Mik B

The last few years have been soooooo weird. First we have a virus that has literally thousands of peer reviewed papers showing that it is actually really terrible to repeatedly catch & people just kind of giggle and ignore it. Now we have pretty solid confirmation that the most powerful &

COVID's potential to cause unexpected, possibly chronic health issues.

This was confirmed sometime in 2021, not 2026. The years in between have just been idiots trying to convince the world that they should infect themselves with a virus that they knew nothing about. The list of those idiots is extensive.

www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-l...

Canada Lives Because…

Recent Study: Muscle tissue exposed to blood from ME/CFS & Long COVID patients leads to severe muscular and mitochondrial deterioration Source citation and arrow pointing right Images of muscle tissue deteriorating in the background.

Recent research shows blood from people with ME/CFS and Long COVID directly harms healthy muscle, reducing force, stressing mitochondria, and causing structural breakdown. Results implicate blood-borne drivers of muscle weakness, exertion intolerance, and PEM.

🔗 doi.org/10.1088/1758...

1. Very important study - and the primary reason I avoid infection.

'The long-term impact of COVID-19 may be consequential years after the infection and give rise to long-term illnesses including neurocognitive problems similar to what is seen in Alzheimer's disease'.

Smith doubled down on her "we need the right kind of immigrants" rhetoric with Spanky...

And then again blamed school crowding, housing prices, healthcare collapse and grocery prices on immigrants.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

If I were paid to do this job, I'd be in the media and on social media every day.
I'd say:
1)get vaccinated for covid and the flu.
2) wear a respirator (N95) mask in crowded indoor spaces like public transit.
3) keep your holiday get-togethers safe by keeping things well ventilated and filtered.

Part of what needs to be done is covered here, following the exploration of several examples of recent relevant failures and tracing them back to the systems-level issues that underlie them.

myth : There’s no evidence masks work. fact: Studies have repeatedly shown that wearing masks significantly reduces your odds of COVID-19, flu, and other viruses that can spread through the air (airborne transmission / airborne spread). N95s & KN95s work best and should be worn if possible, but even cloth masks offer more protection than wearing nothing!

Mask myths and facts. N95s and KN95s are the only masks that offer any protection against viruses. High-quality masks like N95s and KN95s (these are also called respirators) offer the most protection against viruses that can spread through the air, like COVID-19, flu, and more, but any mask is better than nothing! If you don’t have an N95 or KN95, it’s still a good idea to wear the best mask available to you.

myth: There’s no point in wearing a mask if no one else nearby is wearing one. fact: Masks offer the most protection to the community when more people are wearing them, but they are still highly effective even when you are the only person masked!

myth: Wearing a mask helps protect other people but has no impact on the person wearing it. fact: Wearing a mask helps protect you and others. Masks help keep virus particles you exhale from spreading in the air, and they help protect you from inhaling virus particles put into the air by others.

You may have seen masks mentioned a lot lately, especially as the spread of multiple viruses is currently high, so it’s important to know the facts in order to protect yourself and others. Learn more and stay safe this respiratory virus season and beyond! (Part 1/2)

Please remember, every time you see a newspaper or magazine article denigrating people - people like myself - who choose to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2, there will always be a tiny, quiet voice in the mind of the author whispering, 'what if they're right'?

We are right.

One of the reasons why I go so hard on science misinformation/disinformation, is that as a working scientist it is frustrating to see your research misreported to push an agenda.

For example, consider this piece of right-wing propaganda from The Telegraph that was just published

Preventable deaths. Vaccinate, clean indoor air, mask (KN95/N95) in high density/ high transmission settings. We don't need to do this. We don't need to make it easy on viruses.

Mask mandate returns to North Bay hospital patient care areas The North Bay Regional Health Centre is reinstating a mask requirement in all patient care areas starting Monday, citing a rise in hospitalizations and community spread of respiratory viruses.

There goes another one.

Will Alberta be the last jurisdiction to impose mask mandates in hospitals?

In Calgary alone, there is a COVID outbreak at the Rockyview, and influenza outbreaks at the Rockyview and Foothills.

And innumberable outbreaks of both in LTC.

Help me understand...

“Assess your own risk” was the most anti-public health slogan any public health official ever dreamed up.

An Illustrated Guide to Growing Food A progress report.

Everyone tells you to "start a garden." Well, here's how to actually do it. I'm going to keep expanding to cover more living situations. Feel free to jump in.
www.the-sentinel-intelligence.net/an-illustrat...

2. Watching the current scrambling response of many healthcare systems to H3N2 K, combined with the firmly embedded political and ideological resistance to masking, I can assure you all that if H5N1 goes human to human with a high CFR, we're in deep trouble as a species.

/end

Does wearing a face mask stop you catching flu? Experts give verdict Wearing a mask is inconvenient, but not as inconvenient as lockdowns

If it doesn't get inside you, it can't make you sick.

Respirators are designed by experts to help protect you from aerosol hazards, including COVID, the flu and other airborne diseases, and tested to make sure they are effective - and they are.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is a quack.

Smith finally said it out loud...

She doesn't believe that government should be providing any services to Albertans, she believes that private companies should be used universally to provide services.

Faith groups should take care of the vulnerable.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

THIS.

😷The real scandal isn’t masks - it’s how many people need them and are denied cultural permission to use them without ridicule.

It shows a culture deeply rooted in ableism. Disabled people had reinforced (again) that adaptions are not normalised, they are stigmatised. /13

It’s also about concerned, informed people, doing their best not to infect others.

I don’t want to be the source of someone else’s disability.

It's going to be the same here in Canada very soon if it isn't already. We knew this was coming. We had lots of warning, but instead of reacting to it, we once again embrace disease. There should have been massive vaccination campaigns & promotion of masking, indoor air cleaning & ventilation.

Bright blue infographic with a pink header reading 'U.S. Long Covid burden' Shows 45–48M people affected, $2–7B annual economic cost, and up to $30B if symptoms persist 3 years. Light blue covid icons in background

New paper - this is the largest long COVID estimate I've seen yet 😳

Link 🔗 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39842946/

An Illustrated Guide to Knocking Out Viruses To be expanded?

How do you protect yourself from viruses in a world that has largely given up? New work has confirmed the use of HOCl as a respiratory therapy and intervention. Here's some other things to do, along with N95 masks and air purifiers.

www.the-sentinel-intelligence.net/an-illustrat...

Reminders, as public health officials warn of a very bad flu season:

🧵

* Washing hands is not a strategy for a respiratory virus. N95s, ventilation, air filtration -- especially in hospitals.

* We should have been cleaning indoor air with the same effort we put into cleaning drinking water.

1/

If you live with someone who has long Covid or a post-viral illness & you’re doing a weekly circuit of maskless bars, restaurants & concerts, you're not "living your life." You're sacrificing theirs

Flyer with a pic of speaker Vanessa Walilko, a young woman with long dark hair wearing a brimmed hat, overalls, and a red shirt standing next to a small garden and holding a plant. Part of the 12 Days of Covid Consciousmas series Sowing Seeds, Tending Trees: Growing Plants in Small Spaces Grow a garden in your home this winter and keep it thriving all year round! Have you wanted to start a garden but have little space or low energy? Have you had limited success with keeping houseplants alive? In this session, plant obsessive Vanessa Walilko will give advice on low-maintenance plants for people with limited spoons, remedies for common plant problems, and how to get started with container gardening/farming in small spaces and less than ideal growing conditions. This event is free but priceless. Sunday, December 21 3pm ET/2pm CT/ 1PM mT/12 NOON PT presentation time: ~1 hour hang out and chat after the talk with your presenter & fellow attendees RSVP at tinyurl.com/RSVP12DaysCC

Got another 12 Days of Covid Consciousmas Zoom event and hangout planned for you!

Join the amazing @kalibutterfly.bsky.social on 12/21 for 'Sowing Seeds, Tending Trees: Growing Plants in Small Spaces.'

Details in flyer below. Feel free to share with other CC folks outside of X!

Minimalist white poster with a subtle crumpled-paper texture; small ‘whn.global’ logo centered at the top. A small intro line sits above a huge headline where ‘COVID’ is bright red and ‘is different.’ is black. Text: ‘Paraphrased from David Brasure’s WHN blog post, “COVID Is Different.” Read the full article at whn.global/covid-is-different. COVID is different. SARS-CoV-2 behaves differently from the viruses most of us grew up with. And treating it like “another flu” is costing people their health.’ Footer: The World Health Network is a network devoted to global compassion—working together to inspire collective action through science for a safer, healthier world.

Same white, paper-texture poster and top ‘whn.global’ logo. Large title reads ‘What makes COVID different?’ with ‘COVID’ in red, followed by a bulleted list. Text: ‘Paraphrased from David Brasure’s WHN blog post, “COVID Is Different.” Read the full article at whn.global/covid-is-different. What makes COVID different? • It can breach the blood–brain barrier • It can damage your endothelial lining and increase clot risk • It can persist in tissues • It can lower key immune cells • It may increase cancer risk • You can catch it multiple times per year These are not “normal cold virus” behaviors.’ Footer line about the World Health Network.

Same clean white poster with paper texture; ‘whn.global’ at top. Big statement line mid-page where ‘Long COVID’ appears in red and the rest in black; two short paragraphs below. Text: ‘Paraphrased from David Brasure’s WHN blog post, “COVID Is Different.” Read the full article at whn.global/covid-is-different. Long COVID is caused by SARS-CoV-2. Persistent symptoms come from real, documented damage. Not anxiety, not imagination, not “just needing rest.” Hundreds of thousands of studies show SARS-CoV-2 affects the body in ways we’re still uncovering. Just because you’ve had multiple infections and “felt fine” doesn’t mean it will stay that way.’ Footer line about the World Health Network.

Same minimalist white, paper-texture layout with ‘whn.global’ at top. A large heading ‘Here’s what you can do.’ sits above a simple bullet list; the final URL slug ‘covid-is-different’ is in red. Text: ‘Paraphrased from David Brasure’s WHN blog post, “COVID Is Different.” Read the full article at whn.global/covid-is-different. Here’s what you can do. • Improve air quality (filters, ventilation) • Wear a high-filtration mask in shared indoor air • Test when exposed or symptomatic • Stay home when sick • Use layered protections with friends, family, and workplaces Read more at whn.global/covid-is-different’ Footer line about the World Health Network.

COVID isn’t acting like the viruses most of us grew up with, and treating it like “just a cold” is putting people at real risk. David Brasure breaks down why SARS-CoV-2 is fundamentally different, how it causes long-term damage, and what we can do to protect ourselves.