Queering the Conversation: Expanding the Way We Think About the Pandemic
i always emphasize unity within commUNITY because like love, it is a key value that informs the way i move through the world. Believing love is a verb (which bell hooks spent a lifetime teaching us) that requires us to act in service of life, i think a lot about what it means to be a responsible neighbor and how to honor Ancestors that sacrificed so many parts of them selves to invest in my/Our possibility. Their many selfless actions (which also included prayer, ritual, spellwork, dreams, radical imagination, etc.) provided a means through which we could all better navigate interlocking systems of domination that never meant for US to survive whole and surely isn’t fighting or rooting for us to be FREE FREE.
Like Mia Mingus (a queer physically disabled Korean writer, educator, and trainer), i deeply believe interdependence is about the “WE.” i recently came across Mia’s powerful essay “You Are Not Entitled To Our Deaths: COVID, Abled Supremacy & Interdependence” by a repost from adrienne maree brown on Instagram which has received thousands of likes and shares as well as over 350 comments. adrienne maree brown is a magickful force of love that has brought so much sweetness, wonder, and insight to commUNITY; i am very thankful for the time and space i was able to share with her as a community organizer/facilitator in multiple Emergent Strategy immersions. i was rather taken back by the message in the selected words that adrienne shared from Mia’s essay which more or less stated that anyone who is able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 but chooses not to, does not care about the “WE.” Several other bold statements alluding this within the post initially caused me pause (as i feel this conversation is much more complex and layered) as i read through and mindfully considered the entire article which adrienne and so many of fellow activists/organizers “liked” and reposted.
Mia feels that “for those who are able to be vaccinated, getting vaccinated is not about personal choice.” She goes on say: “It is not like deciding to get an abortion; stop saying this. Not getting vaccinated is not ‘my body, my choice,’ it is more like drunk driving or exposing someone to secondhand smoke… Getting vaccinated and boosted should be framed as part of our political commitment to interdependence, disability justice and solidarity.”
Mia (like many liberal news sources) does not mention that current vaccines do not necessarily prevent transmission, particularly with newer variants. In fact, with variants like Delta, similar amounts of viral genetic material have been found among both unvaccinated and fully vaccinated people; while the Center for Disease Control (CDC) claims that vaccinated folks shed their viral load slightly quicker (about 2-3 days), a study from the New England Journal of Medicine says that many designs overlook viral dynamics during the early stages of infection and introduce bias in viral load measurements from different periods of the pandemic on multiple occasions. Their longitudinal study found between vaccinated and unvaccinated people without prior infection there was “no meaningful difference in the mean peak viral load (with a lower peak cycle threshold indicating a higher viral load), proliferation duration, clearance duration, or duration of acute infection of either the alpha or the delta variant as compared with variants not of interest or concern.”
Despite the fact that Biden and many others have called this the “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” we now know without a doubt that vaccinated people catch AND transmit COVID-19. It was rather odd that we were ever told that vaccines would block transmission as this was never mentioned in the clinical trials—in fact, this was not even tested as the priority at the time was to measure whether or not vaccines prevented severe disease and death. The CDC’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, was swiftly criticized by medical experts after she told MSNBC in March of 2021, “our data from the CDC today suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick.” There was not enough evidence to make such a statement particularly because asymptomatic cases were not being tracked. Despite the lack of evidence-based data, many mainstream news sources continued to share this claim which led many vaccinated people to believe they couldn’t spread the virus to others.
(Interestingly enough, two months later and right around the time covid safely protocols were dropped, the CDC decided NOT to collect pertinent data on breakthrough cases from vaccinated folks unless they resulted in hospitalization or death. This choice baffled many experts and public health officials as this statistical information is critical during a novel pandemic; we will never truly know the extent to which the virus was spread in the u.s. by vaccinated folks who may not have even known they had the virus.)
