Ms. Opossum graphs COVID data (was @anarchodelphis).

[Text on an yellow octagon meant to look like the output of an overhead projector.] The silent erosion of COVID-19 awareness & management in B.C.: A TIMELINE [A timeline of the year 2025 and the January of 2026. Numbered diamonds are placed on the timeline to mark the events below.] 1. April 16: Amount & timeliness of SARS-CoV-2 sample data uploaded to GISAID, an online repository, deteriorate. 2. May: The end of RAT Kit Distribution Program is announced in a professional newsletter. This provided free RAT kits to pharmacies. 3. May 31: RAT kits orders from this day onwards would not be reimbursed. 4. June: The BCCDC page dedicated to how COVID-19 spreads is removed. 5. September 1: Under the BC medical services plan, less than 20 people will be allowed in an online group medical visit. An unknown number of bed- & house-bound people will lose telehealth access to the BC-CLMF, a long COVID & ME/CFS clinic. Implementation delayed until January. 6. September 15: Vancouver Sun publishes a sponsored article, suggesting the program responsible for generating SARS-CoV-2 data from wastewater samples would be expanded & describes the then-current state of the program. 7. September 18: The wastewater surveillance program is cut: 8 of 12 wastewater treatment plants will no longer be monitored, and 1 sample will be taken per week instead of 3. 8. October 14: The year's vaccination campaign begins to widespread shortages.

I have been trying to raise awareness about the recent cuts to pandemic preparedness by provincial institutions in BC for the past 1½ months. Most of the cuts were not announced to the public beforehand and media coverage has been scant. 1/?

There's an inconvenient truth for public health leaders who insisted COVID doesn't spread in schools.

I mean, not too inconvenient. It's not like there are any standards of professional conduct.

Is killing people out of sheer incompetence embarrassing? Or is it too normalized now?

After Deadly Fire, Hong Kong Ominously Warns Grieving Citizens to Stay in Line

Hong Kong has adopted Beijing’s crisis-management playbook that it has used since the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, says @liyuan6.bsky.social

🎁
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/b...

The thing that is also frustrating, outside of the situation detailed below, is that ppl act like those of us who still mask are having some kind of grandiose “virtue signaling” tantrum….🙄

The reason why we wear respirator masks is bc ppl behave like this regularly & it’s disgusting & dangerous.

🏴 untitled 🏴

full essay on konggirlsocialist.ghost.io

National Security police and regular cops watching those volunteering to keep the survivors clothed and fed like hawks. My bad, guess they aren't "society" either. The patriotic "care teams" who turned up at the site the day after with vests already printed will do a better job than the riff raff.

Local guy starts petition with 4 common-sense points (eg. ensure accommodation for displaced residents), arrested for sedition. Oh, my bad, he wasn't "society". Arrest away.

Fuck off.

..another rejection, another opportunity to be failed and to fail. I just want it all to be fucking over.

The toll this has taken on my mental health has been so great that I haven't been able to update the GISAID graphs. I haven't been sleeping. My physical health is in such decline that I've had 2 infections (not COVID) in the past month. Every day just feels like another wait for another delay...

I just want someone in a position to ask for accountability to pay attention.

I just want the cuts to appear in the public record.

I want to stop having to fight it alone.

This absenteeism is concerning, lament schools and workplaces who’ve been past tensing the pandemic since 2021 or 2022 while everyone lives in perpetual sickness.

Hlurgh I'm going to puke. Also someone please confiscate his japamala.

"Human challenge studies confirmed that ICV [influenza C virus] caused upper respiratory disease and immune responses.."

Uh ... I don't think growth in this 'mild' Flu C, on top of protected record Flu As H3N2 and emerging H5N1/5 and COVID is helpful?

www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/12...

“As the Rights and Title Holders of the Central and North Coast and Haida Gwaii, we are incredibly alarmed to read media reports about alleged negotiations between the federal government and the province of Alberta regarding proposals to build an oil pipeline to the northwest coast. “We have been very clear that we do not support this proposed project and Coastal First Nations, along with the province, have called on the federal government to uphold the tanker ban. Any discussions around an exemption to the current ban on oil tankers triggers the honour of the Crown and requires our consent. “We are tired of learning about these discussions regarding our traditional territories in the press. Both the Prime Minister and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson have repeatedly stated that such a project would require the support of First Nations and of the government of British Columbia. “We have put forth multiple requests for nation-to-nation meetings with both the Prime Minister and Minister Hodgson. It is time for them to live up to their commitments and set up a respectful table that includes Coastal First Nations and the province of BC. This approach is only building mistrust, and Canada should commit to talking with us directly instead of deliberately sidestepping our communities.” On November 5, 2025, Coastal First Nations and the Province of BC signed the North Coast Protection Declaration, calling on the federal government to uphold the oil tanker ban as a matter of national responsibility and an investment in Canada’s treasured marine environment and the economic prosperity of future generations. The oil tanker ban is the result of over 50 years of advocacy from First Nations and coastal communities and is supported by federal and provincial governments of all political stripes.

Coastal First Nations say the federal government hasn't been talking to them about Alberta's pipeline proposal, despite multiple requests for nation-to-nation meetings

"We are tired of learning about these discussions regarding our traditional territories in the press," reads a press release

a girl with pink hair is sitting in a chair holding a key and says your rights have been revoked . ALT: a girl with pink hair is sitting in a chair holding a key and says your rights have been revoked .

UCP introduces Bill 9; Protecting Alberta's Children (from accessing healthcare) Act

Notwithstanding rights afforded to them by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; notwithstanding rights protected in the UCPs "Alberta Bill of Rights"; notwithstanding Human Rights.

