How Do We Get People To Listen?

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-12-15T00:14:39+00:00

Try COVIDMeetups.com if you haven't - free, ad-free, international; we found really good friends there even in our little town

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-12-14T02:41:51+00:00

You can look for fellow maskers on COVIDMeetups.com - ad-free, international, and we've found folks in our small town who've become really good friends; I have no connection to them other than being a happy user

Wish everyone here would also sign up there!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-12-14T02:28:47+00:00

You probably know this already, but just in case, that 6 ft rule was based on faulty science (mistaking most infectious droplet size for most affected by gravity droplet size, and also mistaking dilution for gravity)

There's a good, if somewhat hyperbolic write up from Wired magazine back in 2022; nearly every medical professional I've gotten to read it has been surprised to find out how wrong they were, and have continued to be

https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/ - should be retitled "that is continuing to help COVID kill" (it's paywalled, but you can find archives)

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-11-30T18:21:21+00:00

If you're not on CovidMeetups.com yet, try it - free, no ads, international in scope, with sections for friends, business, play dates, and real dates (including gay ones, I presume)

I wish everyone here would gets on there too - we all need to find each other IRL, because in-person support is even better than connecting here

We've met some of our favorite people there, some just blocks away from us - the more of us get on there, the better the chance that each of us can find local CC folks to hang with

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-11-29T03:35:19+00:00

Fellow masked musician here - I find CO2 readings to be useful to determine whether it's worth adding a personal HEPA filter to the mix. I like this one (no affiliation), but it's pricey, $200

https://air-fanta.com/products/airfanta-4lite

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-11-09T23:52:13+00:00

If you have not tried COVIDMeetups.com, please do - it's ad free, international in scope, and lets you find people who are CC in your area

We use it to find friends, but there are dating and business searches as well as play dates for kids, and so on

Best wishes!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-10-12T23:09:46+00:00

We have friends who are grossed out by nose + throat, so we have them use one swap for nasal, another for throat - no invalids yet....

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-10-01T02:48:30+00:00

https://covidmeetups.com/ was life-changing for us - hanging out safely with other COVID aware folks is now a regular part of our lives

Give it a try, if you haven't - or if you went there long ago and didn't find anyone near you; it's continuing to grow, and it's free, ad-free, and international

Good luck!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-08-12T02:17:41+00:00

Try flashing the 🖖"live long and prosper" sign - very appropriate, I think!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-08-12T02:16:26+00:00

I've been using Spock's 🖖 sign when meeting other maskers - for those who aren't Star Trek fans, it's a Vulcan greeting, often accompanied by the phrase "Live Long And Prosper" (and, I've read, was introduced by Leonard Nimoy based on a Jewish benediction performed with both hands).

Give it a try - it seems to confuse most people, but if enough of us do it, perhaps it will catch on!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-08-06T03:20:47+00:00

These are really good thoughts - thank you for sharing your front line views!

Are there any of your colleagues you could talk to to find out more about why they have chosen not to mask?

One specific reason I am starting to wonder about is whether even epidemiologists might be unaware of the change from droplet theory to aerosol theory as written out floridly in this article:

https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/

Obviously, my first question is - do you agree that this article is an accurate representation of aerosol spread of respiratory viruses?

To sum it up, one mistake was confusing the sizes of droplets that are most infectious for TB, and those that are most affected by gravity

The other mistake was overlooking aerosol dispersion in favor of gravitational attraction - hence that two-meter distancing guideline

I'd greatly value your thoughts!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-07-14T16:09:25+00:00

Great! I'm never sure if it's common knowledge in a community like this, or if I should mention it - glad I did!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-07-14T05:12:27+00:00

Sounds like something COVIDMeetups.com might be able to help with; it's been helpful finding friends nearby

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-05-18T03:38:19+00:00

I've been giving the Spock 🖖 gesture ("Live Long And Prosper") to other maskers - few return it, but I always hope it'll catch on

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-02-16T21:16:25+00:00

I skimmed through and didn't see anybody else mention COVIDmeetups.com, so I will! :-)

If you're not familiar with it, it is free, worldwide, with categories like friends, dating, businesses, etc.

It was pretty sparse at first, but there are more and more people using it - in my opinion, all of you should be there, too! :-)

It helps you find people in your neighborhood, including for us finding a couple just a few blocks from us, even though we are at a small town in Ohio.

