WHY YOU SHOULD STILL WEAR A MASK: a comprehensive guide to (Long) COVID, masking, disability justice, and more!
https://maskupactup.substack.com/p/why-you-should-still-wear-a-mask
Author of this fanzine:
https://linktr.ee/act_up_mask_up
WHY YOU SHOULD STILL WEAR A MASK pamphlet - Google Drive
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1naJYShqXRTnRr5DP_HfeqOsU8g4LA1c5
DISABILITY, GENDER, RACE & QUEERNESS: OUR LIBERATION IS CONNECTED Consider... Who has the privilege of working from home? Who can afford tools such as masks and rapid tests? Who can afford to take time off from work? Who is more likely to be believed and given proper treatment by medical providers? Who is more likely to live or work in high-risk, crowded environments? In a Nov. 2023 poll, 72% of Black respondents said they were taking COVID precautions (avoiding large gatherings, travel, or indoor dining; masking in crowded places; taking a COVID test), while only 39% of white respondents said they were taking any of these same precautions. Data also shows that “white people feared COVID less after learning other races were hit hardest.”
Bisexual, trans, disabled, Black and Hispanic adults are the groups experiencing the highest rates of Long COVID. Women are significantly more likely than men to experience Long COVID. And infants (<1 yr) often have the highest COVID ICU rates among all age groups. ALL of us suffer because our healthcare system has abandoned masking/protecting its patients altogether. The government has shown its disregard for queer lives during the (ongoing) AIDS epidemic, and history is repeating itself. Queer, trans, Black, disabled lives are lives worth living and worth protecting! Mask up! Tldr: public health is a collective responsibility. Wearing a mask is an act of community care & resistance against the fascist forces of eugenics, ableism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, biphobia & transphobia.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT It’s okay if reading this information makes you feel scared, angry, confused, or defensive. It can be difficult to examine our complicity, and we have all been subjected to constant messages aimed to convince us that “COVID is over,” that we should simply resume our “normal” lives of unrestrained consumption. Remind yourself: each new day is an opportunity to make new, better-informed decisions. EVEN IF YOU STOPPED MASKING, YOU CAN ALWAYS DECIDE TO START MASKING AGAIN!
Ask yourself. . . Even if you stopped masking, you can always decide to start masking again! Would you rather live in ignorance and denial, or in reality? Are you willing to sacrifice your long-term health, and the health and lives of others, just to eat indoors at restaurants? What is holding you back from wearing a mask on the bus, at work, at the grocery store, to the doctor’s, or to a friend’s house? How can you unlearn internalized ableism? How does the way we allow covid to spread and mutate unmitigated in the U.S. Impact people in the global south? In places like Palestine, where disease is used as a tool of genocidal empires? What does it look like to truly make queer / black / trans / disabled liberation a central motivating force in your daily life?
QUICK FACTS: [ 1 ] WE ARE STILL IN A PANDEMIC. COVID IS THE FOURTH LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN THE US. Over 3.3 million US COVID cases have been reported in 2024, leading to 280,000+ hospitalizations and 30,000+ deaths. The Economist cites US excess deaths so far in 2024 as closer to 100,000, noting that “COVID-19 has led to the deaths of far more people than official statistics suggest,” especially given that many official tracking and testing measures have been silently shut down.
[ 2 ] COVID = AIRBORNE, VASCULAR DISEASE THAT CAUSES LONG COVID. COVID can spread outdoors — it travels and lingers in the air like cigarette smoke. And, even a "mild" COVID infection can cause lasting brain, lung, heart, and/or immune damage. Associated post-infection symptoms (e.g., fatigue, brain fog, difficulty breathing) are labeled “Long COVID.” Each COVID infection brings a 10-20% chance of developing Long COVID, and this risk increases with every new infection. In the US, over 17 million adults and nearly 6 million children have been disabled by Long COVID. There is no known, safe, universal cure or treatment for Long COVID.
[ 3 ] RESPIRATORS (MASKS) WORK. Vaccines are a necessary, useful tool (we should all stay up-to-date with Flu and COVID boosters!) but we do not yet have a sterilizing COVID vaccine. Widespread masking is one of the BEST tools we have to prevent the spread of airborne diseases like COVID. KN95 & N95 masks are >95% effective at filtering out viruses & small particles like dust & allergens. Cloth or surgical masks are significantly less effective, but still better than wearing no mask at all, if you don’t have access to more protective options.
