F**k viruses

@bluechap Seriously. Please write your elected officials and local health department (if you can and have the energy). I'm advocating for clean air at my kid's school but it really should be legislated. Just like when we learned water should be filtered to prevent cholora, now that we know alot of viruses are airborne government needs to step up. My kid's pediatrican is masking and she told me to absolutely protect my child from repeat infection. Plus, with no mandatory sick pay but schools being funded by attendance it makes no sense what so ever. Any, excuse my venting... just so tired of seeing my whole social media feed filled with friends and family being sick all over the holidays. I'm 100% sure many sick kids will show up at school when my kid starts again tomorrow.
 
@rhemajoy Yup. Didn’t get sick all of 2019, 2020, 2021, or 2022. Caught COVID in august 23 and have been sick October, November, December, and now January. I’m just so over it and I don’t know what else to do besides be miserable.
 
@helasomething Please mask with in N95 so you don't get reinfected. Repeat covid infections raises your chances of getting long covid. I like 3M Aura masks for adults as they have a comfortable nose padding and the seal is good. For kids I wrote a response to someone else post with loads of links.
 
@downtherabbithole Yeah I’m going to have to start wearing masks again. My
Mom is going through intense chemo/radiation right now and I haven’t been able to see her much due to us being ill a lot. We don’t even go anywhere. It’s like every time
We do something we get sick. And we wash our hands, use hand sanitizer, don’t touch things unless necessary. COVID just wrecked our immune systems. We take elderberry supplements and zinc supp. And other daily
Vitamins and minerals but JC I’m so over it as many many people are.
 
@oliviate lol this is funny because the other day my husband and I got into a heated debate about how many times our kid has had RSV and I realized I honestly didn't fucking know anymore.
 
@oliviate It's coming in from other people who go out sick or are asymptomatic (so they don't show signs but can still pass on illness - which can happen when older kids/adults have rsv, with covid, or even things like hand, foot and mouth disease).

So if you're in poorly ventilated spaces without good MERV 13+ filtration (which is rare unless you're in a place that legally mandates this or where people have upgraded their systems) or with hepa air purification that is enough for the size of the room and the amount of occupants- then you're likely to get what ever germs are floating around. 60 minutes show called on the air we breath that covers all this. Since pandemic started we now know that lots of things are airborne (so you catch them by breathing unfiltered air). Just like back when we discovered we should filter water to prevent cholera, we should be filtering the air now that we know better.

So if you're visiting family who is going about their lives without masking in gorcery stores, hospitals or even schools- yeah, you can catch things. To make things safer, mask up during peek respiratory illness times, purifiy air if you're hosting a gathering in your home, ask people not to show up if they are or have been sick the week of the event, ask them to test for covid before gathering. Our family has caught 3 people who had covid by testing (thank god because they didn't have symptoms when they tested and we have vulnerable people in our family).
 
@oliviate Do you use hand sanitizers? My kid doesn’t go to daycare and she rarely gets sick . We take her everywhere like children’s museums and libraries but we always have a hand sanitizer spray handy. And we stay her hands at intervals and wash her her hands once we get home
 
@mynameishephzibah You should ask your daycare what they are doing for infection control. 2 large Air purifiers in every room should be the minimum and kids over 2 as well as daycare workers should mask during covid surge times (which is right now).
 
@mynameishephzibah My family finally got well after months of passing germs. My sister decided to bring her two obviously sick children to a week long Christmas gathering. We are all sick again.
 
@radam7 I was so looking forward to having 3 weeks off at the end of the year as I was saving vacation days the entire year. Two of the 3 weeks I was sick because my cousin decided to bring his sick kid over, he got my kids sick and then I got sick from my kids. Finally recovered and it was time to go back to work. I felt cheated.
 
@hogfan5 Same thing here. So excited/relieved at the thought of three weeks off, time to relax, get some things done in the house, spend quality time together as a family etc. Finally none of us were sick just before Christmas break having been sick on and off since October. Visited our baby’s little cousins and we’ve all been really sick since then, most of our break has been spent up all night with screaming coughing baby and lying on the sofa coughing and shivering trying to watch the baby while dying slowly during the days. It’s been miserable. Still not 100% better now that it’s time to go back to work. Feel so angry at the universe/viruses!
 
@mynameishephzibah Yeah, I saw on the Today Show that were having a surge of covid around the country. Right now the wastewater data is showing there is also rsv going around too. Anyone can check what is going around in their city here- it was so eye opening for me.

Also on Good Morning America they when discussed the rise of respiratory illnesses (00:58 of video) “We now have evidence that covid decreases our immune response which makes us more susceptible to infection…” By now so many people have had at covid that I'm not surprised our bodies can't function like they used to.

One thing that can help though is advocating for clean air, keeping sick people at home, and having any child over age 2 wear a mask in crowded spaces. Since my husband and I started masking outside our home we've haven't gotten sick. My son has only been sick once in 4 years!!!

Also here is a ready made presentation on how to advocate for clean air at schools and daycares that anyone can use. If your school or daycare doesn't have air purifiers then kids are even more likely to get sick.
 
@downtherabbithole The saddest part of all this is that the kids have pretty much no say in how things are handled, they just suffer the impacts of everything. I feel especially bad for any kids that are educated around the impacts of all this sickness, and see so many of the adults around them not trying to protect them.
 
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