Why the Rise of Rapid Tests Makes COVID-19 Case Counts Hard to Trust

Countless cases are being missed
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I Tested Positive for COVID-19. Should I Take an Antiviral or Antibody Treatment?

Several medications are available to treat COVID-19, but they’re only meant for a specific group of people, and during a very short window of time
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Should You Still Wear a Mask on Planes, Trains, and Buses? Here’s What the Science Says

I was in a decided minority on the subway platform of the Second Avenue line in New York City the morning of April 19, wearing my mask as I have every day on the subway for the past two years. All around me were bared faces—where only the day before, compliance with the Metropolitan Transit…
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How Wearing a Mask Can Help Protect You Even If No One Else Wears One

As mandates end, people are relying on one-way masking
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Most Americans Want a Mask Requirement for Travelers, Poll Finds

An AP poll finds that a majority of Americans support a mask requirement for people traveling on shared transportation
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Dentists would not treat my toothache – now my health has been wrecked for ever

I was fit and healthy when I first felt pain in a molar. After numerous dentists and doctors left it untreated, there were knock-on effects throughout my body. Today I am in constant pain and look almost unrecognisable

In 2019 I was fitter than at any other point in my life – and I had a life I loved. It was my third year at the BBC. Every day at New Broadcasting House, I knew that I was seeing world events from a rare vantage point. I loved being surrounded by all the TV monitors and feeling at the centre of things. It had its trials, like any job, but it never stopped feeling like a privilege.

Alongside my work, I was an open-water swimmer and had just topped 20 years of swims between islands and across lakes and rivers with an outing in the Galápagos. In the past I’d climbed Kilimanjaro, raced across the Hellespont in Turkey and along the Thames. I swam between the Cyclades in Greece every autumn and loved the Aegean with a passion. I relished returning to London. I was the first at plays and the cinema. I loved clothes; I probably bought too many. At weekends I would run along the river, then have long breakfasts with friends. And, in a way that is now not unusual, I was in better shape at 52 than I had been at 32. Continue reading…
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The NCT deserves thanks, not criticism | Letters

Caroline Flint explains how the National Childbirth Trust has worked tirelessly to safeguard women’s health for more than 60 years

Re your article (‘I was told they didn’t offer C-sections’ – the dangerous obsession with ‘natural births’, 14 April), the National Childbirth Trust has worked tirelessly for women for more than 60 years. Do you expect your partner to be with you in the labour ward? Thank the NCT for that. When I had my first baby, I decided to have a home birth because men were not “allowed” in the delivery suite.

Do you expect your baby’s father to be with you during ultrasound scans? Thank the NCT for that too; similarly, his presence on the postnatal ward. Interesting that many of these humane situations have so quickly been removed “due to Covid”. Continue reading…
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U.S. Airlines Drop Mask Requirement After Florida Judge Voids Federal Mandate

The Transportation Security Administration won’t enforce a January 2021 security directive that applied to airplanes, airports, taxis, and other mass transit
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The Key Policy We Need to End the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Being Ignored

The goal is clearly articulated in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address: Test to Treat. He challenged America to “get back to work and fill our great downtowns again.” He was no longer declaring independence from the virus, adding, “I cannot promise you a new variant won’t come. But I can promise you…
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I quite enjoy sex with women but often find myself thinking about men I see – am I gay, straight or bi?

I don’t find myself particularly aroused during sex with women, but gay porn doesn’t turn me on. I’m confused.

I am a 22-year-old male and I’m very confused about my sexuality. I don’t know if I’m gay, straight or bi. I have had sex with women and I enjoy it, but generally I don’t find myself massively aroused. I am concerned I might be gay, though: I sometimes find I’m thinking about men, and looking at them when I’m out and about. That said, I have watched gay porn and it doesn’t turn me on. Nor does lesbian porn – only straight porn works. Please help me – this has been an ongoing problem since I was 16 and I am finding each day a struggle. I just want to know what I am!

You are at a very early stage of sexual self-discovery. Most people go through a period of anxiety over the questions “Who am I sexually?” and “Am I normal?” In fact, these questions can only elicit artificial answers, since fully knowing oneself can be a very long process involving a great deal of experimentation. And when it comes to sex, “normality” is not really a useful construct. Instead, of obsessing about ‘Who am I’, ask yourself why you feel the need to label yourself at all. Try to inoculate yourself from the ubiquitous societal tendency to pigeonhole – and focus instead on responding to your true desire for a person of any gender when it arises. Allow yourself to seek genuine human connection and pure pleasure without self judgment or fear of being judged.

Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders.

If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to private.lives@theguardian.com (please don’t send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions: see gu.com/letters-terms.

Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site. Continue reading…
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