<
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2026/03/27/Human-Cost-Failing-Name-COVID-Airborne/>
"It was just going to be another routine day for a geriatric specialist. Dr. C
woke up, got her three kids ready for school and kissed her wife on her way out
the door. First stop was the local long-term care facility, located near her
home in the northeastern United States. Dr. C, who asks that her name not be
made public in this article, was in charge of checking on the elderly patients
there one half-day per week.
There was a bit of a twist to this morning in the late spring of 2020, however.
Dr. C wasn’t going in wholly unprotected, as surgical masks were provided to
protect her from the patients, and vice versa. These masks, sometimes known as
medical or procedural masks, were common with both health-care workers and the
public, their sky blue vivid on many faces. This, along with a plastic gown and
a pair of gloves, were what she was given to protect herself from the COVID-19
virus.
She was led to believe that would be enough, because she was told the virus was
transmitted via droplets created when sick patients coughed or sneezed, falling
to the ground within six feet of the unwell.
She decided to leave the sickest patient, Benny, for last. His roommate had
been diagnosed with COVID, but Benny had not, though he was feeling unwell.
Despite public health assurances that COVID was not airborne transmitted,
someone had put a HEPA filter in the room and opened the window. On Benny’s
bedside table was his breakfast, still uneaten three hours after being left
there. Dr. C sat down and held the juice to the aged man’s lips, which he
sucked back greedily.
“He’s too weak to eat or drink,” Dr. C thought to herself, spending the next 10
minutes spoon-feeding him his morning meal and providing hydration. Although he
wasn’t sneezing or coughing, and she was wearing all the right gear she had
been told would protect her, she remembers thinking, “This feels dangerous.”
Four days later, she started to feel off."
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Pandemic Roundup: July 23, 2026
https://www.patreon.com/violetblue/posts/pandemic-roundup-164602073
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
