Posts by Ruth Nasrullah
13,000 in Two Years – Honoring Those Lost to COVID-19
It began on September 28, 2020, before this site was even launched. That day we honored 18 people on the Wall of Memories. Lois Patricia Andersen of Richfield, Minnesota was the first, a smiling elderly lady wearing a tiara with the words “Irish Princess.” Eighteen. Today – two years and four days later – we…
Read MoreEthnic Disparity in COVID Deaths
Last weekend we honored two Indigenous women who died at a young age of COVID-19. This is notable both because of the rich history of native peoples on this continent and because of the singular accomplishments of both women. Their deaths also highlight the ethnic disparity in COVID deaths. Every COVID-19 death is tragic. Each…
Read MoreHas COVID Changed the Way We Memorialize Those We’ve Lost?
A few days ago I read about the desecration of trees in the area outside the site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp. According to the article, “The trees were part of the 1,000 Beeches project, an effort to plant trees along the 118-mile route that prisoners from Buchenwald were forced to march in April…
Read MoreAll About COVID Variants: Is it all Greek to you?
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced the impacts of variants – not just Delta and Omicron, the best known, but others that had less influence on the disease’s severity or spread. So what is a variant anyway? Over time, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, undergoes genetic changes, which is expected…
Read MoreHealth Officials See Bright Future in Poop Surveillance
During the winter surge caused by omicron, California, Colorado, New York, and Texas first detected the variant via sewage.
Read MoreThe CDC’s New Guidelines on COVID Risk and Masking Send Confounding Signals
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month unveiled updated covid-19 guidelines that relaxed masking recommendations
Read MoreCOVID Isolation and Mental Fragility
Though the CDC’s isolation recommendations had just shifted from 10 days to five, I stayed seven days to be on the safe side. My room was 9 feet wide and 10 feet long. I know some families with larger closets than this…
Read MorePharmacies Turning Away Immunocompromised Patients Seeking 4th Covid Shot
Patients with weakened immune systems — who are at high risk from COVID-19 — say pharmacies are turning them away when they seek additional vaccine doses recommended by federal health officials.
Read MoreWhy Getting Vaccinated at Church Might Be the Future
With one of the most diverse populations in the country, the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in Harris County, Texas, was never going to be a one-size-fits-all approach. In the county of 4.7 million, which is the most populous in Texas and home to the city of Houston, 43 percent of the population identifies as Hispanic or…
Read MoreThe COVID Hangover
I am not a big fan of clichés, but lately I can’t help but think of the butterfly who flapped her paper wings in China and caused a hurricane in the Caribbean. Or a tornado in Oklahoma, whichever natural disaster you prefer to metaphorically digest. The movement of a creature so delicate resulting in a…
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