#ableg #abpoli

This reminds me of Phy the Neutrophil cartoons.

"They are literally arguing for large scale RCTs for PPE during Ebola outbreaks because they don't believe in physical science or the precautionary principle."
@sfeltford.bsky.social

The bad news:
#H3N2 is new flu strain, "generally thought to cause more illness & be worse for older adults than other strains".

* This, on top of 5+ years of #COVID reinfections, a virus known to dysregulate the immune system.

The good news:
It's PREVENTABLE with an #N95 mask & #CleanAir.

DULF LEGAL AID II - The Final Push Our fundraising just hit a wall: we keep maxing out our incoming daily e-transfer limit of $50,000. But the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) urgently needs your help to keep the fight for drug user r...

Watching The Fifth Estate's piece "The political war on safe drugs" then ran to throw more money at @dulfbc.bsky.social for having more backbone and sense than immoral people in power.

Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content - Oklahoma Watch The Trump administration removed a congressionally mandated report on missing and murdered Native Americans from the DOJ website, citing compliance with an executive order against DEI. Senators who ch...

Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content

A grey elephant in the dark. “Please start taking COVID seriously before more people have to suffer and die.” Leslie Lee III, 9th nov. 2025

Rest In Power, Leslie Lee III.
Your last words still resonate. The fight goes on. #LongCOVID

Alice Wong, disability activist and luminary, dies at 51 - The Sick Times Alice Wong platformed and uplifted people with Long COVID in her final chapter as a lifelong disability advocate and storyteller.

Here is an obituary for Alice Wong from The Sick Times, a publication aligned with disability rights and disability activism, if you are looking for an alternative to reading the nyt one: thesicktimes.org/2025/11/15/a...

COVID Isn’t Going Anywhere. Masking Up Could Save My Life. "When I am in public spaces and see most people unmasked, I feel like an expendable burden not worth saving."

Respect Alice Wong’s call here:
“When I am in public spaces and see most people unmasked either because they think the virus is a hoax, that masking is virtue signaling & a sign of weakness, aren't thinking about it, or that they simply don’t care, I feel like an expendable burden not worth saving.”

[Simulated overhead projector slide:] The silent erosion of COVID-19 awareness & management in B.C.: A TIMELINE [A timeline of the year 2025 and the January of 2026. Numbered diamonds are placed on the timeline to mark the events below.] 1. April 16: Amount & timeliness of SARS-CoV-2 sample data uploaded to GISAID, an online repository, deteriorate. 2. May: The end of RAT Kit Distribution Program is announced in a professional newsletter. This provided free RAT kits to pharmacies. 3. May 31: RAT kits orders from this day onwards would not be reimbursed. 4. June: The BCCDC page dedicated to how COVID-19 spreads is removed. 5. September 1: Under the MSP, less than 20 people will be allowed in an online group medical visit. Scores of bed and housebound people will lose telehealth access to a long COVID and ME/CFS clinic. Delayed until January. 6. September 15: Sponsored Vancouver Sun article suggests the program that generates SARS-CoV-2 data from wastewater samples would be expanded and describes the then-current state of the program. 7. September 18: The wastewater surveillance program is cut: 8 of 12 wastewater treatment plants will no longer be monitored, and 1 sample will be taken per week instead of 3. 8. October 14: The year's vaccination campaign starts with widespread shortages.

Thread in essay format + unedited slides: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I will begin with a brief timeline of how the BCCDC has worsened COVID-19 related programs & why they matter:

4/16: The amount and timeliness of SARS-CoV-2 sample data uploaded to GISAID deteriorated. 3/?

[Simulated overhead projector slide:] Screenshots from the wastewater surveillance dashboard taken on November 14, 2025. Key messages: Magnitude and trends are compared to the most recently completed respiratory season (August 2024 - August 2025). Wastewater data should be considered in combination with clinical data for respiratory viral trends. Below: 2 line graphs representing RNA concentrations at the Victoria and Comox Valley wastewater treatment plants over the past year, with “seasonal magnitude bands” (horizontal blocks of color from green to off-white to orange) in the background (representing the past “respiratory season’s” concentrations? – this is never explained)

It seems that the BCCDC has made changes to the wastewater surveillance dashboard in response to the previous iteration of this thread. It now tells users to view wastewater data in conjunction with clinical data to understand "respiratory" virus trends. 51/?

But have you asked the pharmacists whether the supply will continue? I've seen RATs in some pharmacies too, but the pharmacists seem to think that the availability of RATs post-RKDP is a one-off thing. I am not resting until the RAT Kit Distribution Program is restored.

Durability of XBB.1.5 Vaccines against Omicron Subvariants | NEJM A data survey of 1.8 million people in Nebraska showed that XBB.1.5 vaccine effectiveness was 52% against infection and 67% against hospitalization, despite a decline in circulating XBB.1.5 during ...

...or that the late administration of vaccines can result in lower vaccine effectiveness (www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....). "We have the tools" until we don't, not even the one tool they keep promoting. 63/63

The vaccines target LP.8.1. Never mind that the circulation of LP.8.1 descendants (at least, ones that haven't been chopped and remixed) had all but ceased in late August (bsky.app/profile/ratn... )... 62/?

No COVID Shot Appointments Available? Check Again Later | The Tyee Vaccinations are up this year over last year, but there are enough doses to go around, BC’s Health Ministry says.

Lastly, on the basis of last year's vaccine uptake, the Ministry of Health has failed to order enough vaccines to satisfy this year's demand (thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...). 61/?