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2022-05-16
Stigma During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan
During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers and patients in Japan suffered from the stigma. According to the article, “In Japan, coronavirus discrimination proves almost as hard to eradicate as the disease,” healthcare workers and their families are discriminated against as if they are “germs” that people need to avoid contact with. The patients of the virus are also stigmatized, and such a phenomenon of blaming victims has been seen many times throughout Japanese history. As this article represents, health care workers in Japan were stigmatized and discriminate against because of the potential risks of COVID-19 infections. According to Goffman, the greek definition of stigma “[refers] to bodily signs designed to expose something unusual and bad about the moral status of the signifier” (131). Nowadays, its definition has expanded to negative images of physical and social attributes and their interpretation in a social context. The stigma of healthcare workers in Japan is peculiar to this pandemic, and this could be because the situation overturned the expectations people had about healthcare workers. Healthcare workers are supposed to help people with diseases, but because of the pandemic, they are seen as the ones with higher risks of carrying the virus as they have more interaction with those who have been infected. As a result, people become afraid of interacting with healthcare workers, which made this job stigmatized. The article shows that Japanese people reject to interact with healthcare workers and their families during the pandemic. One of the common consequences of being stigmatized is that stigmatized people become separated from other people as they are treated differently. According to Goffman, “[the] responses of the normal and of the stigmatized that have been considered so far are ones which can occur over protracted periods of time and in isolation from current contacts between normals and stigmatized" (135). As Goffman illustrates, health care workers were stigmatized and separated from society at the beginning of the pandemic. Some people even believe that “the person with a stigma is not quite human” as Goffman states, which lead to an extreme reaction by people around health care workers. For instance, healthcare workers have been receiving death threats because other people see them as if they are the potential source of the disease rather than the same humans who are fighting the pandemic together. Such a reaction is similar to how children bully other children based on differences in attributes. One of the typical ways of bullying is to call someone “germs” and avoid interactions, which is the same as the situation in this article. This pandemic revealed our natural tendency of staying away from others who have negative attributes, which indicates that a pandemic is not an equalizer but a source of discrimination. Another factor that could have contributed to the situation in Japan is social pressure existing in the country. The article mentions that there is strong social pressure in Japan to follow coronavirus directives and to cooperate for stopping the spreading of the virus; if people do not comply, they are strongly criticized or blamed by other Japanese people. In addition, surveys have shown that compared to Americans or Britons, more Japanese people agree with the idea that “If someone is infected with the coronavirus, I think it is their fault” (Denyer and Kashiwagi). According to Fei, there are behavioral norms that are maintained by tradition, called “ritual norms” (97). This kind of norm is regarded as moral behavior by people of the community so that they follow the norms regardless of laws or punishments (99). Although Fei discusses Chinese rural society, such norms have been established in Japan as well because Japanese society developed as an agricultural society where people in a community need to cooperate with each other. There used to be a tradition called murahachibu, which means excluding those who break the rules from 80 percent of social activities in the village with the exception of funerals and fires. Even though this practice is rarely seen in modern society, people still have a strong pressure to behave for the sake of society in order to maintain harmony. For example, Japanese people still feel obligated to wear masks after vaccines have been promoted even though there is no rule or punishment for not wearing masks. This feeling may occur because they believe it is moral or correct to refrain from doing something that possibly spreads the virus. Healthcare workers were not the only people who suffered from stigma, but COVID-19 patients were also blamed for their behavior that possibly contributed to their infection. In the article, a Japanese psychology professor mentions “a low tolerance for uncertainty” in Japanese people, indicating that they blame the patients to reduce their own fears derived from the uncertainty of the pandemic. This implies that COVID-19 patients become scapegoats for the pandemic itself. In the reading, Trauner writes that “the general acceptance of the germ theory in the 1880’s did little to dispel the popular belief that epidemic outbreaks were directly attributable to conditions within Chinatown” (73). This indicates that when people are uncertain about something scary, they try to identify what or who causes that disease or threat. Although people know that coronavirus is the cause of this pandemic, most people are afraid of germs and viruses because they are invisible. The article also demonstrates some cases of blaming victims in Japanese history, including leprosy patients, survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings, and evacuees of the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Such diseases and disasters involve complicated factors, so it is difficult to blame the causes directly. Therefore, individuals tend to blame patients or carriers of the virus during the pandemic instead of blaming the virus itself because they are visible and easy to avoid. References Erving Goffman (1976) “Stigma” :Chapter 10 “Selections from Stigma” Fei Xiaotong (1947) “From the Soil: the Foundations of Chinese Society” Joan B. Trauner, (1978) “The Chinese as Medical Scapegoats in San Francisco, 1870-1905 Simon Denyer and Akiko Kashiwagi (2020) “In Japan, coronavirus discrimination proves almost as hard to eradicate as the disease” -
2022-05-15
The Great Reset Pandemic Skeptic
This double-sided A4 leaflet provides an extended summary overview of the supposedly 12-step plan behind the COVID. This leaflet was taken from the dissidentsignposts.org, and they hope to inform people about the “real” reason behind the COVID pandemic. This leaflet says that the billionaires want to impose new ways for global corporations but for their plan to work, they need to acquire everyone to be tagged with a unique digital identity number and surrender their privacy. As this leaflet points out, the “New Normal” that billionaires want to accomplish is to be depopulated, cleaned-up, high-tech, dehumanized, totalitarian dictatorship, genetically modified, digitally tagged, nano-chipped, etc. this leaflet tries to persuade the audience by pointing out that the COVID pandemic is just a big scheme in hopes of taking control of the total population. The 12 step that is mentioned explains the different reasons why the government is pushing for people to take COVID and the vaccines seriously. I have heard of this idea before from my friends. They were talking about it, but to me, I believe that COVID is real. I have seen my family members getting infected by the virus. I will never believe things like this and I will never let anybody put a chip or something within me. Although our world is getting more and more highly advanced, I believe that this so-called “Great Reset” will not take place. -
