Emily Ladau:
This episode of The Accessible Stall is brought to you by the National COVID-19 Resiliency Network. Did you know that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are two and a half times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than the general population? The National COVID-19 Resiliency Network has up-to-date trusted information about vaccines, testing, masking, medical care and transportation.

Emily Ladau:
There’s even a support finder tool so you can easily find neighborhood resources near you. Their goal is to provide resources that can make a difference by helping all people to prevent COVID, find treatments for COVID, and navigate the effects of COVID on their communities. Visit covid-resources.org or call (877) 904-5097. The National COVID-19 Resiliency Network is an initiative of the Morehouse School of Medicine. Hi, I’m Emily Ladau.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I’m Kyle Khachadurian.

Emily Ladau:
You’re listening to another episode of The Accessible Stall.

Kyle Khachadurian:
What are we going to talk about today, Emily? I can guess.

Emily Ladau:
Well, we were planning on talking about COVID originally because this episode has a COVID-related sponsorship and then I went and got COVID.

Kyle Khachadurian:
You did what?

Emily Ladau:
Oopsie.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I got to say, Emily, I really admire your commitment to the research and development of topics here on the show. I did not go and get COVID for this, but you.

Emily Ladau:
Thank you. Yes, I am a method actor. I appreciate someone noticing. Here’s the deal. I’m still having trouble breathing like a person. This episode, I have no idea how long it’s going to be. I have no idea how long I’m actually going to be able to talk at people, but I do have COVID. That is the truth.

Emily Ladau:
I think we just need to do kind of a where are we at in this pandemic update, which I am now even more passionate about seeing as how COVID is terrible in case you needed someone else to tell you that.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I mean, I know you’re being a little bit funny, because that’s all anyone’s been saying for the past two and a half years, but I do think there is actually some utility in someone you know or someone you trust getting it. Obviously I don’t want anyone to get it and I certainly don’t want anything bad to happen to them. But when it’s an issue that you can see and feel because someone in your life has it, it becomes a lot more real to you rather than just some invisible disease.

Emily Ladau:
I actually do think that’s true and it’s the mentality that I’ve been noticing a lot. People are saying, “Oh, well it hasn’t affected me personally and I guess I don’t really care because it hasn’t really affected my loved ones, so I’m just going to ignore it.” Then you have the people who are saying, “Whoa, I had it and lots of people that I love had it and it’s not a joke.”

Emily Ladau:
I feel very lucky that it’s been almost two and a half years now and I got it at a time when there’s so much available to treat it but this is still scary.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I almost want to interview you about it. I just… What’s it like? Because that’s the thing for me, obviously COVID is very serious, but it has hit my family, not my immediate family, but my extended family, which is worse because they’re all older, but I have avoided it. Part of me is very curious, and I know the answer’s nothing good but I don’t know.

Emily Ladau:
I’ll take the interview. To be honest with you, I initially debated even saying that I had COVID at all because I really felt like it was this moral failing. I felt like I had personally done something wrong, even though I’m vaccinated, I’m boosted. I don’t make poor life choices, generally speaking. Sometimes I guess I do. I don’t know. The reality-

Kyle Khachadurian:
Are you twice boosted?

Emily Ladau:
I’m not.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh, see, me neither. That was it. There you go.

Emily Ladau:
Here’s the thing, booster number four is technically available for people who I think are over 50, but me being disabled and not technically immunocompromised per se, but certainly at higher risk, I asked my doctor if I should get that fourth shot. She said no and wait. I think waiting was a mistake and I think I should have gotten it, but we will never know, will we?

Emily Ladau:
In regard to what COVID is like, I think because I was vaxxed and boosted, not as bad as it could have been. I always have respiratory issues when I get sick and I tested positive well over 10 days ago when we’re recording this. I think I’m negative now but the symptoms, especially in my chest are lingering, and it feels like I have a horse sitting on my chest.

Kyle Khachadurian:
That sounds awful.

Emily Ladau:
When it was in its really bad initial phase, I had this feeling that I had swallowed a flaming sword. I had a fever. My nose was really, really stuffy. I was super congested. I was coughing. I was short of breath. I was exhausted. Now I’m just exhausted and breathing is hard.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh, is that all? Just exhausted and breathing is hard?

Emily Ladau:
That’s all. That’s all. No big deal.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh man.