We also know that vaccine efficacy wanes over time (as quick as 3 months) which might be why Mia encouraged folks to get vaccinated and boosted. Her blog does not mention that the World Health Organization (WHO) warned against boosters for the entire population in these moments. “Blanket booster programmes are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate,” said WHO’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. In November of 2021, he stated: “[Boosters] are a scandal that must stop now… it makes no sense to give boosters to healthy adults, or to vaccinate children [who have minimal risk], when health workers, older people and other high-risk groups around the world are still waiting for their first dose.”
The conversation of vaccine equity has been deeply neglected in the u.s. and i find myself most disappointed by fellow activists and organizers who have spent so much time over the years critiquing “imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” but have not added their voices and emotional/spiritual energies to critiquing the ways that wealthy countries have been stockpiling and hoarding vaccines to boost and reboost their entire populations, including even folks that have prior infections which even the CDC and WHO acknowledges has substantial protection. This illuminates how when many pro-vaccine folks say they care about protecting vulnerable people, *perhaps* they are only referring to those in america.
Mia’s blog also never mentions that folks who are double vaccinated + boosted are STILL getting “breakthrough” cases with Omicron which according to current data, is significantly more evasive but less virulent than prior variants. Even a fourth booster is not good enough against Omicron according to experts from the Sheba Medical Center in Israel; though it largely protects from severe illness and death, there are still many infected with Omicron even after the fourth dose. It’s important to note that Israel had one of the quickest vaccine rollouts in the world (by the beginning of March in 2021, over 55% of the eligible population was fully vaccinated); though they exclusively use Pfizer mRNA vaccines, we should have been more actively looking at their data to draw reasonable conclusions of what to potentially expect throughout the pandemic.
Interestingly enough, the CDC changed the definition for vaccines and vaccinations last year. “Immunity” was traded for “protection” to describe vaccination meanwhile the definition for vaccine shifted from “‘a product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease’ to the current ‘a preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases.’” Merriam Webster Dictionary also adjusted their definition for vaccines to address the new technology of mRNA vaccines which do not provide immunity nor block transmission. Admitting this is not to discredit the effectiveness we’ve been shown regarding the reduction of severe illness or death. It’s simply the truth! i argue many people remain hesitant to take the vaccine because they feel they are not being told the full truth which in many ways, is also true—i touch on this in my last blog “5 Reasons i distrusted the CDC during the Pandemic.” This was mentioned multiple times in the comments under adrienne maree brown’s post where many folks also shared they would take the vaccine if it actually prevented the ability to spread the virus.
Mia and many others appear to assume that people who choose to remain unvaccinated are simply being selfish and don’t care about the health of the overall community nor protecting immunocompromised folks. This also implies people that choose to get vaccinated care about protecting others which is not always true. It’s important we don’t assume simply because someone is vaccinated they are actively thinking about protecting others because many vaccinated folks were reckless last year, feeling they couldn’t catch or transmit the virus (which is what we were being told by most mainstream news outlets); to be fair, many unvaccinated folks were reckless as well however in most liberal and/or major cities, unvaccinated folks often had to show proof of a NEGATIVE TEST to engage in large social events, if they were allowed at all.
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Speaking of tests: currently in the Twin Cities of Minnesota where i am based, there is a vaccine mandate for restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues; folks who are vaccinated are allowed entry with proof of vaccination while folks who are not vaccinated must show proof of a negative test within 72 hours. (i wonder how this option would sound to Mia as she proposes no other real solutions beyond full vaccination plus booster or else remain forever isolated.) The new mandates were supposedly created to help slow the spread of Omicron but let’s attempt to make that make sense.
We have been told numerous times that many people who are vaccinated have mild or asymptomatic cases. This means they may not even realize they have it.
