Because I agree with the idea in your post that better things are still possible, and I don’t want you to give up on caring about this one thing and those 65 million people.
Please do not parrot the ableism of austerity-brained politicians. Being able-bodied can be extremely temporary, and America treats disabled folks horribly. Support them.
Even with the nebulous definitions, the significant economic impact of long COVID is clear. In July 2022 update of earlier figures, David Cutler of Harvard University estimates that the total economic cost of long COVID is $3.7 trillion. That’s $11,000 per capita or 17% of the 2019 gross domestic product (GDP).
Cutler subdivides these costs into three components:
Quality of life (QALY), which comprises 59% of the overall cost, or $2.195 trillion
Lost earnings of $997 billion
Medical care spending: $528 billion
The Brookings report warns that Cutler’s estimate may actually be incomplete in that it does not include the economic impact of lower productivity (i.e., due to caretaking for others or working while ill).
One half of the drug cocktail in Paxlovid is an AIDS drug called ritonavir, which is also used in a treatment for hepatitis. Aside from the humanitarian reasons for PEPFAR, there is great scientific benefit in continuing to sling that drug to immune compromised people so the science keeps rolling in, especially in South Africa with its biotechnology industry. Fucked up immune systems are the future for so many of us.
SARS-CoV-2 wouldn’t have to traverse much genetic distance to mutate around its single truly effective antiviral regimen, and going without that against current variants would suck much worse than against the original recipe. Many folks have important parts of their immune systems sapped by repeated infections, so antivirals become that much more crucial in keeping them out of the ICU or morgue. The wall of immunity is made of sand, and speedily mutating epidemic waves come in tides.
One of the shittiest outcomes here is that immunocompromised folks like insufficiently treated AIDS sufferers can become laboratories for gnarlier COVID variants. The XBB series came from somebody who was sick enough to have two variants in them at once for long enough that the strains exchanged genetic data and stepped up their game. I bet it sucked shit to be that sick for that long, too.
We’ll need to have studied ritonavir in the widest population possible if the scientists get kicked back to the drawing board on Paxlovid and roni can more fully wreck face again on paupers and plutocrats. (It’s also hard to believe Congress would stop gravy training the pharma companies benefiting from PEPFAR.) Maybe once our leaders can’t trivially concierge doctor their way out of danger, they can take some fucking plagues seriously again.
I hope those who are suffering can get their damn meds.
No mention of wet headcloths and neckerchiefs here! Get some water on that neckerchief and it’ll drip down the hotter parts of your body. A wet headcloth loosely draped under a hat or headband catches the wind and sends evaporative cooling down your back, and gives you cooler air to breathe.
There’s a reason why deserts around the world are filled with garments like the keffiyeh, pashmina, shemagh, pañuelo, and cowboy scarf. I’ve spent a lot of time in the outdoors with a kufiya from the Hirbawi factory in Palestine, they’re well-made and amazingly handy. Their story is worth reading at http://www.hirbawi.ps .
Not a lawyer, but they’d be sticking their head into the teeth of California’s COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations. This batch took effect in February 2023 and are authorized for the next two years. Don’t know about Oregon.
From the Cal/OSHA Title 8 regulations:
§3205. COVID-19 Prevention. (f) Face coverings. (4) No employer shall prevent any employee from wearing a face covering, including a respirator, when not required by this section, unless it would create a safety hazard.
she dakka on my airframe til i stable-release