bailey/ben (they/them) 🍉

if you see people hyping up the recent azelastine covid nasal spray study (jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...), please know it's got major issues, see here:

pubpeer.com/publications...

and please link to these pubpeer comments when people overhype it. let's fight misinfo together! <3

There is no convincing evidence that nasal sprays prevent, nor treat, COVID-19 by nasal sprays' biggest hater

made a comprehensive post on prevention & treatment this time, entitled "There is no convincing evidence that nasal sprays prevent, nor treat, COVID-19". links to the same post on substack (substack.com/home/post/p-...) & reddit (www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidC...) <3

made an instagram post going over what a good clinical trial on nasal sprays for COVID-19 would look like and scored all the current studies! they all failed lol! www.instagram.com/p/DHuJrTwy_X...

RETRACTED: Evaluating the efficacy and safety of a novel prophylactic nasal spray in the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection: A multi-centre, double blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial. This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier policy on article withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/article-withd…

one of the two human clinical trials on preventing COVID-19 with nasal sprays has now been retracted (study 2 from my comprehensive reddit and substack post). will update those posts, and see the retraction notice here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

multiple people have expressed to me that they gave up pointing out that there is no convincing evidence that nasal sprays prevent covid, because of the ridiculously negative reactions (completely understandable to give up and no judgement). for me right now, the hate only makes me want to post more

this should go without saying, but if you had hope in nasal sprays preventing covid and one of my posts gives you less hope and you feel upset, you are upset at someone other than me. don't take it out on me. and don't tell me I shouldn't be debunking dangerous misinfo. or do. it won't stop me! 😘💖

Chicago Needs Stronger Long Covid Protections, Organizers and Advocates Say — City Bureau Covid-19 mitigation was largely a non-issue during election season, but Chicago organizers and disability advocates are urging residents to demand that public officials reinstate citywide Covid mandat...

Check out my article published w/ @citybureau.bsky.social covering the absence of Covid-19 & Long Covid coverage during the 2024 Election Cycle.

“This sense of urgency is critical ‘as we dive deeper into COVID-denialism, fascism [and] eugenics,’ Reaux said.”

www.citybureau.org/newswire/lon...

totally agree! and it's not fun to be on the receiving end of it haha

despite all the hate, the attacking of my character, the lashing out, not a single nasal spray believer has sent me a single study providing convincing evidence that nasal sprays prevent covid. I am open for a scientific debate. unfortunately these people have no relevant quality science to point to

when you (rightfully) dunk on nasal sprays, suddenly the covid conscious community starts acting like antimaskers. in some cases, they literally dunk on respirators and understate their effectiveness. like they actually start talking like antimaskers lmfao

From the ZeroCovidCommunity community on Reddit: There is no convincing evidence that nasal sprays prevent COVID-19 Explore this post and more from the ZeroCovidCommunity community

did you know that there is no convincing evidence that nasal sprays prevent COVID-19? I made a long reddit post about it! www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidC...

From the Masks4All community on Reddit: debunking the myth that N95s are super protective for 40 hours of wear (let's stop recommending it!) Explore this post and more from the Masks4All community

I made a reddit post with the info from my two instagram posts on rewearing N95s. I like having the info from both posts together and it might be easier to look through in this format :). let's stop spreading the myth than N95s are super protective for 40 hours! www.reddit.com/r/Masks4All/...

part 2 looking at rewearing N95s and what that does to filtration efficiency and fit! with predictions on how long it would take to get an infectious dose of SARS-CoV-2 in N95s with different filtration efficiencies and percent leaks vs. unmasked! www.instagram.com/p/DDDdhDSSJr...

made a post about the frequent claim that you can wear an N95 for 40 hours of total wear time and still be protected against COVID-19. and the data I could find really doesn't suggest that it's true! it doesn't seem safe to wear an N95 for anywhere near 40 hours: www.instagram.com/p/DC3ElJ6xJA...

yeah, probably one or a few more mutations. I agree that it's super worrying, but the original post and thread doesn't say that, and instead contains misinformation unfortunately

but I didn't say anything about how the E627 came about, so I'm confused. I'm just trying to make the point that the PB2 E627K mutation from the BC teen is not "the necessary mutation needed for adequate transmission among human hosts". it's also not at 100 % frequency in the virus from the BC teen

it's unfortunate that many people are posting misinfo about it, it makes it even harder to understand :(. but yeah, it seems that the BC teen's H5N1 does not have all the mutations required for human to human transmission. but an H5N1 variant that can do that is likely on its way :(

I'm confused by this, what further data? there are studies showing which mutations would be needed for human to human transmission and also for mammalian adaptation, and H5N1 from the BC teen doesn't have all these mutations needed

I've been on here for 14 hours and I already got blocked by an "anti-disinfo advocate" for pointing out that they posted misinfo lmfao

no problem! and I still recommend people take all of the precautions, such as wearing high-quality respirators, ventilation, air purification, etc. etc. as you've said :)

there is so much misinfo about the BC teen's H5N1 genotype on here and elsewhere. I'll be posting an in-depth breakdown once I can 100 % confirm everything, just waiting on my registration with GISAID to go through. unrelated but there's also so much