2022-03-09
The Pfizer Documents
This is a video regarding the safety of the Covid-19 Phizer vaccine reports that were recently released as of the making of both the video and this submission. It details the adverse events, the safe deliveries of the vaccine amongst an assortment of disorders, and the unhappiness of both the video creator and the viewers in the comments at the lack of transparency regarding the information surrounding the vaccine. -
2022-05-11
WHO Plans Global Takeover: The Pandemic Treaty
American alternative medicine proponent, Joseph Michael Mercola, stated that the World Health Organization (WHO) has started drafting a global pandemic treaty in preparation of a global takeover. in biosecurity. This treaty would grant WHO absolute power over digital identities, vaccine passports, mandatory vaccinations, travel restrictions, standardized medical care, and more. Although the World Health Organization does not currently have absolute authorization over international public health, Mercola argues that the agency is working with the United Nations to pass this treaty on June 16th and 17th so that they may seize absolute control over these entities in order to strip civilians of their basic rights and freedoms based on claims and statistics that seem to exaggerate the climate of the pandemic and its transmissions. As a reader, I am somewhat amused and concern with this information, not because I believe it to be true but because I know that it is heavily misguided. For starters, Mercola tries to persuade readers that the WHO "is not qualified to make global health decisions," but stressed how the agency is tied to international public health and has advocated the public health risk of COVID-19 throughout the whole entire pandemic. Secondly, "The Corbett Report" mentions that the treaty is not expected to be carried out until 2024 which is less urgent of a matter than what Mercola stated in his article (that he mentioned would transpire in mid-June of this year.) Finally, I do not feel that Mercola takes nations and state legislations into account of this treaty and proposal. Although the US federal government mandated the shutdown, it is still up to state legislators to decide the curfews and times the shutdown would commence. Therefore, I think this article, "The WHO Pandemic Treaty Closes in on Absolute Control over Global Biosecurity," offered more conspiracy than tangible evidence, being that this proposal has been drafted or commenced. -
2022-05-15
The Nature of the Covid Skeptic
This is an interesting article I have found detailing 20 "facts" about the Covid-19 pandemic. This article largely attempts to refute the "overreaction" of the world when it came to the covid-19 pandemic. While criticism of conduct and policy is valuable and necessary for an open and clear discussion, attitudes of pandemic skeptics largely negate the vulnerable populations of the world and feed on the ignorance of the global population. This is one such article. 1. This article claims the lethality of covid is generally less than 1% of the population. While I seriously question that number, it still does not negate the extreme death seen by the world. The United States of America has roughly 331 million people living within their boarders. 1% of 331 million is still 3.31 million deaths. Is this a number in which it is appropriate to have an "it is what it is" attitude? Particularly when the people most impacted by the pandemic are those with health issues and the elderly? This attitude, which is shared by many skeptics borders on ageism and ableism. 2. This article claims that those most adversely impacted by covid are those over the age of 80 (78 in the US). But I ask again: is this a valid reason to not take the pandemic seriously? Are we supposed to let the elderly population simply waste away under the boot of covid? 3. This article claims that the covid-19 vaccine is ultimately ineffective in protecting against infection or transmission. The plain truth is that nothing is 100% effective. Seatbelts are not 100% effective in preventing deaths in the event of car accidents, so should we stop wearing them? Additionally, once the vaccines began rolling out, we have seen a decline in covid cases. Indeed, that is not to say vaccinated people don't get covid, I myself being one of them, but it has certainly made covid much more manageable, particularly on the already strapped healthcare industry. 4. This article claims that the vaccine can cause fatal reactions. As can the flu vaccine, or the polio vaccine, or any vaccine. It varies from person to person. 5. This article lays blame for increased mortality on the feet of covid lockdown procedure. I would simply say that correlation does not equal causation and I am certain the increased mortality rate can more accurately be attributed to the millions who have died from covid-19 across the globe. 6. This article mentions that in most cases, individuals were asymptomatic or only had mild to moderate symptoms and that obesity played a major part in whether or not symptoms were severe. While I doubt the validity of this, even so it does not negate the precautions the world took. Should asymptomatic people not take precautions and isolate? Should they be free to wander and infect those who could be vulnerable and perpetuate death? I feel this attitude, again, negates the vulnerable population. 7. This article claims that early treatment of the disease prevented hospitalizations. I feel this point negates the rapidity of covid's effect on people. Indeed, it also assumes that everyone has equal access to early-stage treatment. 8. This article claims that 10% of symptomatic people may experience long-term health related issues following covid. This appears to be about the only accurate point of this article, the only thing i question is the percentage of the population. 9. This article claims that the ability of transmission is very limited. This is very inaccurate, particularly when one looks at the extensive number of the population who received a positive test. 10. This article claims that masks had zero impact on limiting transmission. There are countless studies disproving this point. Often times this attitude is held by individuals who care only about their own comfort rather than the people around them. 11. This article claims that lockdown's were ineffective and only perpetuated economic issues across the globe. I think New Zealand is a prime example of why this is a moot point. New Zealand locked down early in the pandemic and did not have a single case of covid for nearly a year. It was only when their borders reopened that new Zealand began to experience covid. 12. This article claims that the impact of the virus on children is miniscule and that school lockdowns did nothing to help stop the spread. It is idiotic to think that children cannot contract covid. Indeed it is further selfish to not factor in teachers and staff and their health. 13. The article claims that PCR tests often returned false positives which artificially increased the number of cases. This is deeply inaccurate as there are numerous studies highlighting the effectiveness of PCR tests. 14. This article claims that contact tracing is ineffective and cites a WHO 2019 paper on influenza tracing. Contract tracing is valuable in informing the population that they have been exposed so that they may get tested and limit their contact with others to limit the spread, it is most certainly effective. As for the 2019 WHO paper on the ineffectiveness of contact tracing for the influenza: different disease, different way of managing it. 15. The article claims that vaccine passports are ineffective as the vaccine is ineffective and are used for tracking the population. Again, the vaccine has proven to be effective. And if the government wanted to track the population, it can be far more easily be done via phones and computers than via vaccinations. 