Emily Ladau:
I used to be able to do 30 minutes of relatively high impact cardio each day, which was my routine. I loved having a streak of exercise. Now-

Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh no.

Emily Ladau:
Yeah. My streak’s kind of broken again.

Kyle Khachadurian:
No. I mean, it’s a good reason, but still no.

Emily Ladau:
I know. You knew about my streak so you know I’m very sad.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah. I did. As soon as you said cardio, I was like, “Oh, man, I know where this is going.”

Emily Ladau:
The last time I broke my streak, I was at 290 days and it was because I broke my leg. Oh no 296 days and it was because I broke my leg and I spent all year working back up to it. This month is the anniversary of breaking my leg and I got sick and now I ruined my streak again.

Kyle Khachadurian:
God, what’s going to happen next year, man? You got to mark this month off on your calendar. You got to lock yourself in your bedroom or something.

Emily Ladau:
I’m skipping June. Now 10 minutes of exercise that I did about five hours ago has left me feeling like I’m an 80-year-old smoker who ran a marathon.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Is that what you are under that mask of yours, Emily?

Emily Ladau:
It’s quite possible. To be fair, I’m always a grandmother. This is not new.

Kyle Khachadurian:
It’s true.

Emily Ladau:
Now I’m just breathing like one too.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Right. Finally got the physical aesthetic to match you.

Emily Ladau:
Was that ableist? There was something ableist in there, I’m sorry. I’m too tired to unpack that.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I will say this is tangentially ableist. I don’t know how to explain this, but when the symptoms that happen when you have COVID you read them and you think… I always thought, “That really sucks but I’m relatively healthy and it probably won’t kill me so I’ll probably be okay.”

Kyle Khachadurian:
Then when I would read about long COVID and the potential problems there, where you would have memory issues or just constant problems breathing, or you would lose your taste for either an extended period of time or permanently or something like… That scared me way more than actually acute COVID. I don’t know if that’s ableist either, but it still does.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I mean, I’m not not taking it seriously, but I’m less worried about the actual disease and much more worried about what it will do after it’s gone or what it will have done to me.

Emily Ladau:
Yeah. It leaves some wreckage and its wake to be sure. I think that’s the part that people actually need to take more seriously, is that this isn’t just something that pops up like the common cold and goes away. I mean, if that is what happened for you, then I truly am happy that that’s all that happened, the general you. If it went in the other extreme and you lost someone to this, I don’t have words.

Emily Ladau:
I’m so sorry. I just hate that for you, that people did not take this seriously and this is where we are and this is where we still are. At this point, people are like, “I’m done and I’m over it.” And it’s still knocking down people that I know like bowling pins.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I think that’s really an important point. We did an episode on COVID about two years ago and I don’t remember what we said, but what I do remember is that I at least, and I think you too, had hope that in the future this would be gone or a funny memory. It is still here. I think we, the general we, sort of got bored of it and have decided that it’s not going to affect our lives anymore.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Even though it is still very real, it is still very much out there and it is still very serious. I don’t really remember the point I was trying to make, but it’s just like we decided one day, “All right, everybody, we did it. COVID’s over.” And it’s not.

Emily Ladau:
I think that’s exactly what happened. I think it’s become a mind over matter situation or at least people think it’s mind over matter, but oh no, it’s still very real. I think the other important thing that I should note is not only am I fully vaccinated, but I also had quick access to Paxlovid. The-

Kyle Khachadurian:
What is that?

Emily Ladau:
… antiviral medication that keep you-

Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh, they have one of those now?

Emily Ladau:
Yeah. It’s still-

Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh, sweet. That’s great.

Emily Ladau:
… relatively new. It’s not actually FDA-approved. It is FDA-approved for emergency use.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Right. Just like the COVID vaccines were back in December or January of like 2021, which doesn’t mean that they’re unsafe. It just means that you’re skipping part of the red tape process in order to prevent an emergency. These are things that have been focus-tested round over round again and are safe. It’s just, you’re cutting through the red tape temporarily. They will still get full approval.

Kyle Khachadurian:
The reason I’m hammering that in is because one, that was a big complaint about the vaccines from otherwise well-meaning people that didn’t know. It’s also the common complaint used by anti-vaxxers who do know and don’t care. I just want to clarify that’s not what it sounds like it means.

