r/ZeroCovidCommunity

My strategy has always been avoiding potential exposure at all costs and wearing a respirator if it's unavoidable. I basically leave the house for outdoor walks, medical needs that must be done in-person ... and that's it.

I can pass QLFT easily with multiple disposables and elastomerics. It's not a matter of appearance, I really don't care. It's not a matter of cost (especially with elastomerics), I can afford it.

It's a matter of the what-ifs.

What if I screwed up the fit test?

What if I forgot something with the seal check?

What if my infectious dose is so low that my N95 can't hold it at bay?

What if some jerk deliberately coughs at me? (not unlikely to happen in this area)

How you get past the fact that entire world is trying to give you a deadly, crippling disease and a single mistake, imperfection, or misunderstanding could ruin your life?

Phone number: (919) 814-2000

Website:

Why:

In response to one of my emails about this bill to the NC legislature, I received this response from one Senator:

The changes the House made to the bill did not address immunocompromised individuals, other high-risk individuals and their families, or other valid reasons for wearing a mask. It empowers anti-mask activists to force people to remove their masks and will create havoc and risk. The provisions designed to silence protestors and alter campaign finance laws are also unacceptable. 

None of these changes were shared with Democratic Senators until the bill was on the Senate floor and it was introduced using a method that cut off the option to offer amendments. There are many unanswered questions about its language, including important details necessary to ensure we don't make careful people into criminals and don't empower anti-maskers to harass immunocompromised and other vulnerable people by forcing them to remove their masks in public.

In response, my Senate Democratic colleagues and I walked out during the vote last week in protest. The House of Representatives voted on the bill yesterday and it passed. It will now go to the Governor's desk to be signed or vetoed. If Governor Cooper vetoes this law, I will vote to uphold his veto. I will keep fighting.

Thank you again for your advocacy. I hope you reach out again when issues arise that are important to you.

Editing to add: This is the most recent version of the bill I know of. If someone knows where we can access a more recent version, please let me know:

Firstly, if you happen to live in Linn or Benton County in Oregon and you have a Facebook, please feel free to join: (Corvallis, Albany, Lebanon, Sweet Home are some of the bigger cities)

After thinking about it for a while, I decided to start a local group. I have been feeling so isolated. My husband is thankfully on the same page as me when it comes to Covid, but (as far as I know) no one else in our lives are. I am hoping to meet some local people to befriend who I know will get it.

I had to prepare myself when it came to promoting the group. Lots of the typical "laugh" reacts and people chiming in with their own understanding of the situation. Lots of people think *the vaccine* is the reason for the increases in sickness/disability, if they even acknowledge the sickness/disability in the first place. It's pretty discouraging.

Anyway, I have been following this group for a few months and find it helpful. Stay safe out there!

I have to see an opthalmologist tomorrow and called just now to request that the technician wear a mask when in the room with me. They agreed so, yay!

The receptionist then informed me to wear a “flat” face mask as something like a KN95 will fog up the machine…is my 3M aura going to be fine?

I tried to explain this style to her and she didn’t really seem to get it or know if it would work.

I really don’t want to wear a surgical at a doctors office. Thanks in advance :)

I have endoscopy coming up this summer and last week I asked if the doctor could wear N95 with me. The nurse on the phone said they cannot promise they will wear N95 but they can wear surgical.

Has anyone managed to get their doctor to wear a higher quality mask? How do you make this ADA request?

On my way home from a SIBO test. Still very frustrated that there was no at-home option when it feels like generally more accessible/remote options have stayed a thing since 2020.

I really had no idea what to expect with the set up. It ended up being a room with three other patients and someone administering/monitoring the test. Luckily I had my sip valve for drinking the solution but had to remove my mask 4-5 times to breathe into the bag. It was really hard to forcefully exhale after putting my mask back on after exhaling into the bag but I did my best. Going to do a saline rinse + mouthwash as soon as I get home but just need some reassurance from people with similar experiences hopefully.

