Dr David Allen DPH FAFOEM

6 simple tips for a safer air holiday gathering — The Safer Air Project The holiday season is all about gathering with loved ones, but none of us want to give (or receive) an illness. With some simple steps, you can help reduce the risk of catching something during your C...

🌞 Holiday BBQs and end-of-year catch-ups are here! 🎄

The holiday season is all about spending time with the people we love - but none of us wants to give (or receive) the unwanted gift of illness, so check out our 6 simple tips for a safer air holiday gathering

Read more 🔗 bit.ly/safer-holiday

Thank you

That’s a wrap on our Making the Invisible Visible campaign week for 2025.

We’re thrilled to have had so many organisations from around the world take part in this inaugural campaign.

If you haven’t made the pledge yet, it’s not too late - you can still register to join the campaign!

Sad but true 🙁
@plumskyjam.bsky.social

Revolting and Repulsive

One term is enough

In unadjusted analyses, the mean weekly ratio between hospital-onset and community-onset infections increased from 2.9% prior to Omicron dominance to 7.6% (95% CI, 6.0%-9.1%) during Omicron dominance. After universal masking and testing ended, it increased to 15.5% (95% CI, 13.6%-17.4%), then fell to 8.0% (95% CI, 5.0%-11.0%) following resumption of masking among health care workers. Under the adjusted Poisson model (Figure), cessation of universal masking and testing was associated with a 25% increase in hospital-onset respiratory viral infections compared with the preceding Omicron-dominant period (rate ratio [RR], 1.25; 95% CI, 1.02-1.53), and resumption of masking among staff was associated with a 33% decrease in hospital-onset respiratory viral infections (RR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.52-0.85).

This paper is interesting for a few reasons. It shows that mask mandates in healthcare protect patients from infections, and removing mask mandates in healthcare harms patients.

A facility without a mask mandate is making a *deliberate choice* known to harm patients.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Did you know BlueSky only has 20 employees?

We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to those 20 warriors (who are working 24/7 to keep up with the incredible growth) for giving us a space to share.

We escaped hell to be here.

Thank you, @bsky.app & Jay Graber CEO (not a billionaire)

What I’m loving about Bluesky: seeing scientists and science communicators being prioritised again. On the hellsite, what I’m seeing is mostly “paid speech” from “verified” anonymous accounts, and they can’t differentiate free speech from worthless speech.

Not good enough!

I am privileged to be involved in this wonderful project

15M people on Bluesky!!! 💫

The Verge beat us to our own announcement — that's the beauty of an open network with public stats!

Am on it

Hello too!

Naplan scores remained stable amid Covid school closures: new study New research from UNSW and the University of Sydney suggests that Naplan scored remained stable during Covid-related school closures, while other countries reported learning losses. The research, published earlier this year, analysed Naplan test scores across Australian states – comparing differences in student performance based on varying periods of remote learning between 2020 and 2021, with school closures ranging from nine days to 157 days. Dr Nalini Prasad said students in schools that operated remotely for an extended time “performed similarly to students in schools which were closed for a relatively short period”. Australia adopted a zero-Covid policy which used lockdowns – and other non-pharmaceutical interventions –pre-emptively to eliminate the transmission of Covid-19. Per capita Covid case numbers and deaths were considerably lower in Australia. Low Covid case numbers meant that students did not have to miss school due to contracting the virus. Researchers used Naplan test scores from 2013-2019 as baseline data, comparing them with scores from 2021 and 2022. The data also suggested remote attendance rates were comparable to, and sometimes exceeded, typical in-person schooling levels.

Naplan scores remained stable amid COVID school closures: new study.

"New research from UNSW and the University of Sydney suggests that Naplan scored remained stable during COVID-related school closures, while other countries reported learning losses."

Source: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

He did bachelors and masters at University of Santa Monica

Excellent video thank you

7m ago 12.11 AEDT Australian life expectancy decreases for second year in a row The Australian Bureau of Statistics says Australia’s life expectancy has slightly fallen for the second year straight – due to the number of Covid-related deaths. Head of demography Beidar Cho said a boy born today is expected to live to 81.1 years old, and a girl to 85.1: The years 2021-2023 saw the highest number of Covid-19 deaths with 15,982 in Australia, which was up by 4,100 from 2020-2022. As a result, life expectancy has fallen by 0.1 years for men and 0.2 years for women over this period. Despite this decrease, Australians still have a higher life expectancy than many comparable countries, like New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Canada. The ACT had the highest male life expectancy of 81.7 years, followed by Western Australia (81.6 years) and Victoria (81.5 years). The ACT and WA had the highest female life expectancy (85.7 years), followed by Victoria (85.4 years) and NSW (85.2 years). The Northern Territory had the lowest life expectancy for both men (76.4 years) and women (80.4 years) – but it saw the largest rise in male and female life expectancies from 2013-2023, with 1.5 years and 1.2 years respectively.

Australian life expectancy decreases for second year in a row.

"The Australian Bureau of Statistics says Australia’s life expectancy has slightly fallen for the second year straight – due to the number of Covid-related deaths."

Source: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

A new study found that during an H5N1 bird flu outbreak in dairy cows in Colorado, use of personal protective equipment (PPE) among workers increased after animals got sick. Supplying PPE to workers and explaining the protections might help increase use. Read more in (link) American CDC on X

Can someone please explain this to like…. every hospital admin everywhere…

🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

(We do this every wave, every outbreak.)

Mammography screening is harmful and should be abandoned

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

I might order one to try out.

Delayed accessing care makes more sense.

Thanks. Nice to see honest documentation

And screening has marginal benefit anyway. And no all-cause mortality benefit at all.

Looks good. Battery life is not great if using on the move though

Awesome work. Well done!