Emily Ladau:
I’m glad you said that. It’s so weird though, because I am not anti-vaxx by any stretch of the imagination. As soon as that vaccine was ready and available to me, I was like, “Load me up, baby.” But when the doctor prescribed me Paxlovid, I was like, “Oh, what’s this going to do to my body?” Then I was like, “Girl, get a grip.”

Kyle Khachadurian:
I remember the vaccine… Because I felt so guilty about this. I was one of the first set of people in my state to get vaccinated and it’s because of where I work.

Emily Ladau:
I remember that.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I took an Uber to my office and the guy was like, “Oh my God, you’re getting vaccinated? Aren’t you worried?” It’s like, “Dude, no.” Aren’t you worried about what it’s going to do to your body? I mean, it’s new, but not any more worried than I am about what COVID is going to do, man. I think I’d rather take my chances. It’s funny how like-

Emily Ladau:
Well, that why I was like, “Okay. Get over yourself, take the Paxlovid.” Because I didn’t want to stick around to find out what COVID was going to do to me if I didn’t take it. Luckily I did not have terrible side effects. There are definitely side effects from it. For me, the worst one that I had was actually a nasty taste in my mouth, which is one of the most common side effects that’s been described for the medication. It’s a combination of grapefruit and soap and pennies.

Kyle Khachadurian:
What that the hell.

Emily Ladau:
It’s disgusting. It’s horrible. It’s like soapy, sour, metallic.

Kyle Khachadurian:
That is so weird.

Emily Ladau:
Awful. Other than that, I didn’t really have side effects, but with Paxlovid, there’s a risk of rebounding after a couple of days. I don’t think I rebounded, but at this point, the problems that I’m having are now being treated with an inhaler and oral steroids and preventative antibiotics. I’m just like a fun festival of medication at this point.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Look at you. You little Petri dish. Oh, man.

Emily Ladau:
Y’all COVID is not over. I’m so tired of saying that, but the thing is we’ve been saying that, so now I’m just tired and sick.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yes. It’s exhausting and for you, it’s literally exhausting. Look, I’ll admit, okay? I don’t wear my mask everywhere anymore. I don’t wear it in the lobby of my apartment anymore. But if I’m inside and if I’m shoulder to shoulder with people, if I’m in a closed area, yeah I wear one. I carry one with me everywhere. It’s not hard to do now and it wasn’t back two years ago either.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I just don’t get it. I understand it less now. Now at least we know. Now at least we have two years of data to back up everything that we were suspicious of.

Emily Ladau:
I understand it and I don’t. I understand that people are tired of feeling like their lives are being interfered with, but let me tell you something, you’re going to really feel like your life is being interfered with if you get COVID. I usually get kind of mad when I find a meme or a saying or quote that’s going around Facebook to be relevant to my life or something that my mom sends me because it just feels really cliché.

Emily Ladau:
But there was a quote that if you don’t make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness. Yeah, that’s true. That’s real. I don’t know what to do with that other than to say, trust your mama.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I will use that as a quick segue to our sponsor. Whether you have an intellectual or developmental disability or you’re a caretaker, healthcare provider, friend, or family member of someone with an intellectual or developmental disability, you can find trusted information at covid-resources.org.

Kyle Khachadurian:
You’ll find information on convenient neighborhood resources for vaccination testing, medical care, and even transportation brought to you by the National COVID-19 Resiliency Network. They want to help all people to prevent COVID, find treatments for COVID, and navigate the effects of COVID on our communities.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Visit covid-resources.org or call (877) 904-5097. The National COVID-19 Resiliency Network is an initiative of the Morehouse School of Medicine. It just sums it all up, doesn’t it?

Emily Ladau:
It feels very ironic to me that this episode is sponsored by the National COVID-19 Resiliency Network. I mean, I know it seems like we planned this with timing. We did not, but-

Kyle Khachadurian:
No. Emily didn’t go catch COVID just for…

Emily Ladau:
I can’t help but feel like I wish that more people knew that there were resources out there. That also raises the question, knowing that the resources are out there, does that mean that you’re using them? Does that mean that you’re mindful of them? I would genuinely like to know, are people actively seeking out resources? Do they even know that they exist?