Was wondering if any of you knew whether the Philippines these days are closer to East/Southeast Asia (perhaps on the level of a Malaysia or Indonesia rather than a Japan or a Thailand?), or to North America/Europe/Australia when it comes to masking culture and general courtesy in matters of safety?

I am not expecting any regulations from any world government re: COVID and related, more I am gauging along the lines of "how often do people there do the right things without being asked or told?" -- both overt/visible things such as masking and staying home when sick, and more subtle things like ventilation, test access, courtesy in shared settings, healthcare safety, etc. (And I know that areas heavy with western tourists are the least-safe even in that part of the world)

Can someone point me to science documentation on whether it is a good idea for a child to be moved to another house once someone in their household tests positive, or remain in place until everyone tests negative? Thanks everyone.

My daughter (10) has to have an endoscopy almost 2 hours away. We'll be staying at lodging provided by the children’s hospital, which is 3 minutes away from the hospital. This lodging is shared with other families. They do still seem to screen for covid, but I know that means nothing if asymptomatic and the website could be outdated. My children need GOOD masks for the inn we will be staying at, as well as the children's hospital. They currently wear a kf94. My daughter and I are both immunocompromised and with her current health issues, covid would send her directly to the hospital. I've even seen nurses not masking around cancer patients in this hospital and that scares me. Pre procedure, while we wait, I want to make sure she's protected at the hospital and as we walk through the entrance of the inn provided by the hospital. Any masks, hand sanitizers or anything else we should do, please let me know. I have saline nasal spray and can get mouth wash. Please, let me know what websites to purchase from. Thanks in advance!

Within the last 5 days, about 4 people I know, who do not associate with each other and live 20 mi apart, have revealed they got infected over the weekend. In addition, a week prior, another person had an event that was canceled because there were several positives in their group.

So, the first-of-summer surge is now on? It will never be televised, I suppose.

I've gotten lax with masking but it went on again today. This is ridiculous. So exhausted.

A big long, sorry…Let me start by saying that my elderly mom is extremely vulnerable to covid and she lives in an apartment off of my house. For years, we have had a sign requiring masks to enter our home. We are strict about this and offer n95s at the door.

When workmen come out, it always feels like a struggle, with eye rolling and stupid comments (“Do y’all always wear masks in your own house?). And, inevitably, the mask slips down under their nose or it’s got a huge gap. Well, NOT TODAY.

My son went to his college orientation and came down with Covid. It was the first time he ever went anywhere without a mask, but we collectively decided that he should not wear a mask if he wanted to try to make new friends. (I hate that it is that way, but it is). Anyway, ONE TIME WITHOUT A MASK, and he has Covid. Ugggg.

We had him isolated in his room with air purifiers running and all windows open. He is currently taking Paxlovid.

We had an appointment with a plumber today. I met him outside with an n95 and told him that our son had Covid and asked if he wanted a mask. BIG DIFFERENCE IN ATTITUDE WHEN HE KNOWS COVID IS CONFIRMED. He put it on and somehow it stayed on correctly, good seal, over his nose!

Should I just always say that someone is sick with Covid when workers come over in the future???

I'm not saying people who didn't mask deserve to get sick but I have 100% isolated, never did anything high risk and got sick masked. I did everything in my power not to get disabled cause I knew what would happen to me

And I caught covid a few weeks after they dropped the mask mandates

Well, if they drop the mask mandates "cause back to normal" (read in retail announcer voice) why am I disabled

They have to be held accountable Wtaf

When I think about the future, everyone I know who's not dead will be sick and poor and unable to work as well.

What would governments do about this? They can't euthanize us all. And we can't work so we're nothing to them.

Genuinely curious

EDIT: just to clarify no I don't expect a reckoning lol. I know many people on CC twitter and Reddit believe there's a tipping point for the pandemic, I don't. That entails "not expecting them to care"

I just have a genuine curiosity about the logistics capitalism will take when they killed off their tax payers and workforce.

I also don't appreciate being told I'm "new to death and disability" cause I'm born with a disability

after saying they and everyone they know has brain fog and fatigue from it.

they also said this to someone disabled by long covid (me)

the world gets more Black Mirrorish every day

Nothing seems to spark rage in my vax&relax family like this. "Of course we're not sick, how dare you say that! We would never put you at risk!" I have told them, repeatedly, about asymptomatic cases.

Has anyone experienced this? I'm trying to truly understand what's so triggering for them.

I think it’s important to remain optimistic that things will get better. There are numerous mucosal vaccines being developed in many countries, some of them in their second phase of human trials. We could see a mucosal vaccine arriving as soon as 2025. This vaccine will prevent infections at a high enough percentage that the risk of contracting covid will be very low.

Furthermore, there are numerous projects to develop a universal (variant proof) vaccine which will shut the book on having to wack a mole with a new vaccine for each variant.

This pandemic will end. It is inevitable. While it seems like most of society is ignoring COVID, in reality it’s impossible to do so. Too many people are still going into hospitals, being sick for long durations, or contracting long COVID. While this virus is new, it’s not an impossible virus to beat. When we do beat it, we will have solved a lot of issues for fighting other viruses.

So think positive. Be patient. help is coming and for now be kind to one another including yourselves.

Further reading on the latest news:

Hi everyone, I guess I want to share and give a warning.

Two Saturdays ago, I had an emergency appointment with the dentist. I made sure I booked the first appointment that day. I wore my mask throughout the whole thing, but of course I had to take it off when the dentist took a quick look at my tooth and when she took an x-ray. All in all, I must have been maskless for about 5 minutes.

When I came back home, I remember telling my partner "ugh, what if I caught it", to which he replied "nah, it would be really unlucky if you did". I thought "he's right, first appointment of the day, used my spray, did CPC mouthwash when I came back... should be fine"

Three days later, I very very suddenly developed full body chills as well as muscle pain, followed by debilitating dizziness. Later that day my nose could smell smoke and the smell of rubbish, my boyfriend couldn't smell any of that. Couple of days later my partner began developing symptoms too.

I swear this thing gets weirder each time as well. This time, I have really intense pain in the bottom right of my abdomen, as well as in my chest, stabbing, shooting pains. Trying to rest as much as I can and being kind to my nervous system.

I am someone who is very careful ALL the time. I can't believe this thing got me again after lowering my guard for such a short amount of time. It feels so unfair.

You know ... I thought my 30's were gonna be great, filled with exciting experiences. I remember turning 30 and really feeling so excited for the future. Instead, it's been filled first with lockdowns/ pandemic weirdness, followed by moderate/severe chronic disease and danger waiting round the corner everywhere. I turn 34 tomorrow. I can only hope the second half of my 30's is better. I do feel hopeful, the nasal vaccines are on their way, and my LC symptoms improving, slowly but surely. A better future is still a possibility. I just want this weird and dangerous period in human history to end NOW, it's been too long!

Anyway ... stay safe out there guys, think twice before lowering your guard. Sending hugs and strength.

So my wife has put a lot of pressure on me to allow our 7yo to stop masking. She's the last one in her grade, and judging by photos from school, she has been wearing it under her chin most of the time anyways. Our school has outdoor lunch and generally keeps windows open (HEPA filters seem to be off these days) and while there's a lot of illness that went around, there was no Covid this year. (We are still required to test in order to get a sick kid back into school.) There's obviously something I don't understand about Covid immunity and transmission, but now that Covid is going vertical here, we need to go back to a real strategy.

My daughter left for sleepaway camp on Sunday. They are almost entirely outdoors and they have the windows open and fans on in the cabins at night, so I suppose that will help a bit. This is absolutely not what I would choose; I realize that I have been worn down for years and agreed even though the risk concerns me greatly.

I reached out to the camp a week ago and I suggested that they ask everyone to at least give their kids a rapid test the day before it starts.

The person I spoke to...jeez...made my skin crawl. One of those fake smiley people. She made some uninformed or just plain weird statements:

1. "Our medical committee does not see any evidence of rising Covid rates" (turned out they were looking at 10-day-delayed CDC wastewater data, not our local sewershed data)

2. "Nobody will do it anyways, so it's just window dressing. In the past, so many parents didn't do it or just forgot. The parents who are conscientious will do it anyways." (I guess nobody has ever heard of risk minimization. Something is always better than nothing.)

3. "Your school is a community where people know and care about each other, but this is 250 kids who don't know each other." (This was supposed to be a touchy-feely camp, strange comment)

4. "We don't make changes to our plans a few days out; everything is well-reasoned" (really? if there was a forest fire encroaching on the camp, you wouldn't do anything?)

5. In their pre-camp email, they wrote "if your child has any symptoms of illness right now or develops any symptoms this weekend or your child has a known COVID-19 or other illness exposure, especially if that other person lives in the household, please let us know and we’ll help them monitor for symptoms at Camp." (So they are acknowledging the risk, but are putting a plan in place that doesn't stop spread.)

6. "We have thorough health checks before kids get on the bus" (Ok, but checking for a fever won't help)

7. "People aren't really contagious by day 5." (Fucking CDC changing their rules to unscientific bullshit)

8. "Covid is so mild many people don't notice" (Argh)

9. I said my concern is not acute symptoms, but the risk of long Covid: "Well, this is a new disease and there's a lot we don't know."

10. "Ultimately it's your choice whether to send your kid to camp, and you don't have to if you're not comfortable." (So revolting; you are the one who's creating the risk!)

She did agree to share the local wastewater data I provided with their medical committee, and then came back at the last minute to say they weren't going to do anything, but were going to rely on their health checks.

Any guesses as to what happened to check-in? I have a knee injury, so only my wife went and stood in line the check-in. I asked her and the other parents after about the health check. "Huh? There wasn't one."

So this camp told me I should depend on their health checks/feel comfortable with those. And then they didn't do them.

I haven't heard anything about a Covid outbreak yet, fingers crossed. My hope is that even though Covid was going vertical last week, many kids had already been out of school since June 4, so there were fewer opportunities for transmission ahead of time.

But how the hell can you be in charge of little kids and be such a gaslighting manipulative asshole?

hi all, a more casual post - lately, I have been hunting for new music to listen to, and I am curious to know of any confirmed bands or music artists who are covid cautious, do not tour as a precaution, or generally at least are aware of covid in some form.

I enjoy when the music I listen to aligns with my values and I imagine a lot of us do. if anyone here has music on streaming platforms, perhaps we can make this a thread to promote like-minded music creators...as well as naming any others or maybe more known music groups.

bonus if the genre is punk rock or anything of that sort, but any genre is on the table really. anyone have any suggestions?

My partner has been diligent about masking with and without me when indoors for groceries or on public transportation. We also limit our indoor dining to off-peak days/hours, otherwise, we dine outdoors. It’s not a perfect system but we are doing our best. It has probably cost us some networking/socializing opportunities we are not aware of, but it has felt worth it. It has also felt validating when we see someone else masking in a crowd.

One area of concern is my partner’s group fitness class. It is indoors with subpar ventilation and little space between the classmates but it is an efficient and effective workout program. They have tried wearing a surgical mask at my request but the sweat and intensity from the workout makes it difficult, so they’ve given up. Fitness is an important part of their life and I don’t want to take it away from them, but I am always worried about them catching COVID from class (and possibly infecting me). It hasn’t happened yet, but I think it’s a matter of luck.

What types of masks are you able to do HIIT workouts in? Is it a matter of building up lung capacity/should my partner give masking more time? What other suggestions do you have?