the maskers comic presents

Long covid is covid

COVID risks move beyond initial acute infection risks, and include serious, severe, common, and oftentimes disabling long-term effects (long COVID). There is nothing mild about that. We know it is happening; we know millions are affected of all ages, health statuses, vaccination statuses, and they are not being supported properly medically, financially, or socially. It is a big deal. And many people who are getting hit hardest have been speaking out for years and been ignored completely. It is frustrating to say the least. Some things are true whether you believe them or not, whether you connect the dots or not-- the thing is, we have an overwhelming amount of research that has connected the dots clearly to these conditions and COVID-19 infection. And still, we have no type of reaction that matches this level of devastation that is occurring on a day-to-day basis. If you want to see a glimpse of the research, I recommend checking out IS COVID-19 Still A Problem in 2024 and our other Writings and Resources. If you want a brief (5 minute) video, check out our presentation below. There are things we can do to stop COVID-19 infections and thus stop long COVID. Things that we NEED to do. And time is of the essence. Furthermore, we can do them while still enjoying life, and being safe, and social (the good kind of social-- the kind that respects each other's health and wellbeing). That is what this project is about!

Heart disease risks

Today show

March 2023

Data shows link between COVID-19 and heart disease. The risk has increased notably in healthy and young people between the ages of 21-45, whether vaccinated or not, and whether initial illness is mild or not. 

The maskers comic Presents

the good news

If we can hold out long enough and not get infected, it would give time for new therapies and technologies to develop. 

While we wait for new tools and treatments to be developed, let's stay safe uSing the tools we currently have to prevent infection and transmission of COVID-19

What is Enhanced Air filtration? 

Adding air purifiers such as HEPA purifiers and/or fan-and-filter air cleaners that use MERV-13 filters to improve your air filtration can reduce COVID risks. Most standards recommend 6-12 Air Changes Per Hour, which will require knowing the size of your space and the CADR (specifically smoke CADR) of your air cleaners.

ASHRAE Standards: ASHRAE’s 2021 Ventilation for Industrial Settings During the COVID-19 Pandemic states: “Maintain between six and twelve air changes per hour (ACH), which will provide a greater than 99% purge in 30-60 minutes. This reduction applies when the building is unoccupied – the concept of purging does not apply if a source is still present (i.e., potentially infectious individuals are still in the workspace). It is important to maintain as much outside air and/or sufficiently filtered recirculated air as possible to achieve the goal of > 6 ACH.” 

The 2023 ASHRAE Standard 241Control of Infectious Aerosols, which can be previewed here, sets minimum equivalent clean air flow rates for infection risk mitigations for long range transmission according to the building’s occupancy category. In Table 5-1 they define spaces such as gym, classroom, lecture hall, classroom, health exam room, residential common space, etc and expresses the minimum equivalent clean airflow rate required using cubic feet per minute (cfm) per person as well as liter per second (l/s) per person to allow for better variation based on number of people in the room and activity level of the people. For a classroom setting it uses 40 cfm per person, or 20 l/s per persons, which for an average classroom of 25 it converts to approximately 8-12 ACH.

NOTE on Converting recommendations that use L/S

to ACH 

Liters per second (l/s) is an alternative to ACH that is used in certain recommendations, such as ASHRAE's newest Standard 241, which can be previewed here (scroll to Standard 241, then find Table 5-1) and

1- find the recommendations for the occupancy category that is closest to your space.

2- Multiply the cfm per person by the approximate number of occupants that will be in your space.

3- Then use the cfm to ACH converter below to see how many ACH that translates to:

Things to look out for after an infection

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our personal RECOMMENDATION: Homeschooling and public virtual schooling resources

Despite our and others efforts many schools do not appear to be responding to creating safe learning environments. As a homeschool family, we highly recommend homeschool and virtual school over going into most public schools at this time due to the limitations of one way masking in high viral density settings. Since schools have a high population of unmasked people in a small place with inadequate ventilation and filtration, and kids are there for long periods of time, we do not believe this is safe. Here we provide resources with more information to help advocate for bringing air purifiers into schools and using 504 plans if you do need to go to public schools. We also provide resources on public virtual school and homeschool. Our journey into virtual schools started pre-pandemic with a Public Virtual School and then we moved to straight homeschooling in 2021 using virtual curriculum and social groups to supplement, and have been doing so ever since. Here are some resources we use/have used and recommend:

OTHER Recommended Videos ON SCHOOL SAFETY

CLEAN AIR HEALTHY SCHOOLS

A Totally Serious Animation About Improving Indoor Air Quality in Schools

10 questions to ask your provider 

1- Do you require staff to wear N95/KF94, KN95, or better respirator masks?

2- If not, will you and your staff wear N95/KN94/KF94 respirator masks or better upon request?

3- Do you require masking and testing for patients reporting and/or experiencing symptoms of diseases transmitted through the air (ie coughing, sore throat, fever, GI symptoms, pink eye, etc)?

4- Do you require masking and testing for staff reporting or experiencing symptoms of diseases transmitted through the air?

5- Do you require COVID-positive staff to isolate at home for a minimum of 10 or more days?

6- Do you have MERV-13 or better filters installed in HVAC?

7- Do you have HEPA purifiers or air cleaners in the patient and/or waiting rooms?

8- Will you allow patients to bring a portable HEPA purifier with them to appointments?

9- Do you enhance ventilation by opening windows or having mechanical ventilation?

10- Do you have Far UV or other air cleaning/ surface disinfecting technology installed in the building?