BEST MASKING PRACTICES
NEITHER VACCINES NOR PREVIOUS COVID INFECTIONS GIVE 100% IMMUNITY. VACCINES ARE ONE LAYER OF PROTECTION. AND, IN FACT, PREVIOUS COVID INFECTIONS CAN WEAKEN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM, MAKING YOU MORE VULNERABLE TO ADDITIONAL INFECTIONS! WEARING A MASK ISN’T A GUARANTEE YOU WON’T GET SICK, BUT IT IS AN IMPORTANT TOOL TO HELP PROTECT YOURSELF AND OTHERS.
[ 1 ] CHOOSE A HIGH-QUALITY RESPIRATOR (KN95, N95, ETC.) Cloth & surgical masks are not nearly as protective as respirators. Try to find a “NIOSH-approved” respirator.
[ 2 ] FIND A STYLE THAT FITS YOU Unfortunately, many masks have been designed and tested assuming a white male adult user. Some respirators’ head straps may be challenging to use if you have curly or thick hair, if you wear your hair in locs, braids, or an Afro, if you wear a hijab, etc. A well- fitting mask covers your nose & mouth, & should have NO gaps for air to escape on the sides, top or bottom. Test a few different styles of masks until you find one that seals well on your face and feels comfortable!
[ 3 ] WEAR IT! A mask is only effective if you wear it — anytime you are in public or around other people. Keep the mask ON while you speak, cough, and sneeze. Make it a habit to grab your mask every time you leave home.
https://maskupactup.substack.com/p/why-you-should-still-wear-a-mask
Relationship between the management of the COVID pandemic and eugenics
Let's first define eugenics:
It is an ideology that seeks to "improve" the hereditary traits of the human species. It was proposed in 1883 by Francis Galton and, under racist, classist, and ableist logic, seeks to increase the number of supposedly strong, healthy, intelligent, and white people (*hint: no oppressed person can fall into this category, among other reasons because capitalism disables you).
Although eugenics already had antecedents dating back to Ancient Greece, the first theoretical definitions took place in England in the 19th century, driven by nationalism and scientific racism, based on Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. The movement gained popularity in scientific circles, especially at the beginning of the 20th century with the participation of Darwin's descendants, who by 1912 spoke of eugenics as a "primary duty."
By this time, practices such as the forced sterilization of chronically ill people, the disabled, and those categorized as criminals, among others, were already being carried out. This practice quickly spread to racialized and oppressed groups.
Within systems of oppression, forced sterilizations have been and continue to be carried out on Indigenous, racialized, intersex, communist and anarchist populations, and people with disabilities.
Eugenics continues to be present in many aspects of our lives, and we see it in ableism, sanity, genetic engineering, the health industry, and the idea that some people are "disposable."
Why do we talk about eugenics when we talk about COVID denialism?
Since the pandemic began, and we began to have more information about the virus, it has been constantly repeated that it only affects the "vulnerable" population. This discourse seeks to divide the oppressed in an attempt to spread anti-solidarity and justify the state's negligence in dealing with infections. If we believe that some people are "biologically weak," and we also add continuous misinformation about COVID and how it spreads, it creates a breeding ground for the belief that infections are inevitable and that "we will all end up with COVID."
Since before the pandemic, the individualization of care that should be collective has been spreading, along with the normalization of the deaths of disabled and chronically ill people, and COVID was no exception.
A hierarchy was established that excluded sick, disabled, or older people, and, in general, people aware of the risks, from public spaces. This population became “collateral damage” so that others could “return to normal,” and many of them have had to adopt completely isolated lives in order to survive.
Many of today's social struggles claim to want liberation for all oppressed people, while continuing to ignore disabled/immunocompromised people and the need to continue taking precautionary measures against COVID. Pandemics, genocides, wars, and all types of oppression lead to the disabling of their victims.
“The solution cannot be that everyone has to get COVID. That is eugenics because many disabled high risk people will die and those who do not die will have serious complications and lifelong impacts to their health and wellbeing via COVID and the possibility of long COVID. Do not buy into this eugenic thinking that expects the most vulnerable to be sacrificed. Long Covid is real and it can happen to anyone”. You Are Not Entitled To Our Deaths: COVID, Abled Supremacy & Interdependence | Leaving Evidence
#MaskUp #WearAMask #CovidRealist #CovidIsAirbone #LongCovid #YallMasking #DisabledLiberation #DisabilityJustice
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