16. This article claims that mutations of covid occur frequently and that new variants decline in lethality. While I agree that the virus mutates, I seriously doubt the decline in lethality. Indeed, I think because the virus can mutate so effectively, it is another justification in taking the pandemic seriously. 17. This article cites Sweden as a case where a full lockdown did not occur, a small number of deaths, and deaths being largely attributed to the elderly population. I think the primary effectiveness of Sweden this article cites is due to the Swedish taking the pandemic seriously, wearing masks, rapid vaccinations, social distancing, and not perpetuating misinformation. 18. This article claims that seasonal influenza largely disappeared during the pandemic and that covid has displaced it as the seasonal virus. Seasonal viruses aren't displaced. Indeed, the reason for the decline in flu cases is due to the population wearing masks and social distancing. Seasonal flu returned to pre-pandemic numbers in fall and winter 2021 when many of the covid protocols had been removed. 19. This article claims the media blew the pandemic out of proportion, spread fear, and distorted information. I disagree. It is the job of the media to make the population aware of global issues such as this. Indeed, the only distortion of facts that I found during the pandemic were from pandemic skeptics who were too selfish and uncomfortable to consider their fellow humans. 20. This article claims that the virus was lab-created. Whether or not the virus was lab-created is irrelevant. The point is: it exists, it is here, and it is vital that it be taken seriously. -
2022-05-10
High Rates of COVID Vaccination Among Adults With Autism
This is a news story from Health Day. Adults with autism have been shown to have higher rates of vaccination according to a new study. Those with autism are more at-risk for severe illness if they contract the disease, say researchers. To get the data, researchers sent online surveys to 431 autistic adults in Pennsylvania. They showed that about 78% of survey respondents said they had received or intended to get a COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 55% said that they had received at least one dose. In comparison, 42% of the overall adult population in Pennsylvania had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of the median response date for the survey (April 2, 2021), according to the study. The findings were published in the journal Vaccine. -
2022-05-11
Fact Checkers
This is an Instagram post by covid_antivax. This post is in criticism of social media removing posts deemed "misinformation" about COVID and the vaccine. The tags from this user, like #depopulation, suggest that the goal of COVID and the vaccines is to reduce the population size. The censoring of information regarding the virus and the vaccine has been troublesome for myself. I do not think it is the right of social media to dictate what can and cannot be said, barring anything illegal, like death threats. I think it is a dangerous trajectory when these multinational companies start deciding what governing bodies and people should think. It brings into question people's actual rights to speech. People should have the right to voice their opinion on subjects like this. If people are prevented from speaking out as much on social media, they will get driven to more niche websites and forums to discuss things, which in turn help create more echo chambers. The great thing about free speech is the ability to bounce ideas off with other people and be given the opportunity to decide for myself what is right with more information available. Taking this away will make it harder to really test ideas and make them more refined. This is more my criticism of social media in general, but the talk on the virus and the vaccines has noticeably made it worse for any side to reconcile. -
2022-05-12
Baby Formula Shortage
This is an Instagram post by shanti.mikel. This post is on a conspiracy that the baby formula shortage is being used by Bill Gates to promote artificial breast milk technology. Connected to this theory is Pfizer advising people to not breast feed. I would be curious to know what the vaccine's impact would be on breast feeding in the future, as mRNA vaccines like the one Pfizer has produced are going to be used to treat other diseases. The claim that breast feeding is not recommended with COVID vaccines originated in Britain's medicines regulator, not Pfizer, according to Reuters. In order to give more context to this post, I have posted the story by Reuters as well, for those interested in reading. For me personally, I still don't think all the side-effects from the vaccines will be known for a while, as I have had a hard time getting information on the vaccines that has not come across as highly partisan for one group or the other. The evidence I rely on is mostly anecdotal from people that have received the vaccines, in addition to the reasoning of people that did not get them. For the people in my immediate circle, I have not seen any ill health effects from the vaccines so far, but I am also unsure how effective the vaccines are in the long run if some of those same people still get COVID anyway. It is hard to tell if the vaccine is making the COVID cases more mild, or if the virus has just mutated enough to where it is less deadly. It could be a mixture of both. All of it is hard for me to really be sure about either side because I feel like I am only getting partial truth from both. -
2021-12
The “Vaccine Passport” Agenda
This is information on vaccine passports by Swiss Policy Research. The overall message is that there is a correlation between totalitarianism and panic over the virus. This panic, in turn, has translated into governments around the world bringing up the possibility of vaccine passports. The vaccine passports may be used for more than vaccines, as they would be a way for the government to identify movement of individuals easier. The groups uses a number of ways to sway the audience, using information on what different organizations have funded, in addition to bringing up what other governments have said about the vaccine passports. Vaccine passports, according to this publication, really got traction from the digital identity lobby group ID2020 in February 2021, which has funding from both the Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. The research foundation cites pushback against the vaccine passports too. Places like Ontario, Canada have had to take away the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, as they would potentially lose many workers in the process. In Spain, they have been called "ineffective and unconstitutional." The publication ends by calling the pandemic a "plandemic," saying that it was likely lab-created for the purpose of controlling the populations more. I think given the information available, this is persuasive. There are links to where the claims come from, such as what Bill Gates says himself, as well as information on the Good Health Pass, which is a collaboration between many different organizations and their implementation of vaccine passports. In my own opinion, I find vaccine passports unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy. A vaccine passport makes it so you are forced to disclose personal health information to strangers in order to do things like grocery shopping, which I consider to be a potential HIPAA violation. It is also breech of the Fourth Amendment in the Constitution. If people feel inclined to get vaccinated, they should, but forcing people to do so through vaccine passports creates more overall distrust in the government. I have known people that would have otherwise have gotten the vaccine if it wasn't so forced. Even though vaccine passports were never mandated where I live, there have been people that have lost their livelihoods over not wanting to get vaccinated. I myself was very hesitant to get the vaccine for a while due to the way the government was handling it. Trying to implement vaccine passports and mandates has made it so society becomes more segregated, where unvaccinated would be forced to shop at different places, work at different places, and many other things. I am glad that the overall effort to actually do this has failed, but that is only because of many groups of people throughout the United States exercising their rights. I am pro-choice too, and I extend that reasoning to vaccine passports. People need bodily autonomy and vaccine mandates remove some of that. -
