At parts of the Winter Olympics in Italy, COVID precautions remain, grounded in the reality that airborne infections are still circulating. When your body is your livelihood, prevention is part of performance.

#COVID #COVID19 #PublicHealth #InfectionPrevention #Olympics #LongCOVID #MaskUp #N95

'The most incredible display of aurora I've ever seen in my 20 years of flying'.

Pilot captures historic northern lights show from 37,000 feet (photos)

https://www.space.com/stargazing/auroras/the-most-incredible-display-of-aurora-ive-ever-seen-in-my-20-years-of-flying-pilot-captures-historic-northern-lights-show-from-37-000-feet-photos

#news #science #space #astronomy #aurora #photography

A friend sent me this Covid Policy Statement (from a church in Vancouver, Canada) and I feel so seen that I'm in tears. It's well written and relatively comprehensive. It is also an astonishing example of care and compassion combined with science to inform an approach to covid.

I'm sharing it here for the many Fedi friends who may be heartened by it or find it useful.

https://www.stmargaretscedarcottage.ca/why-are-we-still-masking.html

@LonelinessCorps

#CovidIsNotOver #PandemicIsNotOver #LonelinessCorps #Covid19 #Covid

I frequently hear people say that having to take Covid mitigations is “too hard” or interferes with their ability to “live their lives.” The reality is you can do almost ALL activities in a way that is covid safe-er. People just have to want to put in the effort.

I became disabled before the COVID pandemic and my illnesses have cost me the ability to do MANY things I used to take for granted. Suffice it to say if wearing a respirator or cleaning the air could have changed things for me - I would have happily done it.

Here’s a small list of what I’ve lost:

- being a theatre critic & attending galas and red carpets
- travel
- seeing family & friends
- eating most food
- drinking anything but water
- sleeping through night
- ability to be upright/walk unassisted
- ability to wash hair unassisted
- ability to sit outside & enjoy fresh air
- ability to cook, clean & care for myself
- dating & intimacy
- yoga
- feeling safe in my body (the constant threat of anaphylaxis & cardiac arrhythmias will do a number on your overall safety& comfort)

On top of those things - society’s unwillingness to take Covid seriously has robbed me of safe healthcare & homecare, dignity & autonomy. In its place is medical assistance in dying. Disabled people who are “high cost health users” are finding they’re offered euthanasia more frequently than actual care to improve quality of life. My life as I knew it is over.

I don’t say this for pity - I’ve spent years working on acceptance & carving out a life that allows for joy amidst the suffering.

I simply want people to understand how much their lives can change - and how precious their health is. Once it’s gone you can’t always get it back.

#CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver #CovidCautious #ChronicIllness #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #ChronicIllness #POTS #MCAS #Dysautonomia

Raps an Schäfchenwolken mit einer kleinen Prise Baumblüten

#photography #nature #landscape #spring

eggciting new breed discovered: chickittens

#Caturday #chicken

What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?

More than half the CO₂ emissions of the industrial age have been dumped into the atmosphere since 1990.

My response to *that* BBC article framing Covid as just another winter bug, "like flu", is here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/christinapagel/p/covid-is-not-just-a-regular-winter?r=8zv6v&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

TLDR: it is NOT, because flu is "not just a bug", Covid is not a *winter* bug, and Long Covid remains a serious issue