If we are sincere about slowing/stopping the spread, why would we not test some of the folks most likely to pass it on without knowing it?
i posed these questions to the nurse that took my saliva samples last week. In disbelief, i pointed out to her that the most vaccinated countries in the world are all seeing unprecedented case numbers with the Omicron variant: places like Portugal which is 90% fully vaccinated (45% boosted); Chile which is 88% fully vaccinated (65% boosted); South Korea which is 85% fully vaccinated (50% boosted); Iceland which is 78% vaccinated (63% boosted): or Gibraltar, a small British Overseas Territory and headland, which is particularly interesting as their entire eligible population is vaccinated and 86% boosted but still seeing Omicron spread at record rates. i also mentioned Israel and how they are currently experiencing their highest case loads of the entire pandemic despite efforts to vaccinate their population with a fourth set of shots. If we know vaccines are NOT blocking transmission particularly with Omicron and we are sincere about limiting/stopping community spread, why wouldn’t be testing folks who are vaccinated? The nurse (like many other medical professionals i question about this) shook her head and stated that it didn’t make sense to her either.
(Did you know that a study conducted by Harvard determined that recent increases in COVID-19 are completely unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States? The primary author made it clear that this was not to undermine the vaccine’s effectiveness but instead to illuminate that other mitigation strategies are needed beyond vaccines. This idea is supported by many other experts who have warned us that covid-19 is likely here to stay and we will have to learn to live with the virus. This does not necessarily mean that vaccines are failing as we are shown they still prevent INDIVIDUALS from severe illness and death which is exactly what were intended—and tested—to do.)
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Mia, like many others, appears to make the assumption that simply because someone is vaccinated they are safe (which also implies that someone being unvaccinated automatically makes them unsafe). Arguably, someone who is unvaccinated but regularly tested would be more aware of their status than someone who is vaccinated but never tested. The hyperfocus on someone’s vaccination status to prove whether or not they are “safe” to community reflects the way we have been conditioned to think about the situation vs. the actual reality where vaccinated people who have covid are also dangerous to vulnerable populations. Vaccination offers a particular illusion of safety that many of us do not want to challenge. Why aren’t there more community conversations about these very obvious risks? Why are we still pushing for vaccines and blanket boosters as a way to prevent community spread, when the reality is that vaccinated + boosted people are contributing to this spread?
It seems difficult for us to recognize that in many ways we were collectively deceived. We were initially told that vaccines would keep the community safe by blocking transmission despite the fact that there was NO evidence to support this. Many people who were desperate to protect their elderly and immunocompromised loved ones quickly attached themselves to this singular beLIEf and promise of protection, gifting many of us reason to hope again. After such intense, prolonged experiences of sadness, grief, and deep hopelessness, i understand why.
The vaccines became a “Savior” and like many other poignant times in history, we lost our ability to critically perceive the full truth—despite the brilliant technology behind mRNA vaccines, they are limited and can/will not save us from a virus that many experts have said we will have to live with for the remainder of our lives. In religious fashion, we were conditioned not to question the “Savior”; sincere curiosity and real concerns were silenced and crushed under the labels of “anti-vaxx” or “conspiracy theory” which became arguably synonymous with unsafe, immoral, and wicked—since unvaccinated people (which Mia compares to drunk drivers or folks that expose others to secondhand smoke) supposedly don’t care about the countless others they are harming/killing by not choosing vaccination. Only by controlling the beliefs (and therefore actions) of others could we maintain the illusion of safety.
It’s interesting how Mia, like many other folks, appears to use guilt, even shame, to establish her point. Though she does not agree with mandates from what she refers to as the medical industrial complex which she admits has harmed her and many others, she tells us that vaccination is about “doing the right thing.” In fact, because she offers no other solutions or strategies, she makes it clear that from her perspective , it is the ONLY way to do the right thing. i strongly agree that the “right thing” is protecting and caring for others but many experts (including the chief of the United Nations) have repeatedly told us that vaccination alone won’t stop the permeation of Sars CoV2—in fact, this was mentioned multiple times in the early stages in the pandemic though i rarely, if ever, saw this critically discussed in mainstream news.