2022-05-10
Evidence Not Fear Key Facts Chart
The item is a chart from evidencenotfear.org. It can be found on the homepage. This chart can be found under the “key facts” section and explains the information that is claimed to be from experts in epidemiology, microbiology, and virology. The key facts section contains information that is immediately concerning to me. Some of the statements that are the most concerning to me are that children cannot transmit the virus, face masks can create negative health effects for the person wearing them, and more people have died from the panic of COVID-19 than the virus itself. The chart contains links, which I assumed would provide evidence and research to back up the claims. However, each link leads to an archive of news articles that are related to that topic. The message of this item is that the fear of COVID-19 has been worse than what the virus can actually do. This is seen through the explanations of face masks causing complications, lockdowns preventing herd immunity, and children cannot being affected by it. It tries to persuade the reader by providing links to several different news articles supporting the claim. However, the news article that they are using as support does not provide sources either. -
2021-06-25
Pandata falsehoods putting children at risk
The attached link is to an anti-covid vaxx website, specifically about not vaccinating children. The first thing you see is a list of 10 reasons not to vaccinate children, followed by a video. The main message is vaccines for children are not safe. (Which I would personally like to point out is false.) They are pushing the idea that vaccines are coercive and dangerous. The video is titled “What about the kids?”, and the page it’s listed on is titled “All Risk Zero Benefit.” First, we can look at the title of both of these to see tactics of persuasion. “What about the kids?” Exactly, what about them? This creates an emotional appeal to listen to the message, surely everyone would care about kids, and surely you want the best for them? “All Risk Zero Benefit”, a short title, to the point, definitive word choice. There is no room for argument with “zero benefit”. The video itself flashes between different news outlets and interviews with ‘experts’, Doctors. There is the continued tactic of “The other doctors don’t want you to know this”, or “The government is trying to control you”. This is truly stupid and disgusting. If you watch the video, all the clips are from either Fox ‘news’, The Epoch Times, or from something called Brees Media. Fox and Epoch are both conservative right-wing outlets. I looked into Brees Media, as I hadn’t heard of it before. It is a former BBC employee who now created a company that teaches people how to create media content. She (Anna Brees, the owner) has several tweets and Instagram posts that push this anti-vaxx mentality. People tend to trust BBC, at least more so than other news sources, so by continuing to use the Ex-BBC in her bios on everything it begins to create a buy-in for people. -
2022-04-22
The Shanghai Lockdown. Seen from Another Angle
This is a screenshot of an article from globalresearch.ca about looking at the most recent Shanghai Lockdown. Yet, the article does not talk about the Shanghai lockdown until maybe halfway through the article. It goes on a tirade about how the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak went after the "Chinese race" and how it became an early trial for China before COVID. Then the author states that China has "mastered the disease" and managed to reopen its economy by the end of 2020, which leads to the conclusion that China's economic growth hardly suffered during the newest outbreak. The author asserts that China will surpass the U.S. economy in 3-4 years and then launches into a world history lesson about Cold War politics. The author tends to wander in the article, going from pandemic skepticism on vaccines sterilizing women, being lied to the government, or having HIV ingredients. Then somehow, Ukraine has virus labs...I don't know. Somehow, Russia is involved in this article, but I'm not sure why. I don't know how this is supposed to persuade its audience because the author goes all over the place with his points. I suppose skeptics will like the fact that the vaccine is being questioned here? Personally, I don't even understand why skeptics would want to read this because I think they would lose even more brain cells from just trying to read it. I think this article is just a gigantic mess and it makes my brain hurt. I find myself just not understanding a single thing that is being written in this article. I don't understand why anyone would even understand or like this article. It literally makes absolutely no sense and there are even typos in it. The look of this website and article makes me want to run my virus protection at least three times because I feel like they're going to infect my computer with a Trojan horse. -
2022-05-04
Experiencing the Pandemic as a Student in Sri Lanka
It provides the pandemic perspective of a student from Colombo, Sri Lanka. -
2022-05-09
I can't even make this up anymore
First off, I do not agree with the attached pdf to this story. When I first looked at this awful website, and saw that they had FREE DOWNLOADABLE PRINTS, I immediately sighed because this is the type of stuff that's turning people AWAY from getting a vaccine. These people are the reason why people can't trust "media". It is also very obvious that these people have never taken a history or any type of political science class in their lives. Let's analyze a little bit of what they say. First off, in their step 1 of "create a problem" they compare COVID-19 to something like the flu. Given, I'm sure people have died from the flu. I mean, the influenza pandemic was a thing in 1918. Also important that they even wore masks then! Their step 2 is "provoke a terrified reaction". What I'm getting from this is, we shouldn't be worried. But we should. Any pandemic should be worrying. I can also guarantee you as well that these people didn't give a shit when the AIDS/HIV Epidemic was literally killing so many queer people at an alarming rate, and wasn't addressed until 6 years later after it started. Anyways, the steps that talk about "contact tracing" and "health passports" things are interesting. They talk about surveillance, but surveillance has been happening since the dawn of time. I'm sure muslim's everywhere in the United States could talk more about surveillance than I could as a white person. Health passports? You have to have certain vaccines to attend public school or even a public university. Also, actual passports are a thing. You know, the thing you need to tell other people who you are and where you're from when you visit their country. I'm going to jump to step 10's "Impose a Cashless Economy," anyone that has ever handled cash during a job knows how gross cash is. This pamphlet must've been when the pandemic first happened, because that's when my last job couldn't take cash because we were too afraid to touch anything. Now knowing the information I know now, a lot of places take cash now. But also, people are gross. Half of the time, people are sneezing into their hands or not washing their hands and come out of the bathroom and go to pay and give you cash. Don't even get me started on people pulling money out of their bras. Throughout this entire pdf, they talk about the elite. Which is probably the only thing I agree with them because the rich got richer during the lockdown and even made prices higher. This type of propaganda could be harmful to someone that was already on the fence about vaccines, but the fact that this information is out there instead of the actual science based truth is harmful. It uses familiar words from history to persuade people to not get the vaccine. -
