieMaggie @TRyanGregory

It looks like "the law of the strongest", but he who laughs last laughs best. Just persevere, be strong and stand up for your rights.

Show threadkaffandoJan 18, 2024
@TRyanGregory
Best Post of the Pandemic, for me.
#COVIDisNOTover
Show threadSeán FenianJan 18, 2024
@TRyanGregory 1918: "The fuck.....?"
Show threadSamhain NightJan 18, 2024
@TRyanGregory Sadly, a few years into the 1918 pandemic, people stopped being cautious too.
Show threadsiderealJan 18, 2024
@samhainnight @TRyanGregory Frankly, people back then weren't perfect but the social level of response to influenza and investment in preventative infrastructure was much higher back then by any metric. Some schools switched to have their classes during the summer so they could be outdoors. In the 1920's they were building new apartments, theaters, and other public buildings with better ventilation. Including many classic skyscrapers with the first systems like what we'd call modern HVAC.
Show threadSamhain NightJan 19, 2024
@sidereal @TRyanGregory I was reading back when the Covid pandemic started, that the reason so many old apartments in NYC are so hot in winter is that it was assumed that due to the 1918 pandemic that you’d have a window cracked open to keep the apartment ventilated, so the heating was built with that in mind.
Show threadbirdpoofJan 20, 2024

@samhainnight

Oh wow

@sidereal @TRyanGregory

Show threadLukefromDCJan 20, 2024
@samhainnight @TRyanGregory And the 1918 pandemic is still with us: EVERY modern flu descends from 1918 H1N1.
Show threadMarkJan 19, 2024
@TRyanGregory
Show threadscott fJan 19, 2024

@TRyanGregory One of the few places I know does have a great air filtration system is BART. They were also "planning to install UV-C lamp[s] in the HVAC units" of all trains as of June 2022, but I can't find anything more recent confirming they followed through on that part...

https://www.nationalacademies.org/documents/embed/link/LF2255DA3DD1C41C0A42D3BEF0989ACAECE3053A6A9B/file/D04CB31D629DBE84797E2761C92C9EA59E0E21E5C82E?noSaveAs=1

Show threadMisuse CaseJan 19, 2024
@TRyanGregory You know they figured out ventilation for influenza but didn’t use it in all buildings in 1918 right? They also had fights over masking mandates. It wasn’t that different from now.
Show threadDoug Baker - Elbows Up! 🇨🇦Jan 19, 2024
@TRyanGregory
19th Century public health: "We've discovered the vector for cholera: IT'S IN THE WATER, so we're fixing that."
21st Century public health: "We know that Covid is airborne and filters will fix that, but..."
Show threadJuho MäntysaloJan 20, 2024

@TRyanGregory

Those teenagers going 50 in the picture are incredible reminder how life used to be harder.

Show threadCogito Ergo DisputoJan 20, 2024
@TRyanGregory because initial investment and maintenance, I believe.
Show threadAnitaVosmerJan 22, 2024

@TRyanGregory

The really serious diseases of the past also regularly decimated the population, but with current medical science that only works if people don't listen to it...?

Show threadShimrra ShaiJan 25, 2024
@TRyanGregory sounds like something from a mfing sci fi movie ... funny how we in many ways DO have that "cool future stuff" we just "DON'T USE IT" it's like POLITICS and PEOPLE issues kill it all
Show threadNick DrageFeb 11, 2024

@TRyanGregory any idea why this is the case? It feels like there would be a great deal of money to be made - regardless of any altruistic or health concerns - if the right manufacturers and the right legislators worked together.

As this hasn't happened then there must be some obstacle, but I'm wondering what it is....