What about folks who have been previously infected which the article also didn’t mention? Though the CDC and the WHO have tried to downplay natural immunity, they had both publicly admitted by last summer that it was, at the minimum, comparable to vaccination offering protection for 6-8 months after infection—in fact, the WHO had a report back in April 0f 2020 that stated most people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus develop detectable neutralizing antibodies; also, the CDC admitted back in December of 2020, that reinfections were rare (noting here that this was prior to Omicron which again, is significantly more evasive). Regardless, most liberal new sources continued to outright deny even the possibility of natural immunity, ridiculing anyone (even actual scientists and experts) who were brave enough to speak up about this.
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This is similar to the way experts were ridiculed and labeled as “misinforming/misleading” for illuminating the inefficiency of cloth masks as well as medical masks that don’t fit; this point was brought up over and over again throughout the pandemic and it wasn’t until very recently that public thought shifted around this. Though the CDC was asked about this numerous times (Dr. Sanjay Gupta pressed Dr. Rochelle Walensky on this during a CNN news segment in January of 2021, noting there was no longer a mask shortage and that there was a significant difference regarding protection), it wasn’t until January 14, 2022 that they updated their stance, recommending N95 or KN95 masks. One can only ponder how many lives could have potentially been saved if the CDC had been more forthcoming with this information earlier in the pandemic. There are many other examples of this throughout the pandemic including last summer when the CDC released safety protocols without clearly and boldly communicating the level of risk for immunocompromised folks regardless of their vaccination status—according to the CDC, there are some mildly to severely immunocompromised people that never develop a protective immunized response after their initial vaccination and even when they do, the efficacy quickly and greatly wanes over time.
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Most European countries recognize natural immunity as a form of immunization. To get a covid passport, one can either show proof of vaccination, a recent prior infection, or a negative test within 72 hours. This was a decision backed by data-based evidence but again, most mainstream u.s. news sources (particularly those on the political left) continued to deny again even the possibility of natural immunity. Why?
Perhaps part of that goes back to the fact that it appears the CDC made every effort to make us doubt natural immunity even releasing a prior study in October of 2021 (that many experts have labeled as biased and deeply flawed) which stated that vaccines were 5x more effective than the protection of a prior infection. This was a complete contradiction to other studies from various countries around the world including Israel which, at the time, had the largest real-world study on natural immunity; their 700,000-person observational study concluded that natural immunity was 13x more protective than vaccination alone—prior infection was also noted as 27x more effective at preventing symptomatic infection. This was consistent with Qatar where there were few confirmed reinfections among 353,326 people (between February of 2020 through April of 2021) who got COVID-19 and they were generally mild. Of the 1,304 noted reinfections, there were only 4 that required hospitalization; none require intensive care and there were no deaths.
There are now over 100 scientific studies that conclude natural immunity is comparable and/or better than vaccine-induced immunity. The CDC has recently updated its stance on the subject after releasing a new report, published Jan. 19th, based on findings from the states of California and New York which account for 18% of the u.s. population. According to The Hill, the CDC's latest report finds: “during the delta wave of COVID-19, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among those vaccinated alone (without prior COVID-19) were only 6.2-fold lower in California and 4.5-fold lower in New York while the rates among those with natural immunity were 29.0-fold lower in California and 14.7-fold lower in New York… hospitalization rates followed a similar pattern. The report finally acknowledges what many have suspected for a long time — that surviving COVID-19 provides excellent natural immunity not only repeat infection but also to hospitalization and death for the delta variant of COVID-19.” Though the science is now even clearer about the protection gained from prior infection, there’s been very little coverage of this by liberal news sources nor has there been any talk of the u.s considering natural immunity as a form of immunization.
