Medical Sociology on Wheels

Comments on Health Beliefs, Risk, Mitigation, and Sociological Research Methods, a Disabled Perspective

Comic (digital oil painting over pencil) with two stacked panels (top and bottom). Scene depicts me, a red-headed white woman in a wheelchair, facing four doors. The title of the comic is "Two approaches to COVID-cautious life: Self-preservation vs. Zero COVID". Background is very light blue, the doors appear along a semicircle in the center of each panel over a brown floor. The doors are different colors and shaded darker in the top panel and lighter in the bottom panel; colors from from left to right: orange/yellow, dark teal/teal, magenta/pink, burgundy/salmon. In the top panel, the doors are open showing four different scenes. Behind the orange door, a brown-haired white feminine figure sits at a desk facing way from the door and holding a cellphone with a blue bird over it to indicate "tweeting" on Twitter, and there is a speech bubble indicating the figure behind the orange door is speaking, reads "Immunity from previous infection...". Behind the dark teal door are three woman holding hands (left to right, a Brown woman with black hair falling straight around her shoulders, a white woman with yellow hair, and a Black woman with black hair in a low bun), behind the women are several white signs, indicating a protest, and a speech bubble indicating all three woman are speaking together reads "Dear congress, our kids deserve clean air!" Behind the magenta door is a white feminine figure with short brown/blonde hair sitting in a green armchair holding a cellphone; in front of the figure is an arm reaching from the left to grab a landline corded phone attached to a wall; a speech bubble from the feminine figure reads "tell them to get a taxi from the hospital." Behind the maroon door is a grey-haired white woman facing outward, waving with one hand and holding a coffee mug with another, siting at a table; a speech bubble above the figure reads "I went to a café it was fine...". Red hair is barely visible at the bottom of the panel, leading to a speech bubble outlined in green with a white background and green text reading "ok...but did you consider?" In the bottom panel, three of the four doors are now shut with emphasis indicating they were slammed and the word "BLOCKED!" across each door (yellow far left, pink center right, salmon far left). The yellow door also has the message, "I'm technically not wrong. I am a good person, how dare you!" The pink door also has the message, "Family first, I'm SURE you understand ("sure" is capitalized and underlined for emphasis)," and then "WTF why don't you let it go?!" The Salmon door also has the message, "I said NO call-outs" ("no" capitalized and underlined for emphasis). The back of my head and abdomen are now fully visible, and I am sitting in my pink wheelchair. One arm is reaching outward/to the side as if to signal "wait!" the other arm is extended in front of me, holding a mask. I am in front of the teal door, which is still open. Behind the door, white signs indicate an ongoing protest. An arm, possibly from the black woman in the top frame, reaches out from the back right of the door as if to grab the mask from me, and a speech bubble reads "Oh! thank you for the call-in, we all need to hold each other accountable!"

Two Approaches to COVID Safety, Depicted Two Ways

There are two ways to do COVID safety.

One is Zero COVID; this is NOT the approach many of the COVID-cautious are taking. Instead, there are many whose behavior is better characterized as self-preserving.

Zero COVID means safety for all people, in all places. This means fighting for people who, YES, hate you, disagree with you, who don’t deserve it, and who are definitely not doing the best they can. This also means being open to criticism and dialogue about your own behaviors.

Nobody is perfect, and nobody is saying COVID safety is easy or ideal, but if you make risky choices and advertise them to COVID-cautious communities, you’ve signed up to be held accountable by cautious people who feel your behavior is maligned with the mission–get rid of COVID. If you decide the best response is blocking, lashing out, belittling, or anything else besides saying “thank you” for the call-in, you are not Zero COVID, you are personally trying to avoid COVID. Those are not the same thing.

Comic (digital graphite pencil sketch) with two stacked panels (top and bottom). Scene depicts me, a red-headed white woman in a wheelchair, facing four doors. The title of the comic is "Two approaches to COVID-cautious life: Self-preservation vs. Zero COVID". Background is very light blue, the doors appear along a semicircle in the center of each panel over a brown floor. The doors are different colors and shaded darker in the top panel and lighter in the bottom panel; colors from from left to right: orange/yellow, dark teal/teal, magenta/pink, burgundy/salmon. In the top panel, the doors are open showing four different scenes. Behind the orange door, a brown-haired white feminine figure sits at a desk facing way from the door and holding a cellphone with a blue bird over it to indicate "tweeting" on Twitter, and there is a speech bubble indicating the figure behind the orange door is speaking, reads "Immunity from previous infection...". Behind the dark teal door are three woman holding hands (left to right, a Brown woman with black hair falling straight around her shoulders, a white woman with yellow hair, and a Black woman with black hair in a low bun), behind the women are several white signs, indicating a protest, and a speech bubble indicating all three woman are speaking together reads "Dear congress, our kids deserve clean air!" Behind the magenta door is a white feminine figure with short brown/blonde hair sitting in a green armchair holding a cellphone; in front of the figure is an arm reaching from the left to grab a landline corded phone attached to a wall; a speech bubble from the feminine figure reads "tell them to get a taxi from the hospital." Behind the maroon door is a grey-haired white woman facing outward, waving with one hand and holding a coffee mug with another, siting at a table; a speech bubble above the figure reads "I went to a café it was fine...". Red hair is barely visible at the bottom of the panel, leading to a speech bubble outlined in green with a white background and green text reading "ok...but did you consider?" In the bottom panel, three of the four doors are now shut with emphasis indicating they were slammed and the word "BLOCKED!" across each door (yellow far left, pink center right, salmon far left). The yellow door also has the message, "I'm technically not wrong. I am a good person, how dare you!" The pink door also has the message, "Family first, I'm SURE you understand ("sure" is capitalized and underlined for emphasis)," and then "WTF why don't you let it go?!" The Salmon door also has the message, "I said NO call-outs" ("no" capitalized and underlined for emphasis). The back of my head and abdomen are now fully visible, and I am sitting in my pink wheelchair. One arm is reaching outward/to the side as if to signal "wait!" the other arm is extended in front of me, holding a mask. I am in front of the teal door, which is still open. Behind the door, white signs indicate an ongoing protest. An arm, possibly from the black woman in the top frame, reaches out from the back right of the door as if to grab the mask from me, and a speech bubble reads "Oh! thank you for the call-in, we all need to hold each other accountable!"
Self-Preservation vs Zero COVID (Pencil Sketch)

(Continue to next page for the alternative version of this sketch and additional comments specific to my credentialed peers in science and medicine)

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Heather Sue M. Rosen, PhD

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