The North Carolina mask ban hasn’t been entered into law yet & already there’s a story of a woman being intentionally coughed on & harassed.

The man demanded she remove her mask, called her a Liberal and himself a Conservative and tried to tell her masks were illegal in public places. She explained she had stage 4 cancer and was immune compromise and he responded by purposefully coughing on her.

This is disgusting behaviour but make now mistake - lawmakers are effectively encouraging this type of harassment. Banning medical masks emboldens those who seek to harm high risk and disabled individuals. We are already seeing it.

It’s also fascinating that her attacker felt the need to call out his political affiliation (as well as make an assumption on hers).

I need people to understand masks aren’t political. Covid isn’t political. A virus is incapable of caring what side of the aisle you’re on - and a mask is a medical device to protect the health of the wearer (and others). This politicization of masks is mainly being driven by people who are angry about mandates at the height of the Covid pandemic - they consider the months they had to mask as the most egregious violation of their freedoms imaginable - and now they’re lashing out at those who remind them of that time in their lives. They don’t want to see masks (or disabled people) ever again.

Please keep pushing back. Speak out. Get loud. Let lawmakers know you won’t stand for bills that violate a person’s right to protect themselves and their health. The harassment will only get worse from here and we need to call out bad behaviour whenever it happens - and support each other through these difficult times.

https://www.wral.com/story/scared-to-put-on-my-mask-cancer-patient-says-she-was-intentionally-coughed-on-in-spat-over-mask/21478890/

#CovidIsAirborne #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #MaskBan #BoycottNC #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #NorthCarolina

In the last 4.5 years we’ve learned so much about Covid - how it’s spread, what the virus can do to our bodies and how to prevent transmission. We HAD the tools to significantly change the course of the pandemic (and spare many lives).

Yet instead of using these tools - one by one governments have taken them away. Made accessing tests, treatments and vaccines harder. Failed to address & educate about airborne transmission. Lifted mask mandates and isolation requirements.

Then today the state of North Carolina passed a bill making medical masks illegal in public settings AND granting occupants of public places the power to demand you remove your mask (if you’re wearing one under the extremely narrow medical exemption).

It’s been a very tough day for disabled individuals. We’ve been knocked down time & time again… punished for pandemic policies that we had no say in developing or enforcing. The pendulum is swinging so far in the other direction that even healthcare workers seem uninterested in protecting their high risk patients.

I wrote about the mask ban, why people all over the world should fight against it, why it’s ableist & discriminatory and HOW we can fight back. Because we CAN fight back. We have strength in numbers are our lives (and the lives of others) are worth fighting for. Read more here: https://disabledginger.substack.com/p/north-carolina-passes-hb-237-and

CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver #CovidCautious #ChronicIllness #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #NorthCarolina #directaction #MaskBans

How #AirPollution is causing girls to get their first #periods earlier

New research shows that girls in the US are getting their first periods earlier. Exposure to toxic air is partly to blame.

By David Cox, June 4, 2024

"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or #menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.

"We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups," says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. "This has important implications for long-term health."

Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease."

By David Cox, June 4, 2024

"For several decades, scientists around the world have become increasingly concerned by signs that girls are entering puberty at a much younger age compared with previous generations.

From when girls experience their first period, something which scientists term the age of menarche, to commencing breast development, these seminal changes marking the onset of adolescence appear to be taking place progressively sooner.

"American girls today have been estimated to start menstruation up to four years earlier compared to girls living a century ago. In May, new data showed that while girls born between 1950 and 1969 typically began menstruating at 12.5 years, this decreased to an average of 11.9 years for the generation born in the early 2000s.

"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.

"'We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups,' says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. 'This has important implications for long-term health.'

"Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

[...]

"Some of the major culprits appear to be #ToxicGases such as #SulphurDioxide, #NitrogenDioxide, #CarbonMonoxide and #ozone, all of which are released into the air either through #VehicleEmissions or waste produced by #Manufacturing Plants. In 2022, a study from scientists in Poland, a country known for its poor air quality due to the prevalence of #coal-burning factories, examined data from 1,257 women, and found a link between greater exposure to nitrogen gases and menstruation occurring before the age of 11."

Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240605-how-air-pollution-is-impacting-girls-puberty?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

#PM2.5 #PM10 #ParticulateMatter #MaskUp #IndustrialAge