2022-02-01
How I've dealt with COVID
My feelings and how I've dealt with COVID and its restrictions -
2022-05-05
New York City could bring back Covid mask mandate, vaccine checks if hospitals come under pressure
This is a news story from CNBC News by Spencer Kimball. New York City might bring back the mask mandate and vaccine checks if hospitals become too overwhelmed. New York City increased its COVID alert level from low to medium earlier this week as infections have kept on rising. Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said New York might reinstate mandatory masking and vaccine checks if the city raises its Covid alert level to high. New York's alert system is based off of CDC guidance and hospital protocols. Mayor Eric Adams ended mandatory vaccine checks at restaurants and other indoor venues in March, in addition to the mask mandate for people attending school. Masks are still required on buses, rail, and on subways in New York City. New York City, as of right now, has 80% of their population fully vaccinated. -
2022-05-03
Nose Spray Vaccines Could Quash COVID Virus Variants
This is a news story from The Scientific American by Marla Broadfoot. With the effectiveness of vaccines waning due to new variants coming about, scientists have been coming up with new ways to combat the virus. Scientists are thinking of developing a nose spray vaccine that attacks the virus at the source. It is believed that a vaccine delivered this method could trigger mucosal immunity. Nasal vaccines have been shown in the past to be more effective than traditional administration of vaccines. There is risk in this, however, because there still needs to be more research done on mucosal immunity. The advantage is that this vaccine does not rely on syringes or needles, so it has the possibility of reaching more people. -
2022-05-05
FDA to create training program to inspect more mRNA vaccine manufacturing
This is a news story from Endpoints News by Josh Sullivan. With new faith being poured into mRNA vaccines, a new training program is being developed to help with the manufacturing process. This program will entail learning the application of mRNA vaccines, as well as laboratory training. BioNTech, Pfizer’s partner in its Covid-19 vaccine efforts, recently revealed that it is paying Matinas BioPharma to gain exclusive access to its lipid nanocrystal drug delivery platform for the oral delivery of mRNA. It also was one of the first companies to announce plans for the massive mRNA manufacturing sites that are being built. BioNTech plans to piggyback off the success of the technology by pivoting to work on malaria vaccines once the Covid-19 pandemic has subsided. -
2022-05-05
FDA restricts J&J’s Covid vaccine due to blood clot risk
This is a news story from NBC News by The Associated Press. Due to new findings, the J&J vaccine has been restricted by the FDA due to blood clot risks. It is not to be given to anyone unless they can't receive a different vaccine. Americans are now recommended to only be using Pfizer or Moderna shots instead. -
2022-05-05
Vaccine skeptics and anti-maskers who invoked 'my body, my choice' in the pandemic are now lining up to support the end of Roe v. Wade
This is a news story from Business Insider by Mia Jankowicz. This is about the argument of bodily autonomy as it applies to abortion and COVID. People have argued that vaccine passports and masks are infringements of civil liberties. The author writes that this is a mirror of what pro-choice advocates say. Some have argued that the anti-vaccine and anti-mask views being conflated with bodily autonomy arguments do not make sense, as being unvaccinated poses a greater risk to others, whereas lack of abortion access could put the mother's life in danger. -
2022-04-29
2 Years in a Pandemic
This is my personal experience living in the time of the COVID-19 Pandemic -
2022-04-29
Depression during a Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has been one the hardest things for me to deal with. I suffer from depression and often combat this by spending time with friends and family. Before the pandemic I would often spend my weekends with friends and visit my family after work on half of the weekdays. Throughout the pandemic, until recently it has been rather unacceptable to spend time in close contact with others. In the being of the pandemic during the first shutdowns and mandates I struggled deeply with having to stay home all the time. I became quite depressed and would often just sleep through my days off. I tried to do virtual hangouts with my friends and family, but it just wasn’t the same. I ended up planning socially distanced hangouts with my friends, often picnics/lunch in the park 6 feet apart. This really helped me because I was able to socialize with them in person. As the pandemic progressed, and I wasn’t able to see friends nearly as often as before I became more comfortable with being alone. I started to find the things I enjoyed doing on my own. I took time to really work on some of the issues I had been avoiding. I used the time I was forced to be alone in a productive way. Although the pandemic challenged my way of living, I still found a way to grow. Now that we are starting to get a better handle on the virus, life is slowly starting to return to what it was before. With the release of vaccines I have been able to start seeing my friends and family again. With the lower rate of cases a lot of the business I used to visit are reopening. As we start to return to “normal” I’ve found my new normal and I quite enjoy my alone time, just as much as the time I spend with others. -
2022-04-28
Covid
It may be neccessary to inform the reader that the following reflection was writing in the spring of 2022, at the end of the ‘pandemic’. The pandemic had began initially with my graduating from high school in the spring of 2020. Disappointed at not having prom or a real graduation ceremony, I prepared for college and ended up taking a gap year. The lockdown and safety measures enforced by the government and institutions around the country jointly impelled me to take a gap year. It was during this time that I began reflecting on life without social interaction, entertainment and structure. Perhaps the most apparent realization was coming to terms with the abnormalities wrought by the pandemic such as the lockdown and vaccine rollout/enforcement. The lockdown in particular, was quite pernicious. It prevented myself from going about daily errands and activities. Spiritually, I found comfort in reading scripture to cope with the deficit of worldly pleasure in my life. This was ultimately a good thing because it brought me closer to God. However, I was distanced socially from my peers and friends darkened my view of life and increased my pessimistic outlook. Man is religious because man was created by God. A lot of people dont find God and thus the suicide rate spiked durning the lockdown, damning many souls to eternal hellfire. -
2020-06-01
A privilaged white latina women.
