I appreciate your views on this! A huge frustration of mine throughout the pandemic is the lack of transparency there has been regarding vaccines, what good they are doing, and what we need to be doing to mitigate public risk.
I especially appreciate that you are reporting on the nuance of people who are disabled and immunocompromised. A lot of the reporting I'm seeing is either "Everything is fine!" or "Hunker down for another year of isolation!!" But in reality, there are a lot of people somewhere in between and who need specialized information. Should a healthy teenage boy who has had Covid get a vaccination and two boosters the same as a lung transplant recipient? These are questions that need more information, not less. Workplaces and the public square need to make reasonable accommodations. And medical decisions need to be discussed by well-informed healthcare providers.
My partner had a transplant so this is a daily issue for us and our family. When mask mandates fizzled, we only went gout with N 95’s. Travel and socializing are still limited. We’re lucky to be retirees and can remain in our bubble. My heart breaks for all of you having to negotiate the new workplace while trying to have lives.
As a 21 year old lymphoma patient, I appreciate you and your commitment to keep everyone safe. This article does an excellent job at voicing those common frustrations and problems we have to face on top of life itself! Wishing your partner and you good health! :)
Jul 5, 2022·edited Jul 5, 2022Liked by Susanna Speier
I love this article! I too feel fortunate in these times.. in my case, to have SSDI, which had allowed me to be a full time caretaker to my young son at home (and also stay out of the workforce which doesn't have many opportunities for higher risk families). We homeschool (also fortunate as schools where I live have no Covid safe policies),. We find safe things to do with local family, and we find social things online. But we really seek a greater community and more safe things to do in-person socially. We turned to making comics as part of our reach out, and try to meet others who will mask, and to create meeting areas that are uncrowded with good ventilation that we might feel OK with one-way masking and wearing protective eyewear in with others. So far, we haven't been able to organize an event with a room that we can setup us in feasibly, nor have we found enough people in the area who are interested. It is hard to try to organize things alone as a person with a disability, but there aren't existing pathways out there. There are schools for the blind, there are Olympics for special needs, but there isn't much out there for us households with individuals or families that are immunocompromised and/or high risk for severe outcomes. We need a space, and I have high hopes for Immunocompromised Times in reaching out to the community! I hope it gets enough subscribers and continues! And, anyone interested in amateur Maskers Comics can view them fully free at the-maskers-comic.yolasite.com , they are advocacy comics for higher risk households, and have helped my son and I organize a plan to preventing covid infection.
Love this! If you don’t have this site already in your research, Stanford gave it to me for risk assessment when I’m planning something out of my house. It has us treated as unvaccinated w/a modifier for the recent variant. It basically tells you how many minutes you can do specific tasks around others without getting Covid-19… https://www.microcovid.org/
This is beautiful and I can’t wait to read more from you! We need more voices in this area. It’s hard. I got myocarditis from the vaccine- very very rare but is preventing me from getting any boosters or additional vaccines. I can’t even get the flu shot without issues now. On top of already having a chronic health condition, the pandemic has totally changed my life. Thanks for giving us a voice.
I appreciate your views on this! A huge frustration of mine throughout the pandemic is the lack of transparency there has been regarding vaccines, what good they are doing, and what we need to be doing to mitigate public risk.
I especially appreciate that you are reporting on the nuance of people who are disabled and immunocompromised. A lot of the reporting I'm seeing is either "Everything is fine!" or "Hunker down for another year of isolation!!" But in reality, there are a lot of people somewhere in between and who need specialized information. Should a healthy teenage boy who has had Covid get a vaccination and two boosters the same as a lung transplant recipient? These are questions that need more information, not less. Workplaces and the public square need to make reasonable accommodations. And medical decisions need to be discussed by well-informed healthcare providers.
Thanks for your good work.
My partner had a transplant so this is a daily issue for us and our family. When mask mandates fizzled, we only went gout with N 95’s. Travel and socializing are still limited. We’re lucky to be retirees and can remain in our bubble. My heart breaks for all of you having to negotiate the new workplace while trying to have lives.
As a 21 year old lymphoma patient, I appreciate you and your commitment to keep everyone safe. This article does an excellent job at voicing those common frustrations and problems we have to face on top of life itself! Wishing your partner and you good health! :)
I love this article! I too feel fortunate in these times.. in my case, to have SSDI, which had allowed me to be a full time caretaker to my young son at home (and also stay out of the workforce which doesn't have many opportunities for higher risk families). We homeschool (also fortunate as schools where I live have no Covid safe policies),. We find safe things to do with local family, and we find social things online. But we really seek a greater community and more safe things to do in-person socially. We turned to making comics as part of our reach out, and try to meet others who will mask, and to create meeting areas that are uncrowded with good ventilation that we might feel OK with one-way masking and wearing protective eyewear in with others. So far, we haven't been able to organize an event with a room that we can setup us in feasibly, nor have we found enough people in the area who are interested. It is hard to try to organize things alone as a person with a disability, but there aren't existing pathways out there. There are schools for the blind, there are Olympics for special needs, but there isn't much out there for us households with individuals or families that are immunocompromised and/or high risk for severe outcomes. We need a space, and I have high hopes for Immunocompromised Times in reaching out to the community! I hope it gets enough subscribers and continues! And, anyone interested in amateur Maskers Comics can view them fully free at the-maskers-comic.yolasite.com , they are advocacy comics for higher risk households, and have helped my son and I organize a plan to preventing covid infection.
Love this! If you don’t have this site already in your research, Stanford gave it to me for risk assessment when I’m planning something out of my house. It has us treated as unvaccinated w/a modifier for the recent variant. It basically tells you how many minutes you can do specific tasks around others without getting Covid-19… https://www.microcovid.org/
This is beautiful and I can’t wait to read more from you! We need more voices in this area. It’s hard. I got myocarditis from the vaccine- very very rare but is preventing me from getting any boosters or additional vaccines. I can’t even get the flu shot without issues now. On top of already having a chronic health condition, the pandemic has totally changed my life. Thanks for giving us a voice.