Kyle Khachadurian:
I mean, I have a handful that I know through work and I was sort of collecting a list of resources back in March of 2020. There were mostly just maps of cases when it was almost, and I say this word very loosely, fun to watch the numbers go up and see where COVID was next, because it was still, “Oh, look at that. It’s in this country now.” Then it came here and it was like, “Uh-oh.” You know?

Emily Ladau:
I don’t know that I would ever use the word fun except that I have-

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah. It wasn’t fun, fun, but it was just cool to look at a map and see the case numbers. Now that same activity is extremely depressing and no longer interesting.

Emily Ladau:
It’s like that game, Plague.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yes. Oh my God. It is exactly like that game, Plague.

Emily Ladau:
Which I love that game.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah. You should all play it if you haven’t. I mean, it’s depressing to play it now, but it actually is very fun.

Emily Ladau:
I cannot even wrap my mind around using the word fun. I don’t even know. Nothing has been fun about-

Kyle Khachadurian:
No. It wasn’t fun. It was honestly that it was very interesting. It was a novel virus and it was very interesting to see it spread until it got here and then it was like, “Oh, okay, this is real. This is actually real.” I remember laughing at my mom. The first day she heard about the novel pneumonia in China on the New York Times, she went out to the hardware store and bought out all the N95 masks.

Kyle Khachadurian:
We were all like, “Mom, you’re a nut, get out of here. This is silly.” She was absolutely right. She was a hundred percent right. Anyway, to answer your question about, do people know if there’s resources out there? I think they know that there are some, but I think the problem with a lot of COVID resources is that they’re written by doctors for doctors.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Even the CDC website is kind of extremely hard to navigate and very hard to understand. That is why resources like the people who have sponsored this episode, I think, need to exist because their website is very easy to understand and very easy to navigate. I do wish that all of them were, but unfortunately I think the reason there are so many resources is because the official ones, as it were, are just very esoteric.

Emily Ladau:
They’re not in plain enough and accessible enough language. I think that’s where you lose people. There’s a difference too between plain language and accessible language and talking down to people, and I think that it was hard to strike that balance, especially early on. I think that a lot of people felt a mix of like, “This is not for me/you’re being condescending.”

Emily Ladau:
I just think that the fact that information about COVID and access to resources was something that got bungled so early on is now what’s created, in part, this lingering pandemic because people weren’t properly educated initially. On the one hand, I understand because people were scrambling to create resources at the beginning when it was still this new and novel thing. Now we have the resources and at this point people are like, “Well, I’m tired of this.”

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah. They don’t care. They’re so jaded, right? They’re still like, “Oh, you have a COVID resource? Okay, cool. Whatever.” They don’t…

Emily Ladau:
That’s why I’m glad that the National COVID-19 Resiliency Network is sponsoring us, because I know for a fact that disabled people especially have not had strong access to resources. My hope is that if we continue to educate, if even one person finds this helpful, if this protects the health or helps, dare I say, save the life of one person, because they’ve had access to this, truly worth everything.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Absolutely. A hundred percent. The other thing too, is even among the good COVID resources, a lot of them are focused on things that matter, but ultimately are not helpful to people like you and me. For example, I love Covid Act Now. They’re a great resource for things like case numbers, right? But who cares about case numbers if all you want to know is where to get a vaccine or if masks are sold out or how can I get to somewhere where there’s a vaccine? You know what I mean?

Emily Ladau:
Yeah. Absolutely.

Kyle Khachadurian:
It’s very useful information, but it’s not helpful for you unless that is what you’re looking for.

Emily Ladau:
I mean, for me, I do find it somewhat interesting to know when the numbers are going back up. It was actually knowing that the numbers were going back up, especially in my area, that caused me to do some changing of plans, but as we see that backfired anyway. New York I have always felt is the sign of things to come for the rest of the country. When I see the numbers going up, I’m like, “Oh, boy.”

Emily Ladau:
Yeah. Other than that, I mean, for me, I was like, “Where do I find reliable masks?” How do I get access to Paxlovid? I didn’t know that it was easy enough to call my doctor and just get a prescription.

Kyle Khachadurian:
By the way, I know it’s too late for you having had COVID but if anyone wants a good place to buy masks, Honeywell makes N95 masks in pack of 50 and they sell them at what is a reasonable price, not a good price, but it’s just a hair over a dollar per mask, which should be criminal, but it’s a lot better than other options out there. They’re American made and certified and all very good.