In the beginning of the pandemic, I was frightened like many others. My parents are older than most of my friends, both around their late fifties' early sixties. In the area I was living, Ohio, I began seeing many lawn signs of Covid 19 not being real. Like anyone who believes in science I became extremely frustrated. People coughing in line behind me at the grocery store when I was with my dad and talking loudly about how masks were “stupid”. I began feeling personally targeted because of wearing homemade masks from the beginning. I feared how many people I would have to come in contact with at work and how I might affect my parents' health just by living under the same roof. As Covid came into fruition I was a part of one of the lucky companies that gave the option to stay home from work and be paid a minimum. I was grateful. I began seeing a decline in mental health on social media. People could not take being home without their friends or their families were toxic. That’s understandable and I do not chastise anyone for feeling that way. My frustration stayed as I acclimatized myself to be home for months. I started paying close attention to news about organizations like churches, friend groups etc. gather even though we were in the height of Covid. I thought to myself “Can't it just...wait? Let us be safe first and gather later.” I feel it is unfair for me to make such a statement because I don’t know these strangers' lives at home, but it was hard to not take it personally when I had to shower anytime I went out for groceries or a mandatory meeting at work. Not to mention the constant dousing of sanitizer that my family and others who were fearful of Covid had to do to feel safe. All this was happening in America in my middle-class neighborhood and social media started showing the disparities between classes. I was lucky that my whole family could afford to stay home but there were many...many families that had to keep working even though they could die. Just to keep a roof over their heads. This especially affected people of color and minorities in our country. There was and still is social unrest. Finally, the disparities that had always been there had been forced to be paid attention to. There was no relief for the frustrations we were experiencing and bottling during this time. About midway through covid I found out my uncle in Colombia died because he had to continue driving a Taxi for work and no vaccinations had been issued. It just felt like there was nothing I could do but panic and wait. Then, one of the most egregious acts of police brutality had occurred. George Floyd had been murdered by a police officer who pinned him down with his knee as he said “I can't breathe” until he no longer could. America turned upside down. We saw videos of buildings being destroyed, fires, mass protests, shootings, the worst you could imagen. As a collective we had reached our boiling point and the last straw was this murder. My family was against my brother and I protesting because Covid still being at its height. I have protested at the Womens March in D.C and several pro-choice marches in Ohio but the Black Lives Matter movement was something I needed to educate myself on and stand up for. It was a calling for someone in my position of privilege to show up in numbers for people of color that deserve rights just as the rest of us. I often reflect on how my life could have been so different. My father is Colombian, and my mother is Polish. I look white and have always been raised in a middle-class neighborhood. I have not had to face the same injustices as my father, my family and minority groups in America just based off the color of my skin. Police brutality has always been in existence but when we were all home during Covid with modern day technology and video evidence, we felt that video to the core. We felt the pure rage and frustrations as a society of how we were not being cared for in the way we thought we would have been during this pandemic. I have never witnessed in my lifetime such united support for one another. Such a strong fight against people in power who are coming after the people we call friends, workers, lovers, and family no matter the color of their skin. In such destruction, pain and chaos I had never felt such beauty in our society. I will never forget the feeling of unity around me I had felt as hundreds of people laid down on the hard pavement during the Black lives Matter protest yelling “I cant breathe.” Finally, we could help the unheard be heard and take a deep breath together. -
2022-04-29
Dementia and Covid
Over the last two years, being away from people, and having to social distance, I have still taken care of my grandfather. He has Dementia. Now that things are starting to get a little better, and a lot of people have been vaccinated, I have been able to have him come stay the night at my house every Friday. The first couple of times he was confused, but now he seems to instinctively know the routine of it all. He likes getting to spend time with my stepdad and my girlfriend, and walk outside to see the horses. Covid has taken a lot, besides the countless lives. It rapidly increased my grandpa’s progression in memory loss. Most days he can’t quite remember my name or my mom's name. But at least he is happy, he laughs and smiles, and knows that he loves and trusts us. Him not being able to have as much social interaction as he used to has drastically changed his cognitive abilities. Today is a Friday. He was pretty quiet on the drive from his house to mine. I got him an ice cream cone. No matter where he is cognitively that man will always, always want an ice cream cone. Vanilla to be specific. We used to get ice cream cones from McDonald's when I was little when he would pick me up to spend the night at his house. I wonder how many ice cream cones we have left. I hate that his memory has been cut short and stripped from him. He had been slowly declining for the last few years before Covid, but once we hit the lockdowns, it was all over. He was good at hiding it for the first 6 months or so, but in the last year and a half it has been very clear. I miss who he was, I know we all do. -
2022-04-29
Double Boosted
This is an Instagram post by funky.buttlovin. This person received their two extra doses of the COVID vaccine. People taking selfies has been a common trend on social media after having received a COVID vaccine. -
2022-04-25
Covid Green Pass
This is an Instagram post by informa_mente_italia. It is criticizing the use of the Green Pass in Italy, where vaccination status is checked at certain places. The picture shown is making fun of the people that get the vaccines, and there are many needles to show that they are never ending, due to booster shots. This is a political issue within Europe at the moment because the Green Pass for COVID controls movement of people and what parts of society they are allowed to participate in. -
2022-04-29
The Pandemic in the Military
When I found out about the start of lock downs and the fact that a pandemic was even happening, I was at the end of a training rotation at Fort Irwin, CA. My colleagues and I were extremely concerned about the welfare of our families as we had all been screened for symptoms, but there was talk of us not being able to return home until the DOD had figured out exactly how they were going to respond to the “sudden” emergency. I only put sudden in quotes because the government had plenty of warning that this was coming but decided that it wasn’t worth acting on until it had already started happening. Once home, the adjustment to a new way of life was akin to being dropped in a foreign country that speaks a language you don’t understand and has none of the customs you are familiar with. While families, dependents, and civilians had had warning, albeit minimal, that lock downs were going to be a thing and that masks were now mandatory regardless of where you were going, those who had been away without any media or contact back home, were suddenly thrust into the lifestyle of April, 2020. From that time to now, not only has vaccination and the reality of the virus become a contentious topic among coworkers, friends, and family, but what side of the issue you place yourself on has led to some of the worst division the nation has seen since the 1960s. Families have been ripped apart and friendships destroyed because the views expressed and sides taken on pandemic related issues, including the 2020 election, have adopted the same level of identity in our lives as our ethnic, racial, or religious backgrounds. Those who would have found common ground in shared religious belief, or shared culture now create new divides on the basis of believing that the vaccine works or not or believing that those who participated in the Jan 6, 2021 Capitol incident were justified or not. -
2022-04-29
For Those Most at Risk, COVID-19 Is Not Over
This is a news story from Inside Higher ED by Josh Moody. As schools begin to resume to pre-COVID standards, not all are happy with this change. Those with disabilities worry about the loosening guidelines and how it would affect their health. COVID rates vary across the country, but many colleges are starting to drop protocols. Some disability advocates claim that this is a wrong decision from the colleges doing this, as it is putting people at high risk in more danger. COVID Safe Campus, a group of high-risk academics and activists with disabilities, recently launched a report card grading college coronavirus policies. The effort, they say, grew out of concerns that high-risk individuals are being left behind as colleges return to pre-pandemic normalcy. Colleges are graded on masking, COVID-19 testing and vaccination policies, and access to remote learning. Of the 90 institutions graded from this organization, majority have received a D or an F, and none earned an A. -
