Trifler, tartler, pushover. Lecturer in English, UCC. She/her. @ecomaureen.bsky.social
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The HIV virus takes 2-8 years to develop into AIDS. The HPV virus takes even longer to cause cervical cancer. We don't know what awaits us five, ten years post-COVID infection, but we keep taking outrageous chances.
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So many 'Christmas colds' circulating. I have been alive for over 64 years, and do not remember this level of illness over the holiday period, but by next year this will be considered perfectly normal and (mis)remembered as the way it always was. It's already happening this year.
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Heard a disturbing snippet of conversation on my way into work just now between a mother and child, a girl around 8 or 9. "You can't be tired! You're young and full of energy." Tearful, anguished response, "I'm not! I'm not!" π
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I've been teaching at 3rd level for 30 years. I have never experienced anything like the number of students with recent-onset cardiac, gastrointestinal, and neurological issues as I have in the last couple of years, yet people in the uni keep saying post-COVID, during COVID, etc.
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I am actually losing the ability to cope with this reality and not having a single person in my day-to-day life taking any of this seriously.
Finland's epidemic 5 June 2024: excess deaths for <60 year olds continue to grow. For 5-9 year olds, excess deaths are now at 2.4 times pre-pandemic level.
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So jealous of a professional conference that requires masks!
All attendees at the #Socialism2024 conference are required to wear a mask.
And itβs fine. No oneβs complaining nor rebelling.
Everyone is complying because thatβs what you do when you care about others when Covid is still very much happening.
ALT Selfie of me wearing a mask at the Socialism 2024 conference in Chicago McCormick Place.
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The first measles death in 24 years is all over Irish media, including attempts to trace anyone possibly exposed. 123 people died of COVID in Ireland in the first 4 weeks of the year, and ... crickets.
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RIP to this beauty. I don't think I've ever felt as entwined with or loved an animal as much, which is saying something. π
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One of my dad's best friends, who was especially, consistently supportive after mom's death, is in his last days. He received a terminal diagnosis a couple of years ago, which did not stop him spending time with my dad until recently. Now he's caught COVID, and the doctors 1/
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So, this was understood 3 years ago...
Stop COVID-19 hanging around.
In enclosed spaces, COVID-19 hangs in the air like smoke. Open windows for 10 minutes each hour when socialising indoors to clear it away.
ALT COVID-19 gathers like smoke. Open windows to disperse the particles.
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I'm not and have never been a parent, so am unsure about the accuracy what a doctor on the radio said earlier today: is it typical for a child to have 10-12 viral infections in a year? She claims we've forgotten how 'normal' that is.
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Only person masked (ofc) at a conference at U of Galway. Here's the CO2 reading in the Moore Institute after the first plenary. I'm delivering the day's last plenary and was feeling the weird pressure of solitary masking, but this has convinced me to deliver the talk masked.
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I don't blame anyone for not wanting a stinky old PhD to opine on 'medical' matters, but several scientists and medical professionals have provided links to their relevant research below, so check them out! Don't listen to me!
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At a conference last week, someone in attendance had a mint allergy. Announcements were made every day about not chewing or sucking or drinking anything with mint. This was said with a straight face in a badly ventilated room to dozens of unmasked people breathing in pathogens.
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I won't say too much, but I've discovered another masker at work, and it makes an incredible difference! The enervating dread of going into work every day has lifted considerably. π
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This boring, old, cis, straight, white woman cannot match the cool and glamour of most posters in this thread, but she's masking y'all! #yallmasking
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There have been a number of deaths among university staff in the 7-8 months--no one older than early 60s, some much younger--so many that the president remarked on it. No dots will ever be joined.
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New COVID variant news all over the radio this morning, even timid suggestions about wearing masks in medical settings. I was back in Bon Secours hospital this morning to see a consultant. NOT ONE frigging mask to be seen, and I had to walk through 2 buildings.
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How bad must it actually be if COVID is back in the news, AND they are talking about masking! π²
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I am co-hosting a 3-day hybrid event here in Germany next week. I have to introduce the event and one of the speakers. The COVID-conscious people here on X are giving me the knowledge and courage to be the (likely) only masked person in attendance. Thank you! π₯°
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Back in the office after 6 mos in Germany, hearing about many health issues among colleagues, from 'another cold' to seriously alarming systemic issues, yet getting (from a few) barely suppressed sneers and eyerolls at my mask. But guess who hasn't been sick in over 4 years?
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Flying for the first time in 4 years from Dublin airport, where there is a good deal of coughing, but not a single other mask so far.
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Dying friend COVID, he says, because people genuinely have no idea that it's a danger they should be protecting themselves or anyone else from. And so it goes. /end
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So, my physio told me that the Chartered Physiotherapists of Ireland Association has strongly discouraged its members from masking, as it 'sends the wrong message'. How many other professional medical associations are saying something similar to their members?
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Several FB friends in the last couple of weeks report testing positive, then post photos of themselves socialising in restaurants,with their young children, elderly parents, and talking about the trips they're about to take. All people with PhDs.
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Every single self-identifying socialist I know (I know quite a few!) stopped masking the second it was no longer required.
