Ryan Tennant

Hi! The Still Coviding FB group for Kitchener-Waterloo may be a good place to look!

What do we know about the Covid-19 virus five years on? As the virus continues to evolve, experts assess its latest variants, seasonal prevalence and levels of vaccine uptake

'Another consideration, when it comes to building immunity, is the growing body of research suggesting that for several months after a Covid infection, people become more vulnerable to other infections...'

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Effect of HEPA Filtration Air Purifiers on Blood Pressure: A Pragmatic Randomized Crossover Trial Particulate matter (PM) pollution is a leading cause of cardiovascular risk and illness, including elevated blood pressure (BP).The purpose of this st…

“The use of in-home HEPA air purifiers resulted in clinically important reductions in SBP for people with elevated SBP in environments with relatively low PM2.5 concentrations.”

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Support a National Standard for N95s (and other respirators) in Healthcare The Canadian Standards Association is looking for public feedback on an update of a national standard for N95s (and other respirators).

There's a more fulsome instruction guide on how to comment on the proposed standard at donoharmbc.ca/national-sta...

Again, note that no other sector covered by the Z94.4 standard is attempting to undermine it in the way that IPAC managers are doing for healthcare. /6

Very well done analysis of risks of long COVID over time.
“Overall, 4% of children and 10%–26% of adults developed long COVID”
That is a lot of new cases of long COVID!
COVID is bad for you.
Don’t get COVID.
Get vaccinated.
Wear an N95 respirator.
Clean the air we all breathe!

Entrance to the symposium room. Dark grey carpet and opened glass doors. A brown table with boxes of N95 respirator mask, a sign that says masks make shared spaces more accessible taped to the front, and a UWaterloo vertical banner behind the table.

A poster board with papers pinned to it (anonymized student reflections), a notice of photography, and a reminder for voting for a people’s choice award. A sign also says Masks make shared spaces more accessible. We strongly encourage you to wear a complimentary respirator mask to protect yourself and others in this shared space.

A close up photo of a 20 inch box fan attached to four MERV 13 filters. An Aranet monitor sitting on top of it shows 630 ppm. You can see a blue shoe in the image on the dark grey floor.

A screenshot of the Aranet4 co2 reading from 12:30 to 2:30. The values range from 660ish to 850ish

The culminating student symposium for The Wicked Problem of Accessibility course happened this afternoon @uwaterloo.ca, thanks to support from the Teaching Innovation Incubator!

It was nice for the students to have this opportunity to share their projects with the #UWaterloo community. 😷

Thanks, and I see what you’re saying since the masks aren’t explicitly labelled in the images.

If you zoom in, they are respirator-style masks (the three panel design, like the 3M Aura).

Boxes of CA-N95 respirator masks sitting on top of a brown cabinet in a lecture room.

Two black PC fan air cleaners sitting in the corner of the room on blue carpet in front of an orange wall (they are in storage for use at the symposium event)

And we’ll have 2 PC-fan air cleaners plus a traditional #CRbox running, of course.

Poster 1: MASKS make shared spaces more ACCESSIBLE cartoon photos of a diverse couple of people on coloured background wearing N95s We strongly encourage you to wear a complimentary respirator masks to protect yourself and others in this shared space.

Poster 2: We support your choice to wear a mask and ask you to respect other’s choices, too! MASKS AREN’T (in yellow font) REQUIRED BUT MAY BE PREFERRED. University of Waterloo logo

Poster 3: Picture of a blue surgical mask. Please respect the choices of others. MASKS Aren’t required but they are ENCOURAGED When in close contact with others University of Waterloo logo QR code

At next week’s symposium for the course “The Wicked Problem of Accessibility,” I’ve requested that masking be at least ‘strongly encouraged’, as I was told that a requirement is not possible.

I'm providing CA-N95 masks at the door, alongside a new poster, instead of previous alternative designs.

