yes, you're being gaslighted

[mellowtigger]

It can easily feel like gaslighting.

Monkeypox:

1) The USA CDC previously had this webpage advising "Precautions to Prevent Monkeypox Transmission" via airborne droplets, but it now redirects to a different webpage that instead advises to stop any "activities that could resuspend dried material from lesions".   "Resuspend" sure is a funny way of saying "return the virus to airborne status", isn't it?
2) They still have this webpage that recommends BSL-3 precautions in lab study, which are intended for preventing airborne transmission.
3) They still have this webpage from 2020 advising that "monkeypox spread from person to person is principally respiratory".  This verbiage has a very different emphasis from their new answer to "How does monkeypox spread?" in their FAQ currently online. 

Meanwhile, our world has its first death reported from monkeypox during this pandemic, while the spreading (English translation) (edit: these links were misinformation.  sorry.)  continues globally and anecdotally by fomites, even on handlebars.  The USA and the world don't have nearly enough vaccine, despite knowing for years that this day might come.  But, sure, we illogically keep warning everyone that it's a gay sex disease.  Who benefits from this new narrative?

SARS-CoV-2:

1) The USA had about 412K deaths from COVID-19 during the last 365 days.  That's with all of the drugs and other interventions we have available now.  In contrast, the previous 365 days saw about 456K deaths.  That's the official count, and it's still barely a difference.  Has the news told you that excessive deaths remain nearly constant, year-over-year, or are we performing risky social activities like we did in our pre-pandemic routines?
2) But it's mild, they tell us, especially in children.
3) Our President told us all to get back into the office.  Our President got COVID, took drugs, then got a rebound.  He claims it's rare for rebounds to happen.

Meanwhile, Dr. Fauci gave himself two rounds of Paxlovid after his own rebound of COVID, a medical use which seems to contradict the current confusing guidelines that the rest of us must follow.  2022 January was the worst month in modern USA history for children dying from communicable disease.  About 2.4% of the USA workforce is now disabled by Long Covid, with the next wave of infections already growing.

They know monkeybox is airborne and easily spread, not a gay STD.
They know SARS-CoV-2 is a persistent infection, causes widespread clotting, and damages the immune system.
They know.  It can easily feel like gaslighting, because it is.



There are just 99 more days of smooth sailing until the election.  Everything's fine, so vote for your incumbent politician.  :/

Comments

[zipperbear]

Even the gas-literati might agree that gay sex parties, with direct exposure to bodily fluids (touching sweaty bodies, swapping spit, and especially with sexual fluids in the PrEP era), might have a much higher rate of infection than exposure through the air. Air can spread far, but at low density. Even though the last known smallpox fatality (a reportedly-vaccinated woman who worked on the floor above a lab in 1978) was blamed on leaky exhaust ducts, the spread via air is statistically less dangerous than getting body fluids on mucous membranes.

And anti-retroviral medications shouldn't offer much protection against orthopox virus or coronaviruses. People on PrEP may think they're safer, but I don't think there's much effect. On the other hand, surviving one orthopox virus (e.g., vaccinia/cowpox as a live vaccine, or smallpox or monkeypox) generally provides lifetime protection against all other orthopox infections. Of course, the USA is now 50 years into the first long-term experiment with no boosters or natural exposure to smallpox since the early 1970's, so we'll soon find out if immunity has declined in people our age. But antibody testing seems to indicate that we should still be mostly protected.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox
Vaccination against smallpox was demonstrated through several observational studies to be about 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. Thus, prior smallpox vaccination may result in milder illness. Evidence of prior vaccination against smallpox can usually be found as a scar on the upper arm. At the present time, the original (first-generation) smallpox vaccines are no longer available to the general public. Some laboratory personnel or health workers may have received a more recent smallpox vaccine to protect them in the event of exposure to orthopoxviruses in the workplace. A still newer vaccine based on a modified attenuated vaccinia virus (Ankara strain) was approved for the prevention of monkeypox in 2019. This is a two-dose vaccine for which availability remains limited. Smallpox and monkeypox vaccines are developed in formulations based on the vaccinia virus due to cross-protection afforded for the immune response to orthopoxviruses.

https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Monkeypox.aspx
(Not clear how much of the big dropoff at age 55+ is because young guys think we're old trolls, and how much is because we've all got smallpox vaccination scars)

​ Age Group N ​Percents*
​Under 18 years ​1 0.1
​18-24 ​29 ​3.7
​25-34 ​289 ​36.8
​35-44 ​296 ​37.7
​45-54 ​120 ​15.3
​55-64 ​41 ​5.2
​65 years and older ​10 ​1.3
​Missing/Unknown ​0 ​-

[zipperbear]

Reading through the report on the 1978 smallpox cases, I was surprised by the detailed tracking of the 1966 outbreak of the less-fatal version, variola minor, spread by another photographer working in the same area above the virus lab. In general, he spread it to nonvaccinated people, and not to his vaccinated fiancee, but to her co-workers. Shaving spreads infections! Folk dancer gets it sitting across the table, but vaccinated wife dances multiple times safely! Uncooperative old guy claims to be vaccinated, but spreads infection to his family and a much larger outbreak, including a teenage bus outing! Thank goodness we learned our lesson then about vaccines and the protective value of beards ...

(And it was a utility duct, for steam pipes, etc., with poorly sealed access panels, not a ventilation duct as I had recalled.)

The 1966 report starts at p.116 (135th page of the pdf), with the timeline at p.120 (139/236).
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228654/0668.pdf.pdf

[mellowtigger]

Shaving is harsh treatment of the skin. (Forget microabrasions, bring on the bleeding cuts.) I've found it necessary, though, to shave to get a good mask fit. I've got a new plastic mask now, and it fits differently than disposable N95 masks. I've had to further alter my face fur. :( I'll post a pic once I'm finally settled on a new design. It certainly looks Amish, though.

At least cities and states are finally declaring monkeypox emergencies.
New York City:
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/monkeypox.page (still primarily the STD story)
California and Illinois states declare emergency:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/01/health/california-newsom-state-of-emergency-monkeypox/index.html (Finally! "Respiratory secretions"!)

[zipperbear]

Just don't share a razor while infectious pustules are forming on your face. Really, even in 1966, I can't imagine anyone doing that.

I'm still waiting for monkeypox vaccines to be available.