#c19

Folks, if you haven't been wearing a mask regularly or consistently, but who oppose this administration I want to encourage you to start (folks who have been wearing them all along, let this one go, because this isn't about you.)

I know, I know, you don't want to - you don't want to be harassed, you've had covid twice and it wasn't that bad, you aren't that worried, so why would you do that?

1. Wearing a mask in public means that people who are protesting masked are normalized. If there are many people wearing masks in public spaces, they can't identify who is resisting easily. If masks are a proxy for resistance, as governments are calling them, then it is rather like the story of King Christian of Denmark donning the yellow star. So if you want to protect and support resistors, you can mask.

2. We are on our own with disease protection. RFK jr has been very clear he plans to make vaccines incredibly inaccessible to most Americans. Right now there are circulating cases of measles, TB, mumps, covid and below the radar bird flu (yes, that too) as well as other stuff. No one is going to give you a vaccine to prevent disease. No one is going to tell you when you or your kids are exposed to measles or tuberculosis or bird flu. They are not testing, they are not recording data, they are not seeking to protect you. If you don't protect yourself, no one will.

While I strongly recommend everyone get any boosters or vaccines they need, in a society with low vaccination rates, and permeable vaccines that let some cases through and wane with time, a vaccine-only strategy is not viable. You cannot tell when you are exposed to these diseases, and you will just get sick, and some people will die.

No one is going to tell you when Bird flu starts spreading human to human on any scale. We will find out when a bunch of people get very sick and die - and I don't want you to be among them. No one is going to tell you when a kid has measles at your school in many states now, and you don't know if your vaccine from 30 years ago is still holding. 38% of cases in Ontario have been in vaccinated adults.

Vaccines and air cleaning and far UV light, and smaller classroom densities (yeah right) are all good tools, but the most reliable one is an N95 or equivalent mask.

3. The opinion of Trump, RFK jr and the rest of this administration is that disabled or medically vulnerable people should just die. They've been very clear, and we've seen it in how they cut support, research, to cancer, sickle cell disease, diabetes, alzheimers, etc... and how they talk about people with disabilities like autism.

They are rapidly and painfully stripping resources like SSDI, Medicaid, Special Education support programs and funding, research for rare cancers and diseases, testing that would let you know if your baby has a condition...you name it.

A 14 country study just showed that after 5 1/2 years of the pandemic, 25-30% of people who have covid have long covid. And we've known that was going to happen - that's almost exactly the same stats we've seen in other studies. By your third infection, your risk of long covid is up around 30%.

And while our support systems have been broken and fraying for a long time, they are simply DEAD now. You won't get SSDI. You won't get health care for your disability. You may not get treatment for your cancer. Your Alzheimers meds may not be covered. RFKjr thinks the answer to type 2 diabetes or mental health issues is a work camp.

We know that some viruses, including covid are oncogenic (the obvious one is the HPV virus, and the vaccine prevents cervical cancer perfectly), which means they up your risk of cancer. We know it increases your risk of dementia, and the rate at which dementia progresses. We know that covid can reactivate EBV and TB.

We also know that measles wipes your immune system for three years - including your vaccines. If you get measles, and you cannot get vaccinated again, you could die of diptheria, tetanus, mumps, etc...

You cannot afford to be newly disabled right now. They want people dead or unable to resist. DO NOT COMPLY IN ADVANCE. No one is protecting you from this. So protect yourself - this is as much a step as getting your passport or supporting your food pantry.

4. Because they are so clear that they have eugenicist intents towards disabled people, as well as non-white folks, wearing a mask is an act of solidarity with them.

Statistics have always shown that non-white people are more likely to wear masks than white folks, mostly because they know perfectly well that the safety net has a lot of huge holes in it. They are often worn by people who simply cannot afford to be sick.

Moreover immunocompromised and disabled people HAVE to mask. There are also people who physically CANNOT mask, who rely on others to mask to protect them. When you put on a mask, you do two things.

1. You stand with those who must or wish to mask, and practice community care. You make it clear those lives are more valuable than your convenience. Remember, they are counting on you not to believe that and let disabled people be first targets.

2. You make protest, activism and resistance safe and accessible for millions of people who otherwise cannot participate in standing up to our goverment. You help cross crucial thresholds for engagement by making resistance fully accessible.

My father, who is in his middle 70s and disabled, repeats the mantra regularly that these motherfuckers are not going to get to kill him, no matter how hard they try. That he has no intention of dying under Trump. He's going to stay alive and piss them off and fight back until he gets to piss on their graves.

If you want to do that, you have to wear mask. Its that simple. Masking is fighting back. Masking is solidarity. Masking protects you and everyone. Masking is resistance. Wear a mask in public.

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Also preserved in our archive

Protecting vulnerable community is solarpunk. Supporting covid cautious spaces is solarpunk.