The Current and Future Burden of Long COVID in the United States Our computational model estimates the current burden of long COVID can range from $5084–$11 646 per case and $2.01–$6.56 billion in societal costs, assumin

"The current health and economic burden of long COVID may already exceed that of other chronic diseases and will continue to grow each year as more and more COVID-19 cases occur." academic.oup.com/jid/article/...

White, black and yellow accent colours bordering text that says “The Wicked Problem of Accessibility Symposium” July 24th 12:30-2:30 PM Black and Gold Room in SLC Open to all faculty, staff, and students! Enter the raffle to win a prize!

Next week is the final class for The Wicked Problem of Accessibility course I co-designed/taught this term.

If you’re a #UWaterloo student, faculty, or staff member, feel free to stop by the Black and Gold room on July 24th and check out the students’ projects (and hang out with me, of course!)

Are there any Canadian-based radiologists here that would be interested in being the first to pilot a human-AI interface study that I’m about to start recruiting for?

Feel free to DM or email ryan.tennant@uwaterloo.ca and I can share the Information Letter. Thanks!

#radiology #radiologist

Are there any Canadian-based radiologists here that would be interested in being the first to pilot a human-AI interface study that I’m about to start recruiting for?

Feel free to DM or email ryan.tennant@uwaterloo.ca and I can share the Information Letter. Thanks!

#radiology #radiologist

Adult childhood cancer survivors at 58% higher risk for severe #COVID, report suggests

The risk of poor outcomes was especially pronounced during periods of widespread community viral transmission.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/c...

Line graph time series of 2025's daily Arctic sea ice extent compared to decadal averages from the 1980s to the 2010s. The decadal averages are shown with different colored lines with purple for the 1980s, blue for the 1990s, green for the 2000s, and white for the 2010s. Thin white lines are also shown for each year from 2000 to 2024. 2025 is shown with a thick gold line. There is a long-term decreasing trend in ice extent for every day of the year shown on this graph between May and August by looking at the decadal average line positions.

Monday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 2nd lowest on record (JAXA data)

• about 370,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,190,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 1,930,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,660,000 km² below the 1980s mean

More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

Quality of life and mental health in children with long COVID - Communications Medicine Noij et al. assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and mental health in children with pediatric Long COVID (PLC) compared to children with chronic health conditions and the general population. ...

Amsterdam researchers studied 106 children with long COVID and found 84% had impaired quality of life, with significantly higher rates of severe anxiety, depression, and sleep problems than children with other chronic conditions or the general population.

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Data from the Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program indicate that ~30% of laboratory confirmed COVID hospitalizations are acquired via health care (vs. community or unknown) - perhaps that's where the figure is (inaccurately) coming from.

health-infobase.canada.ca/cnisp/viral-...

Canadian COVID-19 Hazard Index

Here’s the forecast page. You can click through the tabs to see the static forecast for each province:

covid19resources.ca/covid-hazard...

The CSA Z94.4:2024 Selection, use and care of respirators draft standard has been posted for a 60-day public review period.

If this standard is adopted, respirators will be required in health care settings by default. Your feedback can help.

This image shows gauges with the Jun 28-Jul 11, 2025 COVID Forecast scores for Canada, the provinces, & territories. From left to right: Canada: 4.8 - MODERATE Alberta: 5.0 - MODERATE British Columbia: 4.4 - MODERATE Manitoba: 4.2 - MODERATE New Brunswick: 4.2 - MODERATE Newfoundland and Labrador: 4.3 - MODERATE North: 4.5 - MODERATE Nova Scotia: 4.5 - MODERATE Ontario: 5.2 - HIGH Prince Edward Island: 4.4 - MODERATE Quebec: 4.8 - MODERATE Saskatchewan: 4.3 - MODERATE A text box reads: "The COVID Forecast is calculated from 3 equally weighted categories: 1) Current infections and spread; 2) Healthcare system impact; 3) Mortality. Within each category there is one sub-category for trends over the most recent week (Trends) and one sub-category for current parameter values relative to a specified baseline (Current values). Trends and current values are weighted equally when determining the final score for a category. All Forecast input data and sources are available here (https://datastudio.google.com/embed/u/0/reporting/42b886cf-d661-488e-b7d8-5c5836b55ab6/page/p_2yqs028mwc). Past Forecast scores are available in the table below. Forecast scores are grouped into 4 ranges: MODERATE (1 to <5, white), HIGH (6 to <10, yellow), VERY HIGH (10 to <15, orange), SEVERE (>15 red)."

Canadian COVID Forecast: Jun 28-Jul 11, 2025

SEVERE: none
VERY HIGH: none
HIGH: ON
MODERATE: CAN, AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, North, NS, PEI, QC, SK

About 1 in 120 people in Canada are CURRENTLY infected.

Many children suffering ongoing Covid symptoms More than 20 per cent of children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand are experiencing significant persistent health symptoms following Covid-19 infection, according to a new Otago-led study.

New Zealand: Many children suffering ongoing Covid symptoms.

"More than 20% of children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand are experiencing significant persistent health symptoms following Covid-19 infection, according to a new Otago-led study."

www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroo...

It’s Disability Pride Month.

Many people can’t understand why we would be proud of our disabilities because ableism is everywhere.

This month we celebrate disabled lives and push back on ableism & eugenics.

We are not less than

We are not expendable

We will keep fighting

Cognitive function may wane faster in older hospitalized #COVID patients than in uninfected peers

Declines were seen in the domains of executive function and memory, while language was unaffected.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/c...

Job cuts at U.S. FDA raise red flags over safety of food imports to Canada Industry experts warn that having a weaker federal food regulator in the U.S. will compromise the inspection regime

Why cuts to a U.S. inspection agency matter for Canadian food safety. Q+A w/ Kate Helmore on The Decibel podcast.
www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/the...
www.theglobeandmail.com/business/eco... via @theglobeandmail.com #FoodSafety

Canada rescinds digital services tax in a bid to advance trade talks with U.S. Canada has rescinded its digital services tax in a bid to advance trade negotiations with the U.S., Canada’s finance ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Canada rescinds digital services tax in a bid to advance trade talks with U.S.

1 person came in contact with a bat that may have rabies: Toronto Public Health Toronto Public Health (TPH) is looking for a person who came into contact with a bat that may have a rabies infection on Wednesday.

🛑Possible rabies exposure in Toronto. Contact with a bat. The person exposed hasn't been identified. Please share far and wide, it's vital the unidentified exposed individual receives post-exposure prophylaxis with rabies vaccine as soon as possible🛑

toronto.citynews.ca/2025/06/27/1...

So unless I missed something (and I'm being quick here, so please check), the NACI cost model assumes:

- 7.5% annual COVID incidence
- of those 0.5% (kids) to 2.5% (adults) get #longCOVID
- of those, the average harm is only ~22.2 life days
- #longCOVID ends after 1 year

That has to be deliberate.

For all you Canadian parliamentary nerds - debate on the third reading of Bill C-5 has just begun. You can watch the live stream right here The first speech this morning is from the bill's sponsor, Senator Hassan Yussuff. #cdnpoli #SenCa #SenateofCanada

Apologies once again...

We hoped to have a forecast out, if not Monday, then by mid-week, but unfortunately no massaging of the model would get it to a reliable iteration.

I'm running it from scratch again, if all goes well, we will have the forecast out next Monday, June 30th. 🤞

White man with short brown hair, stylish clear safety glasses, a white 3M n95 mask, dark green collared shirt, standing in front of a white brick wall with a silver sign that says occupational health and safety office with chevron directional arrows.

You’re looking at the new Joint Health and Safety Committee Rep for CUPE 5524 Unit 1 (teaching and research assistants) at #UWaterloo going to his first JHSC meeting 😷