Emily Ladau:
This is reminding me to double-check where I got the masks that I got, because you know what? Masks are not actually the easiest for me to put on.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah. Right? [inaudible 00:23:53].

Emily Ladau:
I have to find ones that work for me. I got them from a brand called Evolvetogether. They’re KN95s and they fit my face well.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I have a very odd-shaped face is what wearing N95 masks have taught me. I don’t think it’s weird, but my nose is very big. I knew that about myself, but masks do not fit my giant nose. I mean, I can find some that do, and the ones I mentioned do, but I don’t have a normal face.

Emily Ladau:
Do any of us? But I can-

Kyle Khachadurian:
There are people who can wear a mask off the shelf and be like, “Yeah, that’ll protect me.” I’m not one of them. Sounds like you’re not either.

Emily Ladau:
No. I finally found a kind that does work for me. They’re called boat shape, I think. They’re pretty flexible and they’re comfortable. It’s hard for me to get the ear loops on. I remember probably well over a year ago, a friend of mine tried to make a little headband thing that I could attach the mask to to make it easier for me. Turns out it made it harder, because I don’t have very good dexterity. Let’s just say I’ve been getting a lot of occupational therapy with masks on.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah. Me too. Oh my God. I, after two years to this day still cannot put on my mask without taking off my glasses. If I try to put on my mask first or if I put it on already wearing glasses, it just doesn’t work. I miss an ear. It gets caught under or somehow like… I don’t understand. Everyone who does it, it’s like a magic trick to me.

Emily Ladau:
It’s also funny because you were mentioning, you have a very big nose and I have a very small nose.

Kyle Khachadurian:
You do.

Emily Ladau:
I feel like there’s no space between my nose and my glasses. When I’m putting the mask on, my mask is halfway under my glasses. I don’t even know.

Kyle Khachadurian:
See, I-

Emily Ladau:
You know what? I’m not complaining. Wear your mask.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah, no, no. This is not… People like… Oh man. I just like not being sick. It’s my favorite way to be. I just don’t get it. It’s two years. How do you not take this seriously? I know no one listening… I know you all take it seriously, but indulge me in this collective thought experiment. How after two years, do you still not get it?

Emily Ladau:
Self-interest, not caring.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Whose self-interest? Isn’t it your self-interest to not die? Isn’t that a common thing for most people is to not want to die? I don’t-

Emily Ladau:
You would think.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I mean, I know what you’re saying and I hate that it’s true, but it’s unreal.

Emily Ladau:
I got a weird message on LinkedIn so out of the blue, no context. It was just asking me if I think that disabled people are bad at helping each other.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Well, do you?

Emily Ladau:
I think that disabled people have been trying to help each other because non-disabled people have been a little bit less interested in helping throughout this pandemic. I’m sorry to make a broad-sweeping generalization.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh no. I forget who it was, it was some higher-up in some health department and they were like, “Well, vulnerable people will just… Sorry.”

Emily Ladau:
It was Rochelle Walensky with the CDC.

Kyle Khachadurian:
That’s who it was. Yes. I’m glad you knew who I was talking about because I remember that being a whole entire thing, a well-deserved thing, by the way.

Emily Ladau:
She was literally like, “Well, the good news is that this is only bad for people who are already not well.” We were just, “Hello.”

Kyle Khachadurian:
The bad news is if you’re one of them, tough luck.

Emily Ladau:
Yeah. I hashtag not all non-disabled people, I get it. I really do. I know there are so many non-disabled people who were affected by this, who took this seriously and were affected anyway. I’m not playing the blame game at this point. I am saying that I was already scared. Now that I’ve had it, still scared. I don’t magically think that this is going to go away.

Emily Ladau:
Also, for that matter, a lot of people are saying like, “Oh, you’re through it now. Oh, you’ve survived it. Oh, you have the antibodies.” It’s like, “Girl, I could get it again tomorrow.” You know?

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah. Those antibodies, they’ll protect you for a while, but it’s not like they announce when they’re going away.

Emily Ladau:
The other thing that doesn’t make sense to me, and knock on wood, knock on everything, my family, who I was around for all of this, my parents, got their fourth shot and did not get this from me.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Good.