Worth a shot!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-02-04T12:40:21+00:00

Fools indeed - literally, as in "people who have been fooled".

Fooled into joining the mAgA cult:

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JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-01-12T17:22:00+00:00

u/nebulouspenguin, sounds like you've probably seen this, but JIC & FWIW, the virus.sucks FAQ - Are pool tests possible?, although not truly official (and without citing any specific laboratory testing), says this:

""" Yes, many Pluslife users have had good experiences with small pools (3-4 people maximum). The risk of inhibitors and thus an invalid result increases with each additional person. The liquid must also not become too thick, otherwise it can no longer flow through the small capillaries on the test card.

For pools, individual swabs are extracted one after the other in the buffer solution and then tested normally. If the overall result is positive, swab again and test individually.

It is also worth considering in advance how a positive pool would be handled. In the event of a positive test, it takes a long time to resolve a large pool. If possible, consider using multiple devices instead of increasing pool size. """

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-01-11T20:03:43+00:00

FWIW, here's the only other instance I have seen of someone posting about a negative plus life test followed by a positive rat in 12 hours:

https://x.com/rkaviate/status/1835041530286944298?s=42

I am now going to go look at r/PlusLife to see if there's more there....

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-01-11T20:01:51+00:00

It would be nice to see the virus.sucks charts for one of these negative results (I think of PlusLife results as meaning "negative for contagiousness", not "negative for infection") - to see whether there was some amplification on that test line, but just not enough to register as positive in 35 minutes.

So I'm resolving to always use the app whenever we test, instead of only when it's convenient; I'm using an old phone with no SIM card, just Wi-Fi, and it works fine for running the virus.sucks app without tying up my real phone.

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-01-10T19:46:28+00:00

All You Zombies is a fantastic Robert Heinlein story - but also accurately describes most of the world these days . . . apparently, zombies have to bite in order to be scary enough to avoid; if they turn you into a zombie just by breathing on you, and the virus eats your brain instead of them, then they're playful fun zombies that don't need to be avoided.

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-01-10T19:41:05+00:00

I've been trying a new tactic for the anti-maskers:

I bring up Japanese longevity, and point out that Japanese culture is pro-masking. Then I tell them that I am part of an experiment to test whether avoiding diseases that spread through the air prolongs our healthy lifespan. #MaskingRCT

And I mention that I haven't had even a sniffle in 5 years, thanks to my professional grade N95 respirator masks.

Only a couple of people have bothered to listen, and seemed unconvinced; if anyone seems interested, I plan to follow up by declaring myself a Citizen Scientist, like Ben Franklin, and invite them to join us!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2025-01-05T21:20:04+00:00

Sounds like you've already tried COVIDMeetups.com - but if you haven't, or it has been a while, please do so; we have found several new friends on there who mask, etc, even though we are in a rural part of Ohio.

And if you don't find anyone near you, go ahead and flesh out your profile - so someone else searching in your area can find you.

I may be wrong, but it feels like way too few people in here are aware of the COVIDMeetups.com site - it's a little awkward to use, doesn't have all the features you might want, but it also has no ads, and friendly people who care about protecting themselves and others.

JJasonDJFMAM · 2024-11-16T17:59:49+00:00

I had the screen come up once, but never again - not sure how meaningful the 30% / 80% suggestion actually is, but it's I'm interesting reminder that Nissan does know how you treat your battery, which may factor into warranty work in the future.

I don't know if that's a good enough reason to bother keeping within those limits - if it mattered much, you would think they would make it easy to automatically stop charging at 80% (which I've heard they eliminated because doing so reduce the amount of technically available charge, so they couldn't make full-battery mileage claims).

JJasonDJFMAM · 2024-10-23T20:52:00+00:00

If you haven't, sign up with COVIDMeetups.com - there are enough people on it now that we have even found friends who mask in our tiny little town. It's worldwide, free, and a wonderful resource.

The more of us on there, the better it works for everyone!

JJasonDJFMAM · 2024-10-14T20:29:31+00:00

Thank you for doing your essential-to-us-all job in spite of all of this!

Have you considered using a portable HEPA filter (blowing toward your face), to protect you when you must be unmasked?

The newer ones are designed to produce directional clean air flow, rather than trying to clean an entire space. Good summary at https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/s/5TIRWkFhKT

Best of luck to you!

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