2020
COVID and My Christianity
This story is how I view the American church's response to the pandemic, both at a local and national level, and how it affected my faith. -
2022-04-29
An ~Interesting~ Time to Say the Least
After living through it for the past two years, there is SO much to say about the COVID-19 pandemic, and I don’t even know where to begin. I guess the main takeaway is that it really forced everyone’s true colors to show. At the beginning in March of 2020, everyone was so uncertain of what was to come, and that alone made it so scary, that most people had no choice but to make light of the situation. I remember not only the grocery store shelves being empty because of everyone over-stocking their pantries and shortages in general, but also the hobby sections of Walmart and Target being empty, which was truly a really beautiful thing to witness. People were taking the time in quarantine to learn more about themselves whether that meant learning new skills or trying out new hobbies and spending time with their families doing puzzles and playing games as well. For me personally, I taught myself how to sew, which is depicted in the attached photo, as I needed to make face masks for my boyfriend and me (out of an old t-shirt) so we could safely go to the grocery store, before masks were widely available. I also learned how to bake really delicious treats, got back into reading, and even painted a few pictures here and there. Aside from these positives, it also brought out a lot of negatives as well including built up anxiety and anger that came out in the form of a new equal rights movement: Black Lives Matter after George Floyd's murder. It was scary at the time because protests and riots got very violent, but any movement for equal rights is a good movement, so it was a positive in the long run. I would say COVID-19 also played a role in the insurrection at the capitol on January 6th of 2021, and more division between political parties regarding vaccines and mandates. One could go on for hours listing all the positive and negative aspects that came about from the pandemic, but it's most important to recognize how resilient we as humans are. I'm proud of how far we've come. -
2020
How the Internet Saved My Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Prior to the first major COVID-19 breakout in the US, I was already doing online school. I had some health problems that led me to take my senior year of high school online; this was already a little hard, as my school had many senior year traditions that I, unfortunately, missed out on, so my general motivation was already pretty low. The main thing that really helped was being able to hang out with friends in person and talk to people using social media. I remember very vividly when COVID-19 first hit. It was sometime in March; I remember it so vividly due to a joke that my friends and I made. Senior skip day happened right when the news about the virus started to spread everywhere - my friends and I started joking about whether or not they skipped the last day of high school they would ever attend. This joke eventually came to fruition; first, it was a two-week "vacation." Then it was a month. Eventually, the rest of the year was called off, and my friends joined me in the ventures of online schooling. The beginning of quarantine was relatively easy from a mental health standpoint. We were too busy being excited over the "vacation" we were given, and all the time we had to play video games with each other. This excitement soon began to fade, however, mainly when the weather began to get warm again (I live in Massachusetts) and the seasons started to change. The feeling of being trapped inside during the only time of year truly worth being outside for is pretty suffocating. It is no surprise that my mental health started to suffer, mainly in the form of motivation issues and increased anxiety, and depression that was normally seasonal began to manifest itself in the only season it usually didn't. If not for the internet connecting my friends and me, I would have had a much harder time throughout quarantine in general. Despite my mental health being worse than usual, it was not nearly as bad as it could have been given the circumstances. The horrible statistics and lack of hope for a vaccine that clouded my thoughts when not distracted disappeared while I was in my own world talking to friends through a computer screen - escapism was my main source of comfort, and I have the internet and my friends to thank for that. Eventually, the feeling of hopelessness went away. Vaccines started to be distributed, and life returned to (slightly) normal. We got used to wearing masks in public, and avoiding crowded areas, but this was a small price to pay considering how bad it was before. -
2022-04-28
COVID-19, Religion, and Public Life Reflection #REL101
To shine a light on the tension between Science and Religion -
2020-04-06
2020 is One for the Books
This collage represents the main events going on in our lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. Like one of my pictures says "2020 A Year Like No Other." I wanted to represent the election of Trump vs. Biden because it will more than likely go down as one of the largest and craziest elections in history. It divided the country like no other and is still an ongoing battle of Republicans vs. Democrats. I wanted to show the black square and the protests for George Floyd along with The Black Lives Matter movement. I added the air pollution of Los Angeles before the pandemic vs during. With everyone staying inside and not driving around, air quality improved tremendously. We gave the Earth a minute to breathe and heal. A quick photo to shoutout the flight attendants who have had to deal with some craziness on board for the last couple years. It has not been easy, and everyone needed a vacation after 2020. The media has been a huge factor and enemy for this pandemic. I wanted to show an illustration towards facts and fake news. A huge debate on that especially with my final photo of the protests on the vaccine mandates. The world is divided more than ever and hopefully one day we can reunite we can reunite and look back on this pandemic and remember to love each other and this planet. There were many lives lost to Covid, to suicide, and addiction. Rest in peace to everyone who didn't make it and my prayers with the families who lost someone. -
2022-04-27
Vaccine checks at mall entrance
Before entering the mall, all shoppers must show a security guard their ID and a vaccine card. This photo shows the people coming in and getting checked at the Mall de Porongoche. -
2022-04-27
Poverty and the Pandemic
My story touches on the importance of who holds the power over your life. Ultimately it is written to give an account to future generations so we never go back there again. -
2022-04-27
Life of COVID in Japan
When COVID first started and until now I have been living in Japan. When it first started to break out things immediately began to lock down and the restrictions of what can and can’t be done began to pop off instantly. Japan is a lot stricter that what at least Arizona has been. I haven’t been to other states so I am unable to express what it is like. Now Japan ever since COVID began locked down their borders and leaving the country or traveling from where I live in Okinawa which is a small island, was extremely difficult. I work in the military and the fight against COVID was to make everyone get vaccinated and if not you were to be separated. Many people began to argue that their religion did not allow it but pretty much 99% of the claims for religion was denied. So once everyone either got the vaccination or was separated things began to get a little bit better. Restaurant began to open up but it would continue to fluctuate between if only outdoor seating was allowed or indoor and outdoor. Travel between prefectures of Japan started to open but only if vaccinated. Although COVID tests were mandatory for travel to happen. Although the US didn’t have their borders locked down, we were still unable to travel to US to see family no matter the reason except a funeral because we had to get back into Japan afterwards. By the time Japan finally opened their borders I finally was able to go home to spend time with family and be around for the holidays for first time in over two years. I think because of this, many people in the military don’t want to stay in no more because the ability to do many things aren’t able to be done. The military has to work with the country of Japan to make sure all is well between each other so the government’s power and military’s power restricted everyone from being able to do the many fun things Japan has to offer. Although, now in 2022, things are beginning to open up and things are going back to more normal barring another variant forces Japan to go into a state of emergency. -
2022-04-21
Does Free Speech Protect COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation?
