"Ok Doomer" Substack gives you the news most people don't want to hear

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Originally published at: "Ok Doomer" Substack gives you the news most people don't want to hear | Boing Boing

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I prefer the term well-informed optimist. Tomato, potato…

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you call this “dooming”? i find #9 entirely too optimistic. (“number nine number nine…”)

  1. You can catch Covid multiple times.

  2. Reinfections are common, not rare.

  3. Breakthrough infections are common.

  4. Covid can kill you months after you recover.

  5. It can cause brain damage.

  6. It can cause blood clots and heart attacks.

  7. It doesn't spare children.

  8. Vaccines help, but only some.

  9. Masks work.
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This seems redundant, considering the existence of corporate media outlets. I suppose the difference is that the latter are more than willing to invite “opposing viewpoints” to scientific fact.

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Masks work, but they have to fit correctly. And there are efforts to improve them, but we also need to use them correctly. Masks which let you see people talking aren’t being used by the most visible public figures. When public health officials or local government leaders are on camera they keep removing their opaque masks. But masks aren’t the only thing we need to be working on.

For #8, intramuscular vaccines are good at building up anti-bodies in most of the body, but not the upper respiratory tract’s mucous membranes; an infection will take hold there. India has the first nasally administered vaccine for COVID.

Ventilation is also crucial but we practiced hygiene theater. “But I’ve got an air purifier…” which only runs when much larger particulates activate it in one room. “My furnace has a filter…” but it’s not MERV 13 or better and you don’t run the blower 24/7. “I’m isolating myself…” without blocking the ducts to other rooms. After past pandemics we adapted by building outdoor classrooms and built radiators by windows so they could stay open in the cold months. Now, we carefully determine how many air changes per hour a classroom requires, don’t fund the ventilation changes necessary to achieve that, and tell children to trust the adults and go, anyway.

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Being realistic and cautious about Covid isn’t my idea of a “doomer.”

To my thinking, a doomer is someone who whines and moans perpetually about how ‘terrible everything is’, how ‘we’re all fucked’ and how ‘there’s no hope, whatsoever…’ all while not lifting a finger to help find any solutions.

But maybe I’m just too literal…

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