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Come read about our family adventure with the new game The Haunted Woods created by Steve Wilcox @stevemwilcox
"In a far away land, there is a village surrounded by a sprawling forest. Once the forest was lush and vibrant, but it has grown dark and gloomy of late." 
1/
The one page easier to share version of this thread can be found at: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1751312872372572221.html
"The villagers have taken to calling it The Haunted Woods and all who pass through it become cursed. But pass through it they must, for once every year the villagers need to make a pilgrimage to the The Sacred Well and return with its life-giving waters." 2/
The Sacred Well that our village relies on is unfortunately located on the other side of the haunted woods and so the pilgrimage we each must take has risks and comes with a price.
We had 4 players and each of us had to cross the haunted woods at least once a year to visit the well. Since all who pass through are cursed, we found out that the curse temporarily impacts us and fades into nothing for most, but some are not so fortunate... 3/
For some, the curse is permanent, unable to help the village going forward but also requires additional precious resources to care for the people who become permanently cursed.
Despite the odds being 85% of not being permanently cursed in the first crossing, one of our family members was unlucky and rolled that fate right away! 4/
Surely we would have better luck in the second crossing through the haunted woods. Nope, a second family member rolled the permanent curse and so just like that after 2 trips half of our family was permanently cursed. 5/
Not only did we have to spend more time and resources helping these two, they could not contribute to the village and slowly faded out of the minds of other villages not seeing them out in the community anymore.
It turns out being cursed has an impact, even for those who didn't become permanently cursed and the risk increases cumulatively with each curse. 6/
Village leaders knew this was the case but since it was so important for the village to obtain water from the sacred well every year, they did not tell the people and downplayed the risks and impact of being cursed.
Over the next 3 crossings, our two remaining family members managed to avoid being permanently cursed but then on the 6th crossing they both rolled a permanent curse at the same time meaning nobody was left to take care of the family. 7/
Thankfully magical wards were eventually created that could greatly reduce the chance of being cursed in the first place which is the only way to be sure to avoid the risk of a permanent curse.
The village leaders however did not want to admit they were wrong and misleading people about the risks of being cursed so they did not implement or require any of these magical wards but left it to the people to do their own risk assessments. 8/
Without the full knowledge and understanding of the risks, most villagers chose not to use any magical wards to protect themselves and the village continued to have a larger and larger number of people who were permanently cursed, impacting the village economy... 9/
While this game is not real, the mechanics actually follow and simulate the cumulative risk of acquiring Long COVID (permanent curse) after being cursed (COVID infection) based on data reported by Statistics Canada on Long COVID.
Sadly 15% of Canadian adults suffered from long-term symptoms after just 1 COVID-19 infection, which increased to 25% after 2 infections, and 38% after 3 infections ( https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2023001/article/00015-eng.htm ). 10/
You might think that an 85% chance of not getting something is pretty low risk, but as our family found out playing the game, it only took 6 rounds for all of us to be impacted with cumulative risk and for half it was after the 1st and 2nd time. If people get one COVID infection a year, that cumulative risk starts to add up very quickly ( https://twitter.com/DavidSteadson/status/1733246631959507246 ). 11/
Assuming the cumulative risk continues to follow the same pattern as found to date, we had a 60% chance of being permanently cursed in the game on trip #6 through the woods so less of a surprise that it happened so quickly. By the time you hit 10 infections, the risk is 80% and the younger you are, the more years of infections you will be subjected to and the longer you will have to live with any consequences. 12/
Sadly people should be thinking now about who is going to take care of them if they get Long COVID and can no longer work, and if they are parents, who is going to look after their children if they are no longer able to do so? H/T: @lartdelinfusion
How would your family do? You can try playing yourself following the instructions here ( https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1746193597941092831.html ) and a more complete version here ( https://www.helloworlds.ca/the-long-covid-game/ ). 13/
Read more about the real life experience of Dr. Jennifer Hulme, a UHN Emergency physician in Toronto who suffers from Long COVID ( https://www.uhn.ca/corporate/News/Pages/Long_COVID_took_over_my_life_my_symptoms_seemed_endless.aspx ). 14/
Isn't it inevitable that you are going to get COVID and possibly Long COVID so why bother doing anything? Considering there is no cure and currently no officially approved treatments for Long COVID but progress is being made, the longer an infection can be delayed the better. The less infections you get, the less times you roll the dice on getting Long COVID as well ( https://erictopol.substack.com/p/a-covid-update ). 15/
What about those magical wards that help protect people from being cursed in the first place? Sadly, those have been known for the majority of the pandemic but are rarely being used. 16/
Clean air including ventilation and filtration is the ward that can be implemented at an infrastructure level and people don't need to do anything different to get the benefits like we already benefit from clean water infrastructure. Governments and policy makers need to put the appropriate standards and monitoring in place and then mandate them. 17/
"Learning to live with COVID" means upgrading air quality, now ( https://www.thegauntlet.news/p/learning-to-live-with-covid-means ). 18/
The COVID-safe strategies Australian scientists are using to protect themselves from the virus ( https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-21/covid-safe-strategies-australian-scientists-virus-infection/103335466 ). 19/
This thread provides more details about the importance of indoor air quality ( https://mstdn.science/@jeffgilchrist/109580638330581137 ). 20/
Since the infrastructure is not currently in place and most do not have any control on the indoor air quality of buildings they visit or work, another ward is a well fitting respirator. Respirators protect individuals who are healthy and help reduce the chance of individuals who are sick from infecting others even in well ventilated places where short-range transmission is a concern.
Yes, respirators actually work, read this thread to learn how ( https://pingthread.com/thread/1602994049815908353 ). 21/
But do they really work if I can still sometimes smell nasty things while wearing a respirator? Yes, read here to learn why ( https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1728039593700647259.html ). 22/
But can respirators actually filter tiny viruses and bacteria specifically? Yes, they actually tested these scenarios ( https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1728039680195568075 ).
But how do I know a respirator will actually work on *my* face? This thread will help explain ( https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1728039708825924001 ). 23/
Do you need a high quality respirator but don't have access? If you are in Canada, you can request free respirators here ( https://donatemask.ca/request ). 24/