Perhaps Mia, like many on the political left, was simply unaware of any of this which may be why it was never mentioned in her piece. According to a survey on bi-partisan errors mentioned in the New York Times of 35,000 americans, many Democrats and Republicans have a distorted perception of covid-19. Most Republicans tend to underestimate risks while Democrats tend to over exaggerate; the first may inspire people to be more careless while the latter may keep one in a perpetual state of heightened fear and anxiety. Both are harmful for different reasons but for the purpose of this article, i am choosing to highlight the fact that 41% of Democrats thought the likelihood of needing hospitalization for covid-19 was around 50% or more (the actual number lives between 1-5%). The distorted perception makes sense as many fear-mongering liberal news sources chose to share misleading articles that rarely, if ever, objectively communicated one’s level of risk which is based on a variety factors namely age and one’s base level of health—this inspired me to previously write “COVID-19: Who’s at risk and Why?” as i work/live within a largely political left world. They often simplify the conversation to vaccinated vs. unvaccinated (never mentioning natural immunity) without communicating that 75% of covid deaths were in folks over the age of 65—people under 40 represent less than 2% of overall deaths and that number continues to significantly decrease in younger age groups, particularly for folks under the age of 30 who have experienced 5,476 deaths since the onset of the pandemic (about .06% of the total deaths); as a whole, this age group has statistically been more harmed by the impact of lockdowns which is a warranted conversation that requires sensitivity. Why does this matter?
While covid-19 is of course something that we all should take very seriously because it is a disease that impacts community which calls for each of us to do our part in protecting those most vulnerable (here is where Mia and i deeply agree), this does not justify how mainstream news appeared to intentionally create a climate of fear which distorted many perceptions, even causing many relatively healthy young people to think they were at a high risk of an adverse outcome which (even without vaccination) is statistically untrue. It's critical that we are aware of just how much fear and anxiety inhibit the immune system which is the frontline defense against all COVID-19 and all dis-ease; chronic stress can have a negative impact on developing antibodies against viruses even with vaccination which should be talked about more particularly because vaccine efficacy wanes quicker and steeper in the u.s. when compared to countries like Canada and the U.K. According to a CDC report on underlying medical conditions and severe illness among 540,667 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 between March 2020–March 2021, fear and anxiety is listed on the CDC’s website as the second greatest factor in deaths related to covid-19 (the first was obesity—which is another super important and overlooked discussion that requires a great deal of nuance and must include the role of stigma as well as the lack of metabolic health—where the likelihood of death was increased by 30% followed by fear and anxiety at 28%).
The role that fear and anxiety played in contributing to suffering, even death, is one of many pertinent conversations that have been criminally neglected by mainstream news and public health officials. This also includes the unbelievable rise in drug overdoses, steep and ongoing decline of mental health, and the widening of income inequality as the the rich got significantly richer during the pandemic while the poor got poorer—i find it important to note that while overall suicide rates have declined, they stayed the same or increased for Black, Latinx, and Native American men; it’s also important to note that young people, particularly between the ages of 15-24 (ages where social interaction and engagement is needed more), were overrepresented in mental health issues which along with alarming academic deterioration is being largely overlooked. In fact, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and other pediatric groups, along with the General Surgeon, declared a national mental health emergency for youth brought on by covid-19 and the ongoing struggle for racial justice. While we must continue practicing and thinking of more effective ways to protect those most vulnerable, we also must consider the impact of lockdowns which many have argued could have been more strategically timed to be truly effective.
The risk of death from COVID-19 went up by 50% for those with a history of mental illness compared to those with no such history. It wasn’t until October of 2021 that the CDC updated its list of medical conditions that contribute to worse outcomes with COVID-19 infection to include certain mental health conditions despite prior evidence, even from their own prior weekly morbidity and mortality reports, that this contributed to severe illness even death.
