no one is making you wear a mask poorly!!!!

you don't have to do this!!! why is it hanging on your chin in a crowd to take a selfie! please stop!!!

not only is it horrifying that there's a major COVID wave brewing, it's doubly horrifying that the reported case data doesn't reflect it at all so denalists and the uninformed will be acting like everything is super safe when it super isn't

data from Biobot Analytics

my favorite part of this graph is noticing how the lows keep getting higher, and higher, and higher...

"The tally of COVID-19 cases linked to a conference of disease detectives hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April has reached at least 181, the agency reported.

Roughly 1,800 gathered in person for this year's annual Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference....

By the last day of the event, a number of in-person attendees had reported testing positive for COVID-19, causing conference organizers to warn attendees and make changes to reduce the chance of further spread."

And yet:

"The CDC is encouraging attendees of the June event to wear their "own high-quality masks and, if possible, also carry COVID-19 rapid tests with them."

(Emphasis added)

I am losing my fucking mind

With sick and disabled people physically and psychologically distanced from them, people who are well and non-disabled have detached themselves from the immorality of their own behavior. "Return to normal" frames indifference to suffering as a morally neutral position and public health as a matter of personal preference. But there is no neutrality in the individual actions that comprise public health; they either cause harm or prevent it. Segregating the "unfit" from the "fit" is not a matter of debate. It is an abomination and a core tenet of eugenics.

It is unbelievably dispiriting to see so many people passively embracing the quiet eugenics of "return to normal". Every time I see a friend's photo in a restaurant, every time I'm on a video call with a group of unmasked coworkers, every time I drive through the city and see everyone acting like it's 2019 it rubs my soul raw. I don't talk about it much anymore because after three years it's a bit boring, but it is a constant and debilitating emotional drain.

I'll end this bummer of a post with a tumblr screenshot that hasn't left my head for a moment since I first saw it.

yeah, I uh

find myself with a much smaller friend count three years in than i had