This #LongCovidAwarenessDay I’m reflecting on how many people have been let down by governments, public health & medical establishments

How Covid has been downplayed, airborne spread ignored & vaxx and relax strategies pushed for the sake of capitalism

How many have Long Covid because of this?

Those of us who were disabled before the pandemic could see this wave of chronic illness coming - and many of us have been screaming from the top of our lungs the last 5 years.

Begging people not to take their health for granted & to wear a mask and protect themselves.

Warning them that there are no do-overs once you become chronically ill. Unfortunately very few people are listening - and many won’t understand the true devastation of #LongCovid until it directly impacts them. At which point it’ll be too late.

Despite seeing these waves of disability as an inevitable consequence of “let er rip” Covid strategy - one thing I did not see coming was how many people would willingly embrace not only ableism - but full on eugenics.

People in my own life who were previously kind & supportive have become cruel and angry. The masks have been ripped off. They don’t hesitate to tell me that they blame me for the restrictions placed on them in the early days of Covid.

That they will never again allow their freedoms to be infringed on in the name of protecting the vulnerable. One even went as far as to say “you’ve been sick for years - just die already.”

People who say these things don’t understand what disabled ppl understand all too well - your health is not a permanent state.

Everyone will become disabled eventually - some earlier than others. Many who think they’re invulnerable are already vulnerable and don’t even know it

Yet rather than adapting behaviour and pushing for a new normal that makes the world safe for everyone - most temporarily abled people have instead doubled down on hateful eugenics talking points and want us to stay home forever (or worse - die). It needs to stop.

Covid is airborne and we all share the air. “You do you” individualism is quite literally killing people. We need to start caring about the air we share as this will lead to a healthier society for everyone.

Until then we need to mask up. It’s easy, incredibly effective & it might save someone’s life. At the very least you will know you didn’t contribute to another person’s suffering - and you will be drastically reducing your own odds of getting Long Covid. It’s worth it.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/i-dont-know-anyone-with-long-covid

Today is international #LongCovid Awareness Day

Check this canadian interview with a Mount Sinai (NY) chronic disease specialist. Up to one in five people with COVID-19 develop LONG COVID, meaning three months after having the disease they still do not recover their full abilities.

The specialist affirms that each reinfection, even moderate, of COVID-19 subtracts between 2-6% of IQ.

LONG COVID is a disease that causes systemic damage, especially to the immune system, causing T-cell exhaustion and triggering latent diseases or exposing the body to new pathogens from which it would have been able to defend itself before. Worth a listen:

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/9.6685208

#CovidLong #COVID19 #CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne
#CovidIsntOver
#ImmuneSystem #ImmuneDysfunction
#autoimmune #TCell
#chronicillness
#ChronicIllnesses

It’s International Long Covid Awareness Day, and my latest article looks at the reasons why people believe they don’t know anyone with Long Covid.

We desperately need increased visibility into this debilitating chronic illness so that we can raise awareness and fund treatments, mitigations and cures.

Anyone can get Long Covid. It’s not limited to ‘only the vulnerable’ or those who had a severe initial infection.

This disease does not discriminate. Even people with asymptomatic initial infections have found themselves disabled by Long Covid.

It’s time we start processing the trauma of the pandemic and stop living in denial.

We are in the middle of a mass disabling event, and the longer it takes us to admit that, the more people will be harmed.

Let’s spread the word that the only way to avoid Long Covid is to avoid getting Covid in the first place.

Wear a mask. Stay home when sick. Clean and ventilate the air.

When we all agree to care about the air we share, we can begin to bring about real change.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/i-dont-know-anyone-with-long-covid

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I don't want Long Covid
Do you?

#iamhere #StillCoviding
#MaskUp #LongCovidAwarenessDay
#CureLongCovidNow
#UnitedForLongCovid
#ILCAD2025 #CovidPoetry
#CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver
#RosesAreRedPoems #Poetry

I wrote a guest article for Healthy Debate that looks at why we need mandatory masks in healthcare, why surgical masks aren’t enough, and how the mounting threats to public health are putting lives at risk.

If you’re a healthcare worker, mask up.

Show us you take your oath to “do no harm” seriously

https://healthydebate.ca/2025/03/topic/wear-mask-plea-health-care-workers/

Today marks the five year anniversary of Covid being declared a pandemic. Some things I want people to remember:

The threat is not gone. People are still dying and becoming disabled every single day

COVID is airborne. It’s always been airborne. Droplet transmission was pushed incorrectly & then doubled down on for economic reasons. If governments admit it’s airborne, they have to spend money upgrading air quality and providing respirators etc.

The only way to avoid Long Covid is to not get Covid.

