These bitches are absolutely fricking insane and Fauci just completely broke these people and is probably laughing his fricking arse off about it. Some of the jewels today: Parents making excuses not to mask and now making their masking contingent on compliance with their demands

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So I have been warning my parents of an increase in the FLiRT variant and letting them know that there is evidence showing it can escape immunity from previous variants (we got COVID this winter). Yet they keep making excuses not to mask (oh, the place we are going to isn’t that crowded, we will have new vaccines this fall, it’s going to be like the flu if we get it again etc) when they used to mask before we got COVID. And now I’m done with the excuses and urged my mom to mask when going to the store because wastewater levels of COVID are high in our state right now. Her response? It was to tell me she was going to mask if I promise to do the chores I ask her to do. And while I can acknowledge I needed to get them done (it’s just that my ADHD makes it difficult for me to do them), the fact that she held basic protections of my and the rest of the family’s health hostage based on compliance with certain demands (instead of just given me a reminder) pisses me off and makes me feel so manipulated. I’m at loss to what to do about this. I am tempted to come up with a scenario like “Imagine if COVID were something you can see or touch. Would you give it to me as punishment for not completing my chores. Because that is effectively what you’re doing” but I worry that will sound too extreme and accusatory. I am also worried that she didn’t really mean it when she said she would wear a mask if I did what she said and just did it to manipulate me into doing my chores (when just a reminder would suffice).

Ummm, parents you have failed your daughter and throw her to the fricking curb. Tell her that you’re moving on with your lives, she needs to move on with hers and get a fricking job. What a brat.

podcasts as infection proxy :(

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I follow a half-dozen podcasts, and many interview musicians, comedians, or other performers who are out doing shows. The frequency of guests with clearly *very active* coughs is astounding and seems on the rise. I bet some smart person could use AI to analyze audio en masse and quantify this on a broad scale. A new measure of infection rates? (I say that a little bit tongue in cheek, but it is striking!) Also, hosts who I've listened to for years have changed, and nowadays more often "can't find the word" as they complete sentences, and these are often hosts probably in their 30's or 40's.

Oh my God, someone has a cold or a cough, something that never, ever happened once before Covid, not once! Time to lock everyone down again!

More Medical Facility Mask Refusal

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Have to go see a specialist and get some scans. Called the office to schedule an appointment. The woman on the phone was very nice, until the end, when I asked, “The doctor, nurses, and tech will all be masked, right?” The woman told me that they would not. Then asked her if she could put down a note asking them to mask for my appointment and she said, “We have 19 nurses in this office and 4 doctors, we can’t ask them all to mask. And even if we did, no one else in the waiting room will be masked.” Asked her why they couldn’t lead on masking, or at least accommodate a patient request, being a medical facility and all, and she said that they did mask “during the pandemic,” but haven’t since. Asked her when the pandemic “ended” and she explained that they wouldn’t be able to help me and that I would be better off looking elsewhere. The CDC is such a failure.

Good for the front office just basically telling this hypochondriac Karen to frick off.

How do I maintain sustainable and fulfilling connections with my family?

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I’m going to try to keep this as orderly as possible but I have A Lot Of Thoughts.

I am truly at my wits end. I am (poorly) dealing with a stilted social life, “losing” my 20’s (I turned 18 in 2020 - never had a real taste of nightlife and it sucks), etc., but the idea of never hugging my grandma again absolutely destroys me.

Realizing that my little cousins who I love so dearly have no real idea of who I am bc the very few times that I see them, I am always masking. Missing weddings, baby showers, my mom’s 60th birthday; the loss of these moments and connections has me feeling like I’m drowning.

My family (mom, dad, brother, grandma) all live in Florida. If I wanted to see them in person, I would have to travel by plane, which I Have done but am beyond stressed each time. They each (beyond my grandma) lead active public-facing lives. My mom is an event planner, my dad goes out to jams + open mics ~3 days/week at bars, and my brother often goes to sports games with his friends. My grandma lives with my dad and loves when I stay the night, but he definitely poses the highest risk (which like dude. you’re literally caring for your elderly and immunocompromised mother ??), so staying at that house doesn’t feel like a good option.

My mom has agreed to mask the week prior to me visiting, but I know that’s a very loose promise. My dad certainly would not take any precautions. I know that everyone taking molecular tests would be the best option, but to have 5 people testing everyday for up to a week is not financially feasible.

I cannot change how deeply I value my family and those connections. I cannot control the need to hug my mom. Having a relationship that is solely me getting pissed over FaceTime bc she is telling me about her latest event/conference she attended is not healthy. I want to be excited for her about her life, not resentful! But thinking about the danger she is putting herself in sends fear running through my body. I don’t want to recoil from the times she actually is able to hug me, bc she’s fresh off the plane and hasn’t changed her clothes.

I cannot change the fact that for me personally, the weddings, showers, and celebrations are what make life worth living. I mean, god, what am I going to do for my grandma’s funeral? And will I never have a relationship with my baby cousins as they continue to grow? These questions leave me unable to get out of bed some days.

I personally cannot find what I’m looking for over the phone. It’s just not sustainable for me.

So yeah. If you’re still reading this, thanks. I can’t tell if I need to broaden my perspective due to my emotions clouding logic or not. I just really, really miss my family.

Unlike the others, this girl I actually feel bad for. Look how much she’s been fricked up since fricking high school. Her brain has been scrambled and she believes life ruining lies that she recognizes have ruined her life. Like someone needs to show her this chart and realize she’s ruining her life for no reason: