A Concerned Scientist @BE@qoto.org

Thankfully it was a "minor" heart attack. He's really into hiking and camping and can't figure out why his health's been so bad for 6 months. I just don't think it's my place to launch into the "COVID talk" but I feel bad for the guy. He's hoping to do our roof work in a couple weeks. I'll see if an opportunity presents itself to casually drop COVID into a conversation.

@datum

Thanks for reading so I don't have to :)

Wachter, Osterholm....my blood pressure just doesn't need it this morning.

I try and keep my pinned posts relevant to things that are ongoing, but, perhaps it's time for this thread to make a comeback with all of the stories out there about states(https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article288384990.html) and universities talking about banning masks.

I thought state legislatures would jump on this immediately at the end of the emergency declaration, and I was wrong about that, but I've always assumed this was coming eventually.

Had to pull up an old post here for an unfortunate update.

We went back to this guy because we had another roofing job that we needed done and he was our first call. He said he was happy to take it on and scheduled us for almost a month ago now. He tore a ligament in his knee on the job before ours, unfortunately. These things happen.

However, while rehabbing that, in and out of doctor’s offices, etc. he got “sick” again. Checked in with him this morning to see how he was doing, as he’d tentatively scheduled us for next week and he had a heart attack yesterday.

@jordinn@zirk.us

I get tired of fighting this fight, so thank you for taking it up :)

I say this as a scientist AND someone who was vaccinated against whooping cough and then got it!

@AJEnglish

Pet peeve of mine here.

If you're not going to link to the actual study in your write up of it, then your article shouldn't be published.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47221-8

I think this article from Scientific American does a great job of laying out some of the reasons these documents are important.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-fight-about-viruses-in-the-air-is-finally-over-now-its-time-for-healthy/

"The operative phrase here is “through the air.” It’s plain language that anyone can understand, and this switch from jargon such as “airborne” and “aerosol” may finally clear the way for researchers to get funding to study better, real-life ways to protect people from a range of infectious diseases.

And just maybe governments, retailers, school authorities and others can now start to get solid information about ways they can clean indoor air. While it is going to take more than a wordy WHO statement to persuade gym owners that fogged-up windows mean too many people are huffing out potentially infectious air, the new wording does provide a better explanation of why it’s gross and unhealthy."

...

"This should clear the way for funding more and better research on the transmission of infectious diseases—not just COVID, but influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and viruses that cause the common cold. That, in turn, should give managers of schools, retailers, airports and other public spaces the information they need to help keep air and surfacers cleaner. Because if people understand the physics of disease transmission, they can find ways to safely keep schools, shops and restaurants open during outbreaks and epidemics with better practices in ventilation, air and surface cleaning and foot traffic control."

...

"“It’s now respectable to do this research,” Jiménez said. “People can get funding to do some research about indoor air and engineering systems. They are stepping into fields that they really wouldn’t work on before. So you see some encouraging changes.”"