i mention all of this to illuminate the immense complexity of the conversation regarding public health and covid-19 and i haven’t even touched on drugs/treatments and how many of those—like monoclonal antibodies which received FDA approval in November in 2020 but yet, according to a CNN report, there were healthcare providers that still were unaware of this in October of 2021—were suppressed and underutilized. Evushield is a good recent example: it is a powerful new protective measure created to prevent COVID-19 infection in elderly and immunocompromised individuals who may not mount an adequate immune response to COVID-19 vaccination. Though there about 7 million americans that are immunocompromised, only 700,000 doses were originally purchased from manufacturer AstraZeneca; that is only about 10% of what would be needed and it wasn’t until there was public outcry that an additional 500,000 doses were purchased on Jan. 12. i question why we are not collectively advocating for more funding for medications that have been proven effective as preventive measures and/or treatments. i continue to argue that the hyperfocus on getting the entire population vaccinated kept us from strategically engaging our energy to combat covid-19 in other ways (like different European countries, we could/should have devoted most of our effort to more effectively target vulnerable populations, particularly the elderly, who are much more likely to have an adverse outcome; though i wholeheartedly disagree with any and all vaccine mandates, it at least makes more logical sense that places like Greece and Italy only mandated and/or fined the elderly who are more 65x-340x more likely to die from covid-19 according to the CDC.)
Too often, the conversation is simplified to vaccinated vs. unvaccinated. i don’t fault Mia for not mentioning any of what i have named as she has had to navigate a particular reality as an immunocompromised person in a land permeated by abled-bodied supremacy. However, i feel it is imperative for folks (particularly able-bodied folks) to be doing the real research which is constantly evolving. i suspect Mia and adrienne maree brown would both agree the capitalistic nature of the medical industrial complex does not have a great history of caring for our communities—in fact, this is a good time to recommend Harriet A. Washington’s book “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation On Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” which shares the comprehensive history of Black america’s mistreatment as experimental subjects at the hands of the medical establishment. Numerous people i know on the political left are well-aware of this history however, i have observed a sincere lack of research coupled with an unwillingness to engage with critical thought/conversation regarding COVID-19. i find that deeply alarming as many people seem to be solely relying on the CDC as well as the media which have all been sources of grave misinformation and disinformation throughout this pandemic—of course this isn’t really being called out, particularly by liberal sources, and unless one is remains on top of this subject, it is easy to miss. We would collectively benefit from watching international news and observing how other places have been approaching the pandemic.
Many mainstream news sources as well as public officials continue to criminally neglect the conversation of optimizing health despite knowing our baseline level of health plays a key role in determining our experience with covid. We are now in the third year of a pandemic exacerbated by poor health (95% of covid-related hospitalizations had at least 1 underlying condition; 75% of people that sadly passed away had 4 or more comorbidities) and yet, there is still too little mention of the immune system and effective ways to support the immune system. i find that CRIMINAL. Though the CDC's website has studies on how diet and lifestyle impact on one's outcome with covid-19, i have rarely heard this mentioned aloud by the public officials we are told to trust—things like eating less sugar, getting 7 or more hours of sleep, regular exercise, etc. Hyper-focused on vaccination and boosters, there has been no public health plan to help us better care for our bodies, minds, and spirits. i find that downright CRIMINAL. How are we going on the third year of a pandemic and yet people still have no idea what to do when they catch covid? We are literally still *only* being told to wait until our conditions are unbearable to go to the hospital and to try not to infect others during this time period. i find this criminal.
(As someone that initially became plant-based because of environmental concerns, i want to note that according to an observational Harvard study, “people who reported eating the most fruits, vegetables, and legumes had a 9% lower risk of getting COVID and a 41% lower risk of developing severe COVID during the study period, compared with people who reported eating the least fruits and vegetables. Researchers also found a link between COVID and a poor diet or socioeconomic disadvantages.” The study’s lead author, Jordi Merino, who is a research associate at the Diabetes Unit and Center for Genomic Medicine at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, even went as far as to say: “If you could remove just one of those factors — diet or disadvantage — we think nearly a third of the COVID-19 cases could have been prevented.”)
