Insanite posted:

I do not think the original post was doing parasocial weirdness. felt more like, “here’s yet another person who had an unexpected and serious health event, and the language in the announcement made my brain twinge in that now familiar way.”

Insanite posted:

I do not think the original post was doing parasocial weirdness. felt more like, “here’s yet another person who had an unexpected and serious health event, and the language in the announcement made my brain twinge in that now familiar way.”

toggle posted:

if someone goes to work ill with covid, infects a coworker and that person is either maimed or dies, is the infector a bio terrorist?

emgeejay posted:

my mother-in-law was feeling sick this week. tested positive. she’s taken many rapid tests over the years but never tested positive before.

she tested negative the next day. so now assumes the positive test was faulty.

she would never assume any of the past, negative tests were ever faulty. but now will continue to operate as if she’s never had covid. even though she’s surely caught it at least one of the times it’s ripped through her community over these last few years. and even though she just tested positive.

Nocturtle posted:

For comparison would you label someone that transmits HIV a bio-terrorist or criminal and prosecute them accordingly? That makes sense if your goal is to punish people, but it's a terrible idea when trying to reduce the spread of HIV. Practically it would provide a huge disincentive for anyone to ever get tested. It would also disproportionately impact society's underclass as they're made more vulnerable to disease generally. It's the same for all infectious disease..

Gunshow Poophole posted:

Remembering things is a lockdown. Pattern recognition: oh buddy you better believe that's a lockdown.

Maed posted:

if they knew about having hiv and did it on purpose, yes

PoundSand posted:

when Covid was first popping off and there were government rules about masking or what fraction of capacity was allowed in a given room etc etc I was kind of hoping to see some sort of liability to companies that shirked those rules.

I know my company in WA completely ignored masking requirements and the 25% of capacity, honesty even saying we were necessary was kind of questionable because most of our major contracts are gov and they were all still shut down.

I agree individual liability would be a bit much but if schools or businesses etc actually got slammed for negligence when they got a bunch of people sick it would probably yield a better overall response.

Insanite posted:

wasn't part of the open biden rush about beating OSHA to issuing some sort of covid guidance that might've opened employers up to liability?

i might be half-remembering it, but i recall that being the word at the time.

toggle posted:

if someone goes to work ill with covid, infects a coworker and that person is either maimed or dies, is the infector a bio terrorist?

quote:

HIV Criminalization and Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S.
Print
Updated January 19, 2023

Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. requires addressing structural barriers to HIV prevention and care. Current scientific and medical evidence should inform state laws and practices that criminalize actions taken by people with HIV. States should consider updating or repealing outdated laws and practices.

After more than 40 years of HIV research and significant biomedical advancements to treat and prevent HIV, most HIV criminalization laws do not reflect current scientific and medical evidence.

Many of these laws were passed at a time when very little was known about HIV, including how HIV was transmitted and should be treated.
These laws have not increased disclosure and may discourage HIV testing, increase stigma against people with HIV, and exacerbate disparities.
...

quote:

The American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM) and its members are opposed to laws that distinguish HIV disease from other comparable diseases or that create disproportionate penalties for disclosure, exposure or transmission of HIV disease beyond normal public health ordinances. We support non-punitive prevention approaches to HIV centered on current scientific understanding and evidence-based research.

Insanite posted:

wasn't part of the open biden rush about beating OSHA to issuing some sort of covid guidance that might've opened employers up to liability?

i might be half-remembering it, but i recall that being the word at the time.

Nocturtle posted:

You are absolutely correct and IMO it was one of the key events in the American COVID response. IIRC there were even some leaked draft OSHA guidelines that labeled COVID an "airborne workplace hazard" but I can't find them. Does anyone else recall this?

quote:

OSHA is weeks behind schedule in deciding whether to issue emergency COVID standards that could include mandatory air quality rules.

The agency says it is taking time to weigh pros and cons, hearing opposition from business interest groups.

Insanite posted:

e: getting closer:

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/critics-of-osha-virus-rule-urge-white-house-to-ditch-rulemaking

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/osha-covid-19-rule-intended-to-cover-all-workers-draft-shows

Nocturtle posted:

For reference even the CDC considers criminalizing HIV transmission to be ineffective, unscientific and outdated:

Public health organizations are very clear in their opposition to these laws, just one example out of many from the American Academy of HIV Medicine:

Pingui posted:

Pittsburgh Fentanyl Cloud posted:

Lol this is wild and worse in every way than the Trump admin’s reaction to the virus

euphronius posted:

what happened to Walensky

euphronius posted:

what happened to Walensky

Gunshow Poophole posted:

jesus CHRIST

https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/resources/article/rochelle-walensky-senior-academic-fellow

euphronius posted:

what happened to Walensky

https://apnews.com/article/cdc-director-walensky-resigns-d0755409e7c0934e14b212589ce388b9# posted:

Walensky’s last day at CDC is June 30. She does not have a new job or other role lined up, she said, saying she wanted to spend some time with her family, living at a slower pace.

Pingui posted:

Gunshow Poophole posted:

tbf she was already on faculty back in 2020 when she was appointed to the CDC so it's more like failing back to baseline

Too Many Birds posted:

i know folks here think that the biden government is acting maliciously with making decisions like keeping schools open and not enacting mask mandates

but have you considered that its election season and also covid is over?

maybe humble you're selfs.

GATOS Y VATOS posted:

if you don’t mind looking silly, Blox duckbills are N95 and I find them more comfortable than the Auras. also, they are dirt cheap now.

https://bloxdirect.com/products/blox-n95?variant=41171140575388

captainbananas posted:

oh and it is important for those of you with brains not-broken-enough to be familiar with the apocrypha of academia, the titles of her new affiliations:

"Senior Academic Fellow" (Harvard Law);

"Research Fellow" (Kennedy School of Government); and

"Executive Fellow" (Harvard Biz)

means that between the three she'll probably clear north of a million a year to do absolutely loving nothing. They'll have her give a talk or three, but she'll charge for those.

Pingui posted:

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/09/23/covid-vaccine-insurance-denials-cancellations/70918394007/ posted:

COVID vaccine rollout snarled by insurance denials, canceled appointments

Some consumers trying to get updated versions of the COVID-19 vaccine this week have encountered red tape, canceled appointments and delays getting private insurance to cover the shots.
(..)
"It's pretty much par for the course with the U.S. health care system and the patchwork nature of it," said Sabrina Corlette, founder, and co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.
(..)
Health expert struggles to get vaccinated
As vice president and director of the ACA at the health policy foundation KFF, Cynthia Cox is well versed in the nuances of the health insurance industry and U.S. health care system.

Yet even she struggled to get a timely shot.

She tried to get vaccinated on Tuesday ahead of a work trip next week, but her health insurer's in-network pharmacies didn't have any vaccines in stock.

She was willing to pay the $200 out of pocket at a Washington D.C.-area Walgreens pharmacy that wasn't part of her insurer's network. When she attempted to do so, the Walgreens employee contacted her insurer, and a representative for the insurance provider informed Cox that she would need prior authorization to get vaccinated out of network. The insurer even requested that Cox track down her doctor's fax number as part of the process.

The end result – Cox didn't get the shot, even though she was willing to pay out of pocket. She couldn't land an appointment at local CVS stores, and staff at a non-chain pharmacy told her they wouldn't get doses until next week.

She searched her insurer's directory of in-network pharmacies that carry the shot, and she found one in Baltimore, a trip "that's not really a solution for the vast majority of people who live in or around Washington D.C.," she said.

"It was ultimately the insurance bureaucracy that kept me from being able to get the shot, despite the fact that I've been working on insurance policy for over a decade," Cox said.
(..)

Pingui posted: