WorldCon this year was great for me, despite being so huge that I never even saw many folks who I know were there. I did run into lots of other folks, had some good conversations, and heard some good panels.<\/p>\n
The best thing I did was con-adjacent: Charlie Jane Anders put on a special Writers With Drinks before 700 people in Seattle\u2019s Town Hall with Andrea Hairston, Annalee Newitz, Darcie Little Badger, Becky Chambers, and Cecilia Tan.<\/p>\n
Not only were the readings great \u2013 no surprise with that line up \u2013 but the audience was fabulous and enthusiastic. I felt at home in a crowd for the first time in a long time.<\/p>\n
I came away from the whole weekend inspired about getting on with my own writing and extremely aware of how important it is for people to get together in groups. And while smaller, local meetups are certainly good, large gatherings that don\u2019t happen as often are also key.<\/p>\n
People have been getting together in these ways for a very long time. It\u2019s part of who we are as a species.<\/p>\n
But of course, things being as they are, the aftermath of WorldCon was accompanied by posts on social media and notices from the convention about Covid and other contagious viruses among the attendees.<\/p>\n
\u201cCon crud\u201d has always been a thing among those who spend time at science fiction conventions. And while I recall all too well the norovirus that went around WisCon one year, most con crud comes from contagious airborne viruses like colds and flu.<\/p>\n
I saw one post that said these days people call Covid \u201cspicy con crud.\u201d It makes it sound like a joke. And really, we\u2019ve always treated con crud as a joke.<\/p>\n
Except it isn\u2019t funny. The risks from Covid make things much worse, but the truth is we shouldn\u2019t be so cavalier about other kinds of viruses. Far too many of them cause things similar to Long Covid, and of course, some people are at greater risk from respiratory viruses than others.<\/p>\n
But somehow, despite the fact that we learned (or should have learned) from the Covid pandemic that there are a number of things as a society that we can do to stop the spread of contagious airborne disease, we are still running our society on the idea that everyone is just going to get these viruses and that\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not OK. We should not accept getting sick \u2013 especially with the risk of ending up with major diseases later \u2013 as the price of getting together as a social species. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m also fed up with the \u201cyou do you\u201d individualistic approach to all this. As soon as one person from the con posted that they had tested positive, another person piped up to observe that they don\u2019t go to conventions because it\u2019s easy to get sick there, and said it in a way that implied they were a superior human being for doing so.<\/p>\n
And others complained that everyone should have been masking.<\/p>\n
Now I mask at such events. I also use a nasal spray when I\u2019m going to be around crowds all day, try to eat and socialize outdoors as much as possible, and got my vaccine booster just before the con.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m opposed to judging people for not being that careful. I\u2019m tired of wearing masks, too, and it is harder for those with hearing issues to follow masked panelists.<\/p>\n
I keep doing it because I don\u2019t want to get sick and I\u2019m not willing to accept that getting whatever is going around is a fact of life. I suspect other people have decided that the risk of getting sick is worth not going to all that trouble, and I\u2019m not willing to fault them for that.<\/p>\n
(This does not include the asshole at WorldCon who discovered he had Covid and then took his mask off in a business meeting about the con. By now everyone should know better than that. I mean, really.)<\/p>\n
The thing is, we could get back to what we all would like to think of as normal, except better because we wouldn\u2019t be getting sick so damn often.<\/p>\n
I realize that, at a time when the head of the Centers for Disease Control was fired because she won\u2019t do what the stupid man in charge of Health and Human Services says about vaccines and it seems quite possible that we might not get the updated vaccines that we need or even be able to keep getting vaccinated for Covid, it is not a very practical time to rant on this particular subject.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m still gonna rant.<\/p>\n
Obviously we need vaccines. What we really need is a push behind the kind of vaccines that will reduce transmission of Covid and other viruses. There are several being developed \u2013 mostly nasal sprays \u2013 and they would make things much easier.<\/p>\n
And in fact, with the advent of mRNA vaccines, we can respond quickly to new viruses, if we only would.<\/p>\n
Tests for all kinds of viruses and anti-viral treatments are also important and quite possible, with a push behind them.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just vaccines and treatments. A major key is indoor air quality.<\/p>\n
I note that WorldCon advertised that the Seattle Convention Center had great ventilation and filtration and so forth \u2013 state of the art. But I carry a CO2 meter to big events and while the big common areas were fine, the CO2 in the meeting rooms hit 1400 ppm or so \u2013 a very high number that means people were breathing each other\u2019s lung exhalations (so if anyone was sick, others were exposed).<\/p>\n
CO2 is a useful proxy for viruses, since it tells you the odds that you\u2019re breathing them in if someone around you is sick. There\u2019s also substantial science that shows that high CO2 levels interfere with your thinking and make you drowsy \u2013 not permanently, but while you\u2019re in the room.<\/p>\n
Masks work, if people wear them, but the better solution is for venues like convention centers to give more than lip service to ventilation and filtration. There\u2019s also ultraviolet light, which kills viruses. The tech exists and the science backs it up.<\/p>\n