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No Covid misinformation, including anti-vaxx, anti-mask, anti-lockdown takes.
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Jessica Wildfire's COVID bookmark list
COVID-safe dentists: (thanks sovietknuckles)
New wastewater tracking (replacing biobot): https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tracker
This is a pre-print for a study that was done with mice. I love y'all, but don't go replacing your normal precautions with untested alternatives just yet.
Edit: I was shocked that no one else was able to read the full text of the article yet I could. I guess that Bypass Paywall for Firefox is damn good. The best I could do for you all is a copy-paste job because the website won't let me print out a PDF or anything.
Oof yeah this is pretty early in development. I do like the 100% survival rate in their experimental group vs 0% survival in the control group, it seems like it might have some potential.
You can get pretty good at designing studies that end up giving you results like that
Why didn't they mention this in my bs research ethic course :(
it will be free right? 
If it's anything like Covid tests, we'll be lucky to get 3 of them for a period of 2 years 
Apparently the company calls it Profi and it's already for sale for
$25 per bottle
but with a 15-25% discount if you do a subscription instead of a 1-time purchase. The amount of discount depends on how frequent your subscription is, though maybe you can just choose the most often one and cancel immediately anyway
Its ingredient list: pectin, gellan, phenylethyl alcohol, polysorbate 80, benzalkonium chloride, purified water
They say that it can be used up to 3 times per day but that there should be at least a 4-hour gap between uses
Their site's Read the Science link takes you to the paywalled paper
The paper looks to be a pure theory paper that contains no information on human trials. It's frankly bizarre that they're already selling this, and I'd recommend not buying it until it has passed human trials.
Their site's Read the Science link takes you to the paywalled paper
Lmao
"Read the science"
"Well, observe the existence of science behind this wall, anyway"
"subscription"
Who ever spoke this word first should be in the lowest layer of hell.
Profi(t)
This looks like some quack VC stuff
Iota-carageenan based sprays operate on the same principle. Basically coats your nasal passage with a gel that traps virus, bacteria, and allergens.
The one I use helps with allergies so it's doing something, and I convinced someone I know who works in small office and got pressured out of masking at work (plus they couldn't find a mask that works with their glasses), and they run an air filter + nasal sprays like covixyl and betadine, along with yearly vaccines, and they haven't gotten sick in over a year.
But I've also read enough anecdotal reports from people who use them and still got sick with covid. Who knows if they were properly applied, but I doubt these sprays alone will do much if your exposure levels are high.
Still iI think t's probably worth trying to protect your olfactory bulb with these sprays, since that's at least one of the ways they think covid can enter the brain.
plus they couldn't find a mask that works with their glasses
Most KN95s and all N95s I have tried fog my glasses. But ProGear N95s don't, that's the kind that I prefer. Once you put it on, you can press the metal nose band to fit it to your exact nose shape
But I've also read enough anecdotal reports from people who use them and still got sick with covid. Who knows if they were properly applied,
Maybe it's important to get one with a good spray. The Betadine iota carrageenan spray is very good, with respect to diffusion. It also doesn't require shaking or spraying beforehand to get a full spray.
Some Covixyl bottles don't diffuse the spray well, and it's very noticeable
but I doubt these sprays alone will do much if your exposure levels are high.
And if there's enough COVID in the air, you can get COVID in your eyes, not just your nose. Wearing Stoggles helps if someone coughs in your direction, but not if there's just lots of COVID in the air
I understand this is neat and all but the one thing I never see mentioned is how on earth I am to believe this is all going to be more accessible to the average person than a box of 400 N95s on Amazon for 100 bucks (often even cheaper and not-from-Amazon if you shop around) — or a local mask bloc helping for free.
We already have access to all the tools and methods we need to end the pandemic right now if we really wanted to — and I genuinely mean this. China proved it. New Zealand proved it. These very same methods are likely to be far, far more accessible to most everyone than whatever hot new panacea that may or may not even come, and we won’t do them, especially not after however long it’s been now of people not giving a shit anymore. They ended all the welfare programs that benefited everyone even seeking treatment or prevention to begin with and most insurances do not cover vaccinations for Covid anymore. Why would this be any different? Will they give this to everyone for free when it’s ready and it cures/gives total immunity to Covid? In five years? Ten? They don’t do it now.
I don’t want to disparage genuine scientific efforts, that is not my intent at all, but the excitement for things like this imo seems to stem not from a desire for accessibility or justice but from a desire for comfort and complacency — i.e. no one masks anyway, might as well do what appeals to them instead of advocate militantly for what should be done — and that just really bums me out. The people most clamoring for the magic pill or shot or spray are the ones also clamoring for 2019 the most. 2019 is dead and it is not coming back.
i.e. no one masks anyway, might as well do what appeals to them instead of advocate militantly for what should be done — and that just really bums me out.
I think that's that's the target audience, people who can't or won't mask. My parents won't mask when out of the house unless I'm there watching them, for example, and sometimes not even then. If your job won't let you mask or makes it difficult, nasal sprays can help in that case, too.
For maskers like myself, it's particularly useful in airport security, where they make me take off my mask for identification, and airport terminals and airplanes, where I might want to eat but there's a lot of other people around.