βDismantling of public health measures by capitalist governments worldwide, allowing SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, unimpeded access to the worldβs population, has created the conditions for even greater damage to human healthβ wsws.org/en/articles/2024/06β¦
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About the true dangers of COVID because I keep him informed. No newspaper, journal, or TV news programme (and he watches them all, including Al Jazeera) ever says much about it, and no one expresses urgency or alarm when it does come up. He isn't angry at whoever gave his 4/
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While food shopping, I ran into someone I hadn't seen in a couple of years. She mumbled something about me covering my face, wouldn't look at me, seemed hugely uncomfortable, and literally ran out of the shop saying she forgot her money at home. I had been happy to see her. π€·ββοΈ
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On the drive home from dad's today, there was a constant stream of requests on the radio from people sick in bed for Christmas. While the DJ remarked on the high volume of messages he was getting from sick listeners, no dots are being connected.
Thereβs an alarming trend of folks posting videos of how sick they are on TikTok. Everyone thinks that the viruses going around are getting worse. No one understands that Covid has messed up their immune systems.
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Except it's not. It's a neurovascular disease, and C19 is one a handful of viruses that can break through the blood-brain barrier.
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Speak to me because I have criticised them putting my immunocompromised father in danger, and who are parents of HCWs, by the way, reminded me of something I am having trouble realising. People do not know what's going on. My dad, who watches and reads news all day, only knows 3/
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Coming up on 7 years ago, in front of UCC's Boole Library, a student coughed directly into my mouth (unintentionally). I was then very ill with a viral infection. My GP said she thought I should be hospitalised, but I resisted. Four months later, I collapsed in my kitchen and 1/
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Give little hope beyond a couple of days. I know for a fact that none of this man's children or grandchildren have been masking around him. I asked dad if he was angry about that. Dad, who is mostly good about masking, except around his COVID-denying siblings, who no longer 2/
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I don't do modern grieving correctly, I guess, because I cannot get over the death of my best friend 7 years ago, my mother's death nearly 4 years ago, or even my most adored cat's death last year. My life is simply, permanently diminished, less worth living with each loss.
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For the first time, I was the ONLY person in the shopping centre and grocery store masking. There is usually a sprinkling of others. They're gone.
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Wow! Look at all the masks in the audience.
My lecture Tuesday night at the University of Michigan on Israel's genocidal war was very well attended. Students are outraged by the Biden administration's support for the assault on #Gaza. The entire lecture will be posted soon on wsws.org.
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Someone has posted my Facebook piece to Twitter. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks, @NataliaAntonova, and to @MedievalMort for alerting me to it!
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"Y'all masking" is what I needed right now! You are each of you so gorgeous! π₯°π
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The dots will not be connected in my lifetime. Social media platforms now censor references to COVID, people I know who have had strokes, organ failure, etc., continue to go unmasked. If humanity survives, there *might* be an understanding of it all a couple of generations hence.
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Ireland in full denial. The COVID booster is now available only to the over 80s (!) and the severely immunocompromised.
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A new variation of 'mild' I just heard from someone: a touch of postoperative pneumonia.
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UHL doctor on the radio just now saying COVID is not currently a concern in re the exploding hospitalisations, because it has 'plateaued'. This raises questions, but primarily, I want to know if they're testing. What I'm hearing is it's impossible to get a COVID test in hospital.
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I just can't bring myself to 'like' any posts featuring pictures of indoor receptions, conferences, book launches, parties, weddings, etc., where no one is masked.
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sometimes pretty intensely, but I was lucky, really, as all viruses can be extremely dangerous. Respect the power of viruses and avoid infection! End
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This is troubling. It's no longer unthinkable to work in an operating room unmasked.
I have noticed a significant increase in general laxity about PPE since COVID masking has been dropped. A significant % of OR staff (esp anesthesia & RTs) not bothering to mask inside actual OR even when sterile fields are open & set up.
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#SaltingTheVibes at the hairdresser. They always seat me next to the open door--Aranet readings nice and low!
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If only the people in my life whom I seem to be increasingly alienating by masking and posting about CVD understood what it takes out of me to mask up every day--I am a natural coward and LOATH confrontation, but I cannot bear to do nothing in the face of this unfolding disaster.
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On my third German train of the day, heading for my 4th train station of the day. Have seen a sprinkling of masks, which isn't zero! π€·
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Long COVID strikes another musician. rollingstone.com/music/musicβ¦
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I can't believe this fairly simple tweet went ... uh, bacterial? (I am not a medical doctor, OK?!?!?) Please mind yourselves, everyone. I care about you all, except that one jerk I blocked. Good night! π
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My dad is the only remaining person in my day-to-day life with whom I can really talk about things like capitalism, climate change, COVID, etc. He will be 89 in a few weeks. π
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I thought masking was bad in Germany, but I always saw one or two other maskers wherever I went. I've been back in Ireland for a week and have not seen ONE mask anywhere. Not one.
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I was an asthmatic child and often sick, but I don't think it ever reached annual double digit numbers. Seems wild, yet a few people have responded here saying that it IS normal!?!
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Had a little cry this morning after getting an email officially warning staff about travel to the US, the dangers of having social media posts, emails, publications, etc., on our phones or laptops not aligned with 'US ideology'.
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the rather severe ataxia (shaking), all thanks to a viral injury that shredded the nerves of my inner ear (vestibular neuritis), with probable damage to my brain stem, according to a neurologist I consulted. To this day I suffer from some level of dizziness at all times, 3/
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The coughing is much scarier and more ubiquitous here than in Ireland, and masking is nonexistent, compared to nearly so in Ireland. I have now seen 2 children vomiting in the street. 2 of the 3 members of staff I know are out sick, and teaching hasn't started yet.π·
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I'll brace myself for all the people who will let me know here what they would have done and what I should have done. Forty years ago. At the age of 19.
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was taken to hospital in an ambulance. I could not open my eyes for days with the severe dizziness, could not read or look at screens for weeks. I had to take 8 months off work and use a cane to walk, not only because of the dizziness, but also 2/
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People are just genuinely unaware. No natter how intelligent, they are completely uninformed. I met a number of people I know fairly well yesterday whom I haven't seen in years, and they looked sincerely puzzled at my mask.
i can't believe every decision to go anywhere or participate in anything involves the possibility of permanent disability and/or chronic illness and i also can't believe that this isn't burdening literally everyone???
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I can't find the response here that accused me of hiding my identity behind a mask in my profile pic, but I'm just hiding my jowls and turkey neck! You can find pictures of my whole face online, if interested.
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Unprecedented! (For me.) I am in the central train station in Berlin. Waiting for my train back to WΓΌrzburg, I went to buy a couple of souvenir stocking stuffers. As I went to pay, the woman at the till saw me and disappeared. She came back out wearing a mask!! π₯°π₯°π₯°
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People are not OK. I heard a radio interview with an eminent novelist whose work I admire and whom I've heard speak and read many times. They stumbled, halted, searched for simple words that the intervieer supplied. Kind of shocking.
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I am not normally a Sindo reader, but am spending the weekend with my dad who gets ALL the Sunday papers, and is a fan of Gene Kerrigan. Did not expect to find COVID truth-telling in its pages!
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Just heard a vitamin supplement ad on the radio claiming 1 in 5 people in Ireland suffer symptoms of LC. I don't know the source of the number, but for Long COVID to have appear in a mainstream advertisement is striking.
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Well, people have been using money to try to ignore plagues for centuries. Read The Decameron (Boccaccio, 14th century) and 'The Masque of the Red Death' (Poe, early 19th century) for a different angle.
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Fully three of these large (rented) air filters running in the small Boots shop in Galway Shopping Centre. π€
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In Frankfurt airport, not another mask to be seen. A toddler just dropped a chunk of banana that rolled away on the floor. Dad chased it and picked it up ... then gave it back to the toddler to eat. π΅βπ«
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Since the pandemic started, I don't think I've known as many people with COVID as in the last couple of months, which must be just a fraction of the reality, as so few are testing, not everyone testing positive is revealing it, and antigen tests are not terribly accurate. π¬
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Tens of millions in total lockdown in China; Irish hospitals tweet desperately, asking people not to present at the ED. But walking around UCC or town, very few masks, and then, cloth or surgical. Most of my colleagues, trained & adept in critical thinking, going around maskless.
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My defence of Edna O'Brien against Ian Parker's New Yorker attack has been published. I don't tend to promote myself on here, but this is about O'Brien, not me. drb.ie/essays/a-gratuitous-aβ¦
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The Irish media have gone back to silence on masks, even as they report unprecedented pressure on the health care system. Unprecedented. Worse than pre-vaccine times. GPs are being urged to hold extra clinics, but last week's moment of urging mask wearing appears to have passed.
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So many students and colleagues have COVID or 'viral something', 'flu' or a 'heavy cold' right now. I'm doing all I can to continue to avoid infection, but sickness is all around. Sitting in my apartment, windows open, I hear the heavy wet coughing of passers-by, 2 stories down.
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Wonderful to see US protestors masking, showing love and care for all. In Germany there were always a couple of maskers in shops, on trains, buses, but I'm back in Ireland for 6 weeks, Galway, Limerick, Sligo, Cork, and not ONE mask have I seen. Zero. This is becoming impossible.
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A couple of things. I am finally Senior Lecturer (analogous to Associate Professor in the US) in University College Cork, and, beginning in October, I will spend six months as the Travelling Visiting Professor in Irish Studies 2023/24 at the University of WΓΌrzburg, Germany.
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I would love to attend theatrical performances and go to the cinema, but spending hours in an enclosed, usually inadequately ventilated space surrounded on all sides by unmasked people seems like a pointless risk.
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An annual conference that's been personally & professionally important to me for decades is currently underway. I last attended when it was held online in 2021. I know of 20 people who contracted C0VID at last year's meeting. Loads of pictures of smiling attendees over on FB. π
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I have been in an all-day meeting, wearing a mask, for 6 hours now, and it isn't over. We are down one person because she tested + for COVID just yesterday...
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Thanks, Natalia! Yes, several NU friends, including my roommate at the time, have reported back to me confirming the accuracy of my memories.
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