COVID-19 BLOGS AND WEBSITES

1. Air Support Project Blog: COVID And Other Airborne Germs – AIR SUPPORT PROJECT

2. Augey Ray Google Doc Spreadsheet of 400 Studies finding long-term, chronic risks of COVID-19 

3. Burnout, COVID, and Community Care by Alryt.world

4. CHRISTINA PAGEL SUBSTACK: ENGLAND IN BIGGEST COVID WAVE

5. Compilation of Reputed Sources on COVID-19

6. COVID Safe Scouts 

7. COVID UNDERGROUND SUBSTACK: COVID-FREE MOVEMENT

8. Covid Tips: How to Talk to Your Family About COVID 

9. DEREK FRANKS SUBSTACK: COVID ISN'T OVER. YOU'RE IN DANGER. I'M DONE WITH THE GASLIGHTING. YOU SHOULD BE TOO.

10. Do Not Panic (Nate Bear): Biden Quits While Sick with Covid Says We Overcame Covid

11. The Disabled Ginger: "We Don't Do Sick" and Tips for Surviving Hospital Trip When Chronically Ill

12. DR. RUTH COVID NEWS AND MORE Substack

13. Dr. Joe’s COVID and Science Substack

14. Easy Chair Substack (Anthony Leonardi) The Attack on Long COVID

15. Find Your Tribe WordPress

16. Friesein: Thread: COVID Causes Cumulative Damage

17. THE GAUNTLET (JULIA DOUBLEDAY) SUBSTACK (BILLIONAIRES AT DAVOS DON'T THINK COVID IS A COLD)

18. Hearts on the Horizon: My 5 Stages of Pandemic Grief

19. IMMUNOCOMPROMISED TIMES ON SUBSTACK (COVID-19 TREATMENT INFO IS POORLY ACCESSIBLE AND DIFFICULT TO READ ON STATE, TERRITORY AND DC WEBSITES) 

20. It's Airborne (Joey Fox): Equivalent Clean Airflow Rates from ASHRAE 241 Control of Infectious Aerosols (Part 2

21. JESSICA WILDFIRE'S SUBSTACK HOW TO KEEP GOING FORWARD IN A WORLD THAT'S GOING BACKWARD

22. John Snow Project: Everything You Need to Know About COVID

23. Long COVID Moonshot: Awareness and fundraising for long COVID. 

24. The Maskers Comic Website COVID-19 Advocacy, Comics, and Resources

25. Never Not Broken Substack: Why We Are Like This

26. Pandemic Accountability Index

27. PANDEMIC ROUNDUP Patreon 

28. People's CDC (peoplescdc.org)

29. Sharon A Blog: Not Just the Flu -Why This PARTICULAR Covid Wave is Bad  

30. The Sick Times

31. So Very Virtual Substack

32. TACT NOW INFO SUBSTACK (WHY DID EXPONENTIAL GROWTH STOP IN INDIA?)

33. TEAMS HUMAN Substack: Everything is Political. Famines are political. And so are pandemics. 

34. Testimonials of the Collectively Abandoned Zine

35. Violet Blue: Huge, Free Covid-19 Safety and resource List

36. World Health Network Blog: COVID-19: The Elimination of the Virus is Always Possible

37. Why our Family is COVID Cautious- Website with Resources

38. You Have to Live Your Life but "Doctors Aren't Wearing Masks": A Resource for COVID-19 Research and Information 

The Maskers comics

Personal Disclosure

This work I do here on my site is unpaid work. You may be wondering:

Why listen to my work and research here?

My Credentials: 

I have a BA Degree in Psychology from the University of South Florida, with over 11 years of continued education experience in allergy, asthma, autoimmune disease, N95 masks, and airborne irritants. I have a disabling autoimmune disease, and am a single parent-- which together equate to a full-time job keeping my child and I safe and social, and making this work a personal calling. 

Unlike many health organizations (like the CDC and WHO) who often get funding for science from political members/countries, I have no reason to make unsubstantiated policies to quell the self-interests of political and/or economical entities of my member states. (Although I refer to studies run by these groups, and support some of their better policies that are backed up by studies, I also point out they times their policies do not match the science, are made for political or economic reasons, and/or are part of their attempt to stay relevant to masses at the expense of their safety.)

Unlike many in the healthcare industry, I am not influenced by money, administative policy, appearances, unruly patients, overworked/limited/overstressed staff, or trying to stay within industry standards to compete and stay in business, all while neglecting science and patient care in the process. 

Unlike many businesses who are prone to overvalue short-term profits at long-term expense, I have no reason to let greed interfere with the health and wellbeing of individuals, or our society as a whole. Health brings more prosperity to us all, even if it takes a little more up front to provide a system that supports it, it more than covers costs and pays back millions-fold. What's good for human health is good for business.

Unlike many politicians who depend on a majority-- a majority that have now been misinformed and misguided, inadequately supported during early pandemic response, and confused by mixed messaging -- I am not encumbered by a need to pander to a crowd to win an election.

Unlike many in "the crowd", I am not confused by the conflicting and often contradicting health organizations' policies, since I do spend any extra time I have staying informed by reading a variety of scientific sources and networking with those in independent global organizations.

Unlike those who know but who cannot manage to put it in their lives due to personal circumstance, I am significantly protected in my personal life from any pressures that may affect my ability to feel safe in talking about/living with COVID-19 precautions.

My Disclosure:

As my health allows, I volunteer with World Health Network and Air Support Project. My comics and works are free to view digitally, although those works that are available for print, may have a print costs associated to cover expenses only. 

I aim to stay informed and share quality information with others, as well as to remind that we need to prioritize each other's health first over all else, because there is no benefit to social without safe, and no need to choose between.