#resist

I stopped by the grocery store yesterday and the amount of people not wearing face masks was truly stunning. Employees and customers. And sorry, but I couldn’t help but notice that the white people not wearing masks (it was all white people) seemed almost giddy. Like it was a big fucking celebration or something. I got in and out as quickly as possible, but I counted only 5 people wearing face masks. In the entire store. Joe Biden and the CDC are wrong. Low paid essential workers are being put at risk needlessly, and the antivaxxers & anti-maskers are going to cause this pandemic to last longer than it needs to. Conceding to these willfully ignorant people was a political calculation, not one based in science. We are nowhere near achieving herd immunity. The frustranoyying thing is, you know that people would be having a fit if the exact same “it’s safe to go maskless” decision was made under the Trump administration. But like most things political, hypocrites view the exact same actions as acceptable when “my team” does it, because somehow “it’s different” then.

Wearing a face mask is not a hardship. And contrary to what conservative white Trumpsters apparently believe, nobody is being oppressed by getting vaccinated.

Brilliant argument. Brava!

“My body, my choice” only makes sense when someone else’s life isn’t at stake.

in light of the texas abortion ban here’s a reminder to stop debating what counts as a human, baby, or life with pro-lifers because that is not a debate you can win. you can not win a philosophical debate about what counts as a person, and you will not change their minds.

what can be proven is that in no situation under united states law is an individual legally obligated to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life. 

4.5 million people each year are in need of blood transfusion, the entire process of donating blood takes a little over an hour, it’s free, and a single pint of blood can save up to 3 peoples lives, but there is no legal obligation or requirement to donate blood in place. 

it is illegal to take organs from deceased peoples’ bodies without permission. CORPSES. bodily integrity is prioritized by law, even after death.

it doesn’t fucking matter whether a fetus is a person, whether a fetus is alive, whether a fetus has a soul. it literally doesn’t matter. pro-lifers set up the argument through that lens (hence their name) to evoke empathy and pity and take the focus away from the actual process of pregnancy, which changes a person’s body FOREVER. that is not an exaggeration. whether the pregnancy is complicated and high-risk or totally smooth sailing, the birthing person will physically never be the same. if they’re lucky, they’ll come out of it with weight gain, differently shaped breasts, and changes to the cervix/vagina. if they aren’t, there’s a fucking laundry list of potential complications that could arise, that may eventually fix themselves, need surgical or therapeutic intervention, or never go away, like varicose veins, separation of the abdominal muscles, incontinence, prolapse, diabetes, postpartum depression, and chronic pain, just off the top of my head. and this makes no mention of the very real possibility of income disruption, as well as the financial cost of giving birth, and the chance of fucking death, which is even higher for underserved communities like black women.

there is no basis for a governing body forcing an individual to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life. that is the argument. period the end.

Science

Face masks effectively limit the probability of SARS-CoV-2 transmission

Airborne transmission by droplets and aerosols is important for the spread of viruses. Face masks are a well-established preventive measure,

We show that mask efficacy strongly depends on airborne virus abundance. Based on direct measurements of SARS-CoV-2 in air samples and population-level infection probabilities, we find that the virus abundance in most environments is sufficiently low for masks to be effective in reducing airborne transmission.

[...] Wearing masks can indeed keep the number of inhaled viruses in a low Pinf regime and explain the observed efficacy of face masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

However, unfavorable conditions and the large variability of viral loads may lead to a virus-rich regime in certain indoor environments, such as medical centers treating COVID-19 patients. In such environments, high efficiency masks and further protective measures like efficient ventilation should be used to keep the infection risk low.

About damn time!

This is smart. And good. #YesWeedCan