Emily Ladau:
Amazing. I’m still terrified for them. I don’t want to say anything to jinx it, but on top of that, there’s one person who I saw, who I know had COVID at the same time that I did, because as I was in the urgent care getting my PCR test, she texted me and was like, “I have COVID.” I had seen her safely and she’s fully vaccinated. We’re pretty sure that might be where we got it from. Either I got it from her or she got it from me. The other person that we were with, nothing. This is-

Kyle Khachadurian:
Nuts.

Emily Ladau:
… a literal game of Russian roulette. That’s not a game I’m really willing to play anymore. I wasn’t willing to play it before, now I’m just like, “I’m going to sit in a hazmat suit.”

Kyle Khachadurian:
Now that you’ve been forced to play it. Yeah, no.

Emily Ladau:
I mean, I’m going to keep living my life, but I’m going to keep masking. People have suggested simple solutions here.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Dude, I understand wearing your mask sucks, if you’re one of those people that really don’t like wearing it, no one likes it, man. You’re smelling your own breath for three hours. It’s not good. You breathing the same recycled air for three hours or however long, it’s not good. But didn’t you like not getting a cold for the past two years? Or maybe you didn’t mask so maybe you got one, but I didn’t because I was wearing a mask for the last two years.

Emily Ladau:
That is wild to me.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I know.

Emily Ladau:
Yeah. That was the thing.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I used to get sick every winter, man. It’s so nice.

Emily Ladau:
I get sick all the time. When I first started not feeling well, I knew that there was other stuff going around at this point. I was like, “Is this strep? Do I have a cold?” Literally the doctor at the urgent care was like, “I cleaned a ton of pollen off my car this morning.”

Kyle Khachadurian:
Correct.

Emily Ladau:
“This could be allergies.”

Kyle Khachadurian:
It was COVID.

Emily Ladau:
Yeah. I don’t even really know what the point of this episode was, except for me to remind you that COVID is not a joke. I guess if you’re listening to this, you already know that. What I really hope is that if you did have COVID, if you experienced it in any way, I just hope that you feel a little less alone because I know at first I thought about not saying anything.

Emily Ladau:
But then when I finally did say something on social media, on the one hand, it kind of drives me bonkers when people do that, because I was like, “Ugh, it just feels like, is this an attention grab? I don’t really know.” But no, it’s not. It’s literally being in solidarity and reminding people that this is very real and not over.

Kyle Khachadurian:
I think it’s important to do because it’s so easy to forget in the day to day of life too. Nothing about the world we live in right at this very second is normal in any way. I don’t use normal in the non-disabled way. I mean like stuff’s not good right now and we’re all just pretending it is because we have to. I think it’s important that we get reminded that, hey, stuff’s not all right right now. I don’t mean to sound like a downer. I just mean don’t forget because this is how things get fixed.

Emily Ladau:
It’s good to be in community and it’s good to have that solidarity. Most importantly, it’s good to know that there are places to turn for help when you need them. I, for one, am a little bit running out of steam here, because the breathing stitch is real. But-

Kyle Khachadurian:
All right.

Emily Ladau:
… I want to, as a final takeaway, just say, please stay safe.

Kyle Khachadurian:
Yep. Get boosted, get vaxxed, wear your mask if you’re in a place where you have to and wear a mask if you’re in a place where they’re not required to because it still helps even if you’re not forced to. On that note, I am going to segue to our sponsor.

Emily Ladau:
Why are people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at greater risk for exposure to COVID-19? Why are they more likely to experience poorer COVID-19 health-related outcomes than the general population? Some factors include higher prevalence of preexisting conditions, persistent healthcare disparities, and a greater likelihood of living in congregate settings.

Kyle Khachadurian:
The National COVID-19 Resiliency Network can help by providing up-to-date trusted information about vaccines, testing, masking, medical care, and even transportation. By providing these resources, they are working to prevent COVID, find treatments for COVID, and navigate the effects of COVID on our communities. Visit covid-resources.org or call (877) 904-5097.

Kyle Khachadurian:
The National COVID-19 Resiliency Network is an initiative of the Morehouse School of Medicine. Now I’m going to tell you that you look fabulous today and this time-

Emily Ladau:
So beautiful.

Kyle Khachadurian:
… not only am I talking to our audience, I’m also talking to you, Emily, because this is a great look.

Emily Ladau:
Thank you, Kyle. If you could all see me right now, I’m kind of a hot mess, but when am I not? It’s fine. Thanks so much for listening.