Real health is not profitable and has never been our focus. Our absolute liberation, however, requires us to create a new PUBLIC HEALTH CONSCIOUSNESS in service of our optimal holistic well-being. The article does not mention that folks who are vaccinated and boosted are still getting sick and again, there is still no public health plan that tells folks how to care for themselves when they catch the virus. Even more revealing, there is no public health plan that attempts to address some of the root issues—namely the ways that interlocking systems of domination create and increase health disparity. i deeply feel the hyper-focus on vaccination prevents us from asking and thinking about the some of the root reasons why an american is almost 4x more like to die from COVID-19 (though the u.s. accounts for 4.25% of the global population, it represents 16% of the overall deaths; this is especially alarming and ridiculous when we consider the amount of wealth and resources within the u.s. compared to most other countries in the world); it also keeps many of us distracted from fighting for other more pressing issues that are ultimately systemic in nature—like paid sick leave which most states do not require, leaving poor people in tough, almost impossible, positions.
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Example: though hospitals being overwhelmed is nothing new, there has been little talk about directing more funds to healthcare systems. There were years that flu/influenza overwhelmed hospitals so badly, nurses were setting up camps outdoors to take care of folks (one can simply look back at 2017-2018 flu season which we appear to have collectively forgotten). Private equity has been reducing hospital capacity for decades now: “in 1975, there were about 1.5 million hospital beds in the U.S., but by 2019 the number had dropped to just about 919 thousand”—for more reading on this, check out this article by Bloomberg Businessweek. i remain appalled this hasn’t brought up more nor has there been much talk about the thousands of experienced healthcare workers that were fired for not being vaccinated—many of whom had protection from natural immunity; people we deemed as heroes in the beginning of the pandemic for risking their lives to take care of US that are now being demonized and ridiculed on top of losing their jobs which required years of higher education. They are now literally allowing doctors and nurses WITH COVID to come to work because of staffing shortages but because we are still so afraid of anyone unvaccinated (even those that are regularly tested and/or have natural immunity), we are willing to risk lives as well as the quality of care for all patients—numerous reports show that during the Omicron surge, there were actually more hospital staffing shortages vs. capacity; numerous reports also show that many people with Omicron incidentally discovered they were infected upon admission as they came to the hospital for non-covid related issues and that there should be a distinction between being hospitalized for covid vs with covid.
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"When I realized that queerness couldn't be limited to sex and sexuality, that to choose queer expressed something more profound about who and how we are, I had to shift my worldview to one that sees beyond binary truths handed to us to yoke ourselves into a system of control. To hold queerness as a practice is to be in active radical acceptance of everyone and all things as they are." --Rev. angel Kyodo Williams
What would it mean to “queerify” the way we thought about protecting our communities from covid-19? What would it mean to engage a more expansive consciousness that is willing to consider the multitude of ways we can effectively care for our communities and protect those most vulnerable? As adrienne maree brown shared within Emergent Strategy: what we pay attention to, grows. What if we decided to pay more attention to the creative genius and love within each of us which can be used in service of our individual and collective healing?
i initially questioned whether or not to write this as i kept hoping someone more qualified within my community would speak up about this but i realized i couldn’t keep waiting. i deeply feel we need more truthful community conversations about all that is happening in these moments regarding the pandemic and a way to do that without turning against one another for simply sharing a different thought/idea. Of course, these conversations will require us to use a disability justice framework as Mia points out in her article, prioritizing those most vulnerable which i am not—another reason i tried to walk away from writing this but couldn’t. i understand that many people are shutting down when it comes to anything related to the pandemic as many of us are operating in fight or flight mode... but perhaps a part of that is because many of us are doing this within small individual pockets (usually where every one often tends to thinks similarly) instead of emerging ourselves within the collective to question/discover/conjure/co-create possibilities that can nourish the US.
How can difference (as Aude Lorde spoke about difference: "a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic") support us in finding more sustainable, long-term solutions for a virus that we may have to learn to live with according to many experts?
Yoga has helped me understand that healing is beyond the physical and that there is an intimate, inextricable connection between the body, mind, and spirit. i deeply feel in order to truly move out of this pandemic we must begin co-creating a public health consciousness that nurtures all that we are Being and Becoming. We must think critically about the energetic components that exacerbate dis-ease. Moving forward will require us to conjure multifaceted, nonlinear and adaptive, sustainable ways to care for our bodies, minds, & spirits—a queer framework will be the key. This is the public health plan i feel the world needs but is so trying so hard to avoid by hyper focusing on a single solution—which will never truly get us FREE FREE.