A well fitted respirator like an N95 offers excellent personal protection

Mask mandates belong in healthcare

If you’re not masking for your patient, you’re abdicating your responsibility to do no harm

It costs nothing to open a window and it will improve ventilation and reduce odds of viral spread. Air purifiers work well too

COVID is a social justice issue. Masks, tests, air filters, paid time off… these things all cost money. The disease disproportionately impacts those who are most vulnerable and multiple marginalized

Repeat infections don’t make you stronger. They don’t give you immunity. They actually harm your brain, heart and immune system. They’re also NOT inevitable

Kids are harmed by COVID too. They need the adults to protect them. We need clean in schools and on school buses

We went “back to normal” for capitalism. It wasn’t because it was safe. It wasn’t because there was a cure. Governments and those in power Are willing to sacrifice us to keep end stage capitalism afloat a little longer

Repeat infections are NOT inevitable. We can still curb the spread. We don’t have to accept constant sickness and disability as our new normal.

May we be in a much better place five years from now than we are today.

If you know someone suffering from Long Covid, reach out to them. Ask them how you can support them. Remind them they’ve not been forgotten. Wear a mask for them. They are counting on you.

How denial of airborne COVID transmission broke the world.

'The failure to initially recognize and later acknowledge the airborne spread of COVID-19, was the root cause of major shortcomings in the pandemic response.'

"Airborne mitigations would have greatly reduced viral transmission and therefore reduced evolution, that is to say the production of new variants."

#COVIDisAIRBORNE #COVIDisNotOVER @auscovid19

https://archive.md/ehzgB

For years, folks looked the other way as millions died or became disabled by Covid. They shouted “your health is not my responsibility” or “only the vulnerable” were at risk.

This callous disregard for human life has desensitized us. It helped pave the way for the current atrocities.

You can’t label a group of people expendable and not have it change you.

You can’t turn away in the face of evil and not pay a price.

Wear a mask. Protect one another. Resist.

Stand up for anyone & everyone who’s different than you. Fight for their rights.

Don’t wait until it happens to you.

Pandemics change people. We aren’t used to dealing with the mass death, disability & uncertainty that comes with them.

Unfortunately due to technology & misinformation, society is choosing NOT to process its collective trauma.

Most people are firmly in denial about COVID, and many are grasping on to conspiracy theories and harmful rhetoric in order to return to their 2019 version of “normal”.

That denial is changing us. Refusing to deal with trauma has consequences.

We’re becoming more detached, reckless and apathetic.

There’s still time to change. It starts with acknowledging that the threat has not passed and we all need to do our part to protect our health & the health of those around us.

We have to begin to adapt so that we can heal.

“I don’t know anyone with Long Covid!”

I promise you that you do.

Long Covid is an invisible illness. You won’t know someone is impacted unless they choose to tell you.

Many folks hide their disabilities because the world is NOT kind to disabled people. Be an ally. Be someone we can confide in.

Also, allow for the possibility that the person with Long Covid could be you.

We’ve done a terrible job educating people on what long COVID is & how it presents. Denial runs deep. people have it & either don’t know it or are writing it off as aging, menopause, stress etc.

My next article will focus on Long Covid awareness, politicization and denial.
#longcovid #covidisairborne #covidisnotover #disability #ableism #chronicillness

It’s hard to believe it’s been half a decade since the first cases of Long Covid were reported

I remember reading about it and thinking that the sheer size & scope of the problem would mean real progress in the treatment and recognition of complex chronic illness.

As someone who was suffering from POTS and MCAS, I had hope that COVID would mean medical breakthroughs. Better treatment. Faster time to diagnosis. More effective preventative care. Perhaps even a cure.

I was so wrong.

I’ve watched as Long Covid patients experience the same gaslighting, mistreatment and diagnostic delays as those who came before them.

Not only have we not seen improvements in the way chronic illness patients are treated, we now have 400 million MORE sick patients and nowhere near enough doctors to treat them.

Wear a mask. Protect your health. Support people with disabilities. We need it.

USA:

"59% of Americans believe the COVID-19 pandemic is over, while 41% think it’s not."

"47% of U.S. adults said their lives are fully back to pre-pandemic normal, while 40% said they think life will never get back to normal."

"More than 7 in 10 U.S. adults, 72%, reported having contracted COVID-19 at some point since 2020, while 28% say they have never had it."

#COVIDisNotOVER #COVIDIsAirborne

Source: https://www.livenowfox.com/news/americans-say-covid-pandemic-over-5-years-later

@auscovid19

Prior to Covid it was normal to mask in the NICU. People understood that premature babies are as vulnerable as they come and need to protected.

Now? Gowns & gloves but no masking.

The damage caused by anti mask rhetoric will be felt for years (possibly decades) to come.

Mask mandates belong in healthcare. We should be providing free respirators at the door & cleaning and ventilating the air.

If you’re a healthcare worker who doesn’t think you need to mask, please read my plea on behalf of vulnerable patients:

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/a-plea-to-maskless-healthcare-workers

We know masks in healthcare stop the spread of airborne disease. We know they reduce the risk of hospital acquired COVID (which has a 10% mortality rate).

We know respirators work even better.

So why aren’t we masking? Why are patients having to bear the brunt of infection control?

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/we-need-mandatory-masking-in-healthcare