AnarchoNinaAnalyzes on Nostr: If you've been cruising the Fediverse recently, you've no doubt seen a number of ...

If you've been cruising the Fediverse recently, you've no doubt seen a number of amusing posts under the hashtag #CDCSays, about why the U.S. Center for Disease Control is probably trying to kill you for capitalism; in particular as that relates to their updated COVID isolation guidelines. While these posts are objectively hilarious, the simple truth is that these aren't really jokes, and pretty much everyone who understands this virus and how it works, thinks the CDC has sold us all down the river for capitalists, corporations, and the bosses, to keep the fuckbarrelTM churning.

Of course, there's only so much these folks can communicate in a joke on social media, so today I thought I'd share a recent article by Reina Sultan on Self.com. Inside, she talks to three medically qualified experts who work in this field about why the CDC's new guidelines, and the drastic reduction of the isolation period recommended if you've contracted COVID, are wishful thinking at best and quite possibly capitalist death cult propaganda:

https://www.self.com/story/cdc-new-covid-19-isolation-guidelines

Although it's definitely worth reading the entire short article, let's look at some important highlights here for folks who're absolutely not gonna click on a link about COVID because they'd rather pretend everything is fine:

- reducing COVID isolation recommendations from 5 days, to 24 hours "if you’ve been fever-free" and "your symptoms are improving" will "likely make more people sick—and this approach increasingly places the burden of public health on individual people, which is dangerous for everyone, but especially for those at a higher risk of complications from the virus."

- changing testing from a way to determine if you can leave isolation, to merely something you might want to use to "assist" your decision making, is a terrible idea.

- COVID is most certainly not over; "wastewater analysis data suggests there are still more than 760,000 new cases of COVID a day in the US—meaning roughly 1 in 63 people are actively infectious."

- Michael Hoerger, PhD, MSCR, says "There is no evidence to suggest that these waves (of COVID infections) are becoming smaller on average over time, or that we're having fewer waves.”

- Lara Jirmanus, MD, MPH says "that the CDC’s messaging implicitly communicates two falsehoods: that COVID has “ceased to be a threat,” and that it “stops being transmitted when people stop having a fever.” According to Dr. Jirmanus, "infectiousness has little to do with specific symptoms, since you can be sick (and contagious) without a fever and with few, mild, or even no symptoms at all. And if you’re testing positive on rapid tests, you’re very likely still able to infect others, even if you feel fine."

- Shortening the isolation period "supports economic interests and is not in the interest of protecting health." Yes, this means that the bosses and capitalists are okay with making you sick and maybe even killing you, so they can keep extracting wealth from our labor.

- In fact, Kaitlin Sundling, MD, PhD says the CDC’s updated recommendations are moving in the wrong direction. “COVID isolation should be expanded, not reduced or eliminated. There is no change in the scientific evidence around COVID transmission that would support reducing the recommended isolation period below five days... Extending isolation beyond five days would be a safer approach, both to prevent viral spread and to allow people adequate time to recover.” Ideally, she recommends you isolate "for 10 to 14 days, if you have that option, and take two rapid tests with negative results at least 24 hours apart before going about your daily life as usual again" but acknowledges that without sick leave, this will be impossible for many workers, who she then advises to wear "a well-fitting respirator and limit in-person activities only to what is essential.”

Additionally, these experts point out that long COVID is real, remains poorly understood, and is therefore something we should absolutely not be fucking around with as a society by continuing to "let er rip" and reducing protective measures; which is precisely what the CDC has done here with its joke ass updated isolation guidelines. Finally, all three experts also remind us that these policy updates all seem to be designed with non-disabled, non-immunocompromised people in mind; which is pretty alarming when you realize that roughly “4 out of 10 Americans have chronic diseases that put them at higher risk of COVID.” All of which just reinforces the argument I've been making for a while; rich people and their captured regulatory bodies will absolutely toss disabled people, sick people, and the elderly into the furnace for five points a share.

Look folks, I get that we're all tired of this virus and this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but these are highly qualified doctors telling you in so many words that "it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you." And the CDC at least, sure is.

#COVID #Capitalism #CDC