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Acknowledgement: i would like to say that i am deeply thankful to Mia for taking the time to articulate the amount of rage and disappointment that she and many other disabled folks felt throughout the pandemic witnessing the absolute selfishness of able-bodied people that chose not to prioritize those most vulnerable. Beyond mentioning the countless government failures and policies, which resulted in unnecessary death and suffering, i appreciated how she emphasized the amount of work that we, as a community, are required to do within and amongst ourselves, knowing these wicked systems of domination can not and will not source our liberation. There were so many things within her piece that deeply resonated with my spirit and as an able-bodied person, i remain appreciative of folks calling out the various biases that can be difficult to see from a position of privilege. i took the time to sit with the energy in the piece because i know, despite my sincere disagreement with the *only* proposed solution, the IMPORTANCE of this conversation. Believing we should always be doing our best to listen to and prioritize the thoughts/ideas of those most impacted, i wanted to be clearer about the root of my disagreement and whether or not my ego/privilege within this circumstance is limiting my perspective.
Disclaimer: for many reasons, i have chosen not to speak publicly about vaccines. Particularly with this article, i felt that might be another complication that would inspire certain groups of people to intentionally mishear me. Despite the fact covid vaccines have all been labeled as safe and effective (with a period at the end of sentence which i argue makes folks less willing to think about even the possibility of risk), we know ALL vaccines come with a level of risk—we must also consider we do not know the long term effects of vaccination (or COVID). Where there is risk, there must be choice and yet, i do not see folks from the political left calling out how people were/are being coerced into getting vaccinated by facing the prospect of termination—i find this particularly insidious and evil in the middle of a pandemic where many folks were already struggling financially while billionaires got richer as many small businesses were forced to closed (giving the already rich folks even more $$$).
i plan on creating a blog in the near future on ways to boost the immune system as well as more effective strategies to protect those most vulnerable—still in the middle of a great deal of research. i want to be super clear that this is not medical advice as i am not a medical or public health expert; however, i argue that i am a community expert and dare i say, ever-evolving love expert which fuels my passion for truth.
Personally, i’ve been called to deeply reflect on the fact that i am extremely able-bodied. When i caught covid in the summer of 2020, i never feared even for a second that i would experience severe illness or die. i think a lot about the privilege i had in that scenario (while also acknowledging how much time/energy/love i invest in my physical body). The largest concern i had throughout the pandemic was keeping vulnerable folks near me as safe as possible. Until my next blog comes out, i would love to share a few of the things i have done in the interest of community.
In addition to getting tested weekly, i have also tested my antibodies and t-cell levels through T-detect (a slightly expensive test to determine the presence of T-cells which are the first responders of the adaptive immune system, activating the antibody response). i am committed to an alkaline, plant-based, nutritious diet along with an active lifestyle that holistically nourishes my body, mind, and spirit—beyond making someone less susceptible to covid-19 and adverse outcomes, these are spiritual tools that deepen one’s connection with life itself. i also commit myself to daily research so i am up-to-date on the latest studies (particularly on effective drugs and treatments) which i regularly share back with community along with movement/meditation sessions to helps other, as well as myself, better deal with the stress of it all. i check-in with the vulnerable people in my life having real conversations about the safest way to connect, respecting their thoughts/ideas/requirements. i also rarely go out or drink these days—noting here that i have no judgments of others who do as both of those activities helped keep me alive in my younger years.
i remain sincerely curious about the things other folks are doing to actively protect those most vulnerable and welcome conversation on the topic. If this aligns with you, please feel free to contact me further!
Also, i can’t stress enough that i do not have all the answers—no one does. But i deeply feel we can never get to a better place without considering the things i have named above as well as having truthful, COMPASSIONATE conversations about the different insights/thoughts/ideas/plans within our community.
Peace & Much Love.
