😷 The push to Keep TSA mask mandate ☎️📝 Is the CDC going to use pre-existing conditions as a cudgel? 🔥😷 Philly reinstates mask mandate & gets sued
I didn't plan on doing any of this, but I really want to get the word out & somebody has to.
📝 Petition: CDC: Keep TSA Mask Mandates on Public Transportation
https://chng.it/tHvtnhKkxvJoin Mask Mandate NY's action to call Congress
Or Call the White House Switchboard: 202-456-1414
or send a message online: https://whitehouse.gov/contact/
Tell them to extend the mask mandate on transportation past May 3rd
🎤 April 20 @ 4pm ET - Mass ME/CFS Assoc US Action Working Group webinar with JD Davids
From Chronic Injustice to Health Equity: Learning from the HIV movement and disability justice to confront ME/CFS in the time of Long COVID.
Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqdOCqrTosGNWE6zQCZE_jxRSgvaYnAIWK
🎤 April 21 @ 7pm US EDT - Online Event: Share Science, End COVID
“The time is now to end COVID everywhere! Join U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and global health leaders to talk about what we can do to expand access to lifesaving vaccines”
Pre-register: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/lczwm3wi/
I made this newsletter to spread the word about groups and activities organizing against the virus, and whatever news and maybe related twitter hoopla & anecdotes seem relevant. This started as a document for myself, to keep track of pandemic organizing and related events, petitions, lawsuits, so I could tell other people. Because none of this gets media attention.
For 2 years I searched for anyone organizing around the pandemic in Pennsylvania. Some people at the World Health Network put me in touch with the closest alternative, Zero Covid NY and they were very welcoming. While volunteering with the Peoples CDC on outreach to new sign ups, I finally learned last week about the group Pennsylvanians Against Covid. Organized on FB with covid in the name, I think they’re demoted into the shadows.
I also thought Pennsylvania wastewater data was not being reported even though I knew collections existed. I found out at the Pennsylvanians Against Covid meeting that indeed there is Pennsylvania wastewater data, but for some reason the CDC web site doesn’t report it.
James Lertola of Pennsylvanians Against Covid has had 3 great letters to the editor published, but they were not local to me, so I never knew.
The algorithms work against us in this. Popular Youtubers & political policy pundits won’t even mention the topic, because they’ll get demonetized and demoted. Most simply ignore the issue. The news that is published doesn’t get a lot of attention.
🗞️ In the news
Lawsuit seeks to overturn renewed Philadelphia mask mandate https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/17/philadelphia-mask-mandate-revived-00025703 (Artie Vierkant has a twitter thread on this.)
Wolf administration commissions study of public sector workplace protections https://www.penncapital-star.com/blog/wolf-admin-commissions-study-of-public-sector-workplace-protections/ (OSHA currently has no influence over state workers in Pennsylvania)
This is NOT fine
TWITTER:
Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran "It's up to individuals to decide their own risk tolerance" they say, while also taking away the tools like testing and case rate reporting that provide people with the data they need to actually understand what risks they are facing. 10:14 PM · Apr 17, 2022
LOCAL PBS STATION TV PROGRAM:
WVIA’s “Call The Doctor” tv show has an episode this week on COVID-19 Side Effects
Guess what they mean? Are they going to tell people about the organ damage, or the brain effects??? Long covid? No, seems it’s not about covid complications at all… 🤦♀️ *facepalm*
COVID-19 Side Effects: Technology Overuse & The Rise of Substance Abuse
https://www.wvia.org/tv/call-the-doctor/
NEW YORK TIMES
Nobody has time to keep up with their deluge, sorry. That newspaper now appears to be drinking straight from the satire pitchbot faucet.
Herd Scuttlebutt
Imani Barbarin reported hearing that the CDC is planning to use messaging that blames pre-existing conditions for the death rates from covid or for people getting really sick from catching covid at transmission unsafe workplaces. This is shocking, if true, considering Biden’s commitment to Obamacare which was a firm denouncement of using pre-existing conditions against patients. Is the Biden administration going to allow the CDC to abandon a central tenet of Obamacare? I already wrote (via contact form) a message to ask the White House about that.📝
I’m hearing that a sensible pandemic twitter personality has recently pooh-poohed NPIs and peeps are upset. I don’t think the person in question has been mild-pilled, but it’s always disappointing to hear of anyone pulling back on support of NPIs because we’ve had so many taken away and too many media personalities bashing NPIs.
Someone told me a story of how they were essentially shielding, working from home, and wearing a mask in the hallway of their apartment building, and still got covid, apparently from just opening the door to the hallway to go in and out. This person now reports they keep a corsi-rosenthal box near the door. Sounds like a good idea. Also a reason for indoor masks in shared spaces like hallways. There was a study explaining how hallway transmission could have occurred in quarantine hotels.
I was invited by a friend to the Anthony Leonardi twitter spaces voice chat. The invite was a little odd. 🤔😃 And oh boy were people coming at him with all sorts of pandemic related questions. This highlights a deep need created by a void left by failure of leadership in positions of power, to provide practical science information the public wants & needs.
A lot of excitement building for the planned April 28th Action Campaign at Modera Headquarters in Cambridge Massachusetts around the annual shareholder meeting to pressure Moderna to share their vaccine. The way to find out more of the interesting details is to get involved - you don’t need to be in Massachusetts to learn more & participate in this demonstration.
“The biggest issue we fight is not a policy but people’s own bias that things can’t change. And they can change - they change all the time.”
I was not given an attribution for this statement, but I’m glad others recognize this.
Let’s change things.