Microbiologist: "I'm angry as hell & if I die please let the world know that Donald Trump killed me"

[kpete]

Dr. Dharma BumMicroscope👨🏼‍🔬

I woke up this morning. That's the good news. I have COVID and feel like I'm on a death watch waiting to see if I die like >165000 Americans have. I'm angry as hell and if I die please let the world know that Donald J. Trump killed me

I contracted COVID *at* the CDC while trying to provide services for people with tuberculosis. Those services have need degraded because we are losing staff to COVID. I'm sure it's the same for other deadly diseases.

Having COVID is very isolating and depressing. You find yourself wondering things like, "Will I ever get to hug my wife and kids again?"

The well wishes in this thread are comforting. Thank you everybody

The good part of getting COVID at the CDC is that I have an army tracking my condition. They call and text several times a day and for that I am grateful

They tell me that conversion from mild to severe occurs on average 5-11 days after symptoms. I'm on day 7 and have been downgraded from mild to moderate. But still doing well all things considered

This may bring a halt to the well-wishes, but I promise, if I die, my ghost will take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave because I going to haunt that muther focker until the end of his days


THREAD:

Link to tweet

?s=20

[tanyev]

1. Marking to read later.

[TheRickles]

2. Please consider adding Vitamin C and D to your regimen. May the Force be with you! n/t

[ananda]

9. And if you catch it, also take melatonin.

..

[I_UndergroundPanther]

14. Melatonin?

What does it do?

I take melatonin every night to sleep,have been using it for years..

Also use vitamin c,d and bacteria everyday. Been doing that for years.

[diane in sf]

17. take zinc as well

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

3. KnR

[LAS14]

4. Do you know exactly how you caught it? I'm hungry for stories of exactly...

... how people who do everything right still get it. I assume you were doing everything right?

Anyway, I do hope you start the getting-better part of the curve real soon!!

tia
las

[NewJeffCT]

5. It's not just losing staff to Covid

they've had 100s of unfilled positions there because Team Trump hasn't done the hiring needed.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. To be fair to them

the population of doctors who don't believe in science was a small pool to choose from

[intrepidity]

7. Threatening to haunt Trump from beyond the grave seems like a good strategy

He's the sort who might really be bothered by that prospect. Everybody should do this.

[BusyBeingBest]

8. Just saw a guy wearing one of those plastic valve masks

in Lowe's. I see less of them than I did in April, but some people aren't getting the message (or don't care, more likely). There needs to be a big public service announcement concerning these.

[moonscape]

16. I had several Vogmasks already when cv hit and

didn’t realize the valve was a problem until I went to a medical facility and they gave me a paper one to wear. I cared, just was ignorant.

[AllaN01Bear]

10. if i die tomrrow , i want that as my epitath. donald trump killed me.

[Red Pest]

11. As a microbiologist, I have gotten an infection from a disease I worked on.

I felt a bit of cosmic irony. My lab was researching Lyme disease (LD) and I got infected three times during the years that we did that work. Infected deer/black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) are quite common where I live. Fortunately, treatment for Lyme disease is easy and simple - doxycycline, ampicillin, azythromycin, etc. all work, if you get treated early.

Of course, Trump was not president, nor does LD cause pandemics. While there have been political aspects to the diagnosis and treatment of LD, it is nothing when compared to what we are dealing with now.

Now we have the insane pronouncements from that orange syphilitic that children are practically immune (never mind the 100,000 diagnosed infections in children in the last 2 wks); that we only have so many cases (>5 million) because we test so much (so if women don't get a pregnancy test they won't become pregnant?); that an anti-malaria drug will prevent/cure a covid-19 infection (clinical trails disproving this should be ignored); that we will have a vaccine approved for use by November 3 (you know, like the Russians & Chinese; who needs blinded phase 3 clinical trials, all that matters is his reelection); and, of course, the famous - let's try injecting disinfectants or shine UV light inside our bodies (well, what needs to be said for these, except yes, they will kill the virus...and the patient).

In the end, I only wish that all those stricken recover quickly and that we all remember who told us that he takes no responsibility. Well, we can take responsible action - we can and will vote. We will vote Trump out. We will vote his Republican enablers out. We will vote to establish a government of, by, and for the people. We will vote for a government that will take pride in promoting justice, equality, science, knowledge, freedom, kindness.

[Blue Owl]

12. The Trump Virus is out of control

n/t

[crickets]

13. Ouch. What a thing to happen to a CDC scientist, in spite of all their best efforts to stay safe.

This story is confirmation that valved masks are not acceptable: they may keep the wearer safe, but everyone around them is still at risk. Now we all know.

Glad to hear the kids tested negative, and I do hope Dr. Dharma Bum recovers soon. I'm glad he(?) shared his story; it gives him a chance to vent, responses let him know people are pulling for him, and we all need to see more of everyone's personal stories to remind us that the numbers we see every day represent people just like us. 🌻


eta - love the background pic at his twitter 'home.'

[smirkymonkey]

15. I'm so sorry for him. It's bad enough to be infected, but what is even worse is to

feel the bitterness of knowing that your illness could have been avoided if only the motherfucker-in-chief had taken action back in Jan/Feb when he first learned about it instead of playing political games for his own benefit.

He and his staff have done nothing but tried to screw over the blue states because they thought it would help them politically and it has caused tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths, including health professionals because Kushner and the Trump administration intercepted PPE that was desitined for hospitals for their own financial gain. They should be hung just for that. They are actively responsible for most of those lost loved ones.

Now the virus is rampant in the red states and he is still chosing to ignore it, putting millions of lives at risk, including those of medical personnel who have to face this virus day in and day out. He just doesn't care. He buries his head in the sand and creates his own fantasy world which he spews out daily to anyone who will listen to him.

How any decent person, especially anyone who works in medicine, could be ok with him after this is just sickening. I honestly hope he catches it and dies a long, slow, painful death.