This is a story from Standford Medicine's Scope Blog by Sharon Beckstrand. This is an opinion piece on free speech and misinformation as it relates to COVID-19. Beckstrand goes over some of the reasoning some might resist getting vaccinated, such as political beliefs. Some of these beliefs can come from well-intentioned individuals thinking they are spreading good information, or from intentionally misleading sources. Both of these examples are classified under misinformation. The author of this asks: how can the spread of misinformation be stopped without quashing free speech? To get an idea on how the United States approaches this with the First Amendment is though Supreme Court cases. The Supreme Court has upheld that false statements are still protected under free speech. A 2012 case of United States vs. Alvarez struck down a law that made it a criminal offense to lie about receiving military medals, as a false statement is still protected under the First Amendment. Other types of speech are not protected, such as: lying in court, making false statements to the government, impersonating a government official, and defaming someone. Beckstrand lays out some of the dangers that can come from the government trying to police false claims. One thing she asks people to consider is that a scientific statement claimed as false today could be considered verifiable at a different time, especially if it is something that has not been studied yet. Additionally, many do not trust the government to not abuse power when deciding what is misinformation. The article ends by saying that if something becomes politicized, they are more likely to view messages from groups they don't identify with as suspicious, regardless of how much evidence there is to back it up. At the end, Beckstrand closes with saying that if we cannot make sound decisions on how we interact with information, we can't make sound decisions about health. -
2022-04-26
The Digital World and COVID-19
The pandemic caught us all by surprise. At the end of the year 2019, a global event started that none of us were prepared to confront. A new, unknown virus was killing people all over the world, and it was making its way to the United States. As we prepared in whatever way we could, with what we knew at the time, the world started to shut down. Local mandates were advising us all to stay at home and to only leave if we needed to get necessities. With this, we all had to rely on technology to stay connected and to know what was happening in the outside world. We were all connecting through various platforms to work from home, attend classes, or simply to talk to our loved ones. The comfort of doing everything from home turned into a personal prison for many that were not used to being isolated. As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, people were anxious and desperate for a sense of normalcy. With technology, we also got information and found resources that would help us navigate through this pandemic, and at the same time, we received misinformation that would eventually turn deadly for many. There was a huge focus by certain political parties to diminish the severity of the virus. In the United States, the conservative population (lead by former President Trump) believed that the virus was not dangerous, and they kept comparing it to a common flu. This conservative population was asking the rest of the population to not believe what the media was informing at the time. This created different perspectives linked to conspiracy theories that spread quickly through different social media platforms. For example: like COVID-19 being a production of the government to control the population, or simply that the virus did not exist at all. At this point, there was a huge part of the population that did not trust the guidance provided by local health authorities. There was information regarding a vaccine that could minimize the damage caused by the virus, and this was great news! Unfortunately, the vaccine encountered the same type of resistance that the previous prevention guidelines encountered. People did not believe in the effectiveness of the vaccine, and again, theories regarding the development of the vaccine started making their way through the internet. For example, some people believe that the vaccine is a chip implanted in our bodies so that the government can track us. In times of uncertainty, those who practice religion tend to turn to religion for comfort and guidance. In some cases, certain religious groups were advising their congregations to put all their trust in God, and that he would protect them from the virus, without the need of a vaccine. The clash of religion and science made it more difficult for the population to come out victorious from a very challenging time. More than 2 years later, and we are still seeing the effects of the pandemic in society. There is an emotional divide that lingers in our communities, not just a physical distance. Communities want to have their normal lives back but fail to realize that these are their normal lives now. -
2022-04-26
WHO Warns About the Dangers of Health Misinformation as Musk Takes Over Twitter
This is a news story from Bloomberg News by Andy Hoffman and Clara Hernanz Lizarraga. Since Elon Musk has officially acquired Twitter, it has prompted groups like the World Health Organization to give warnings on COVID misinformation. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the health emergencies program at the WHO issued a statement on Musk buying Twitter for $44 billion dollars. “When anyone reaches a position in life where they have so much influence over the way information is shared with communities, they take on a huge responsibility,” Ryan said at the media briefing in Geneva. “We wish Mr. Musk luck with his endeavors to improve the quality of information we all receive.” Throughout the pandemic, the WHO has worked to make sure correct information about the pandemic and vaccines are being spread. The WHO has an overall fear now that bad information could be spread more easily about COVID and possibly cause more death. -
2020-12-23
Getting the vaccine
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
2020-12-20
Self-help
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
12/19/2020
Bill Gates confidence
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
2020-12-18
Vaccine confidence
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
2020-12-17
What I want for Christmas
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
2020-12-14
Changing hearts and minds
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
2020-12-12
Spring
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
2020-11-21
Pandemic fast food
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
2020-11-20
ED
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
2020-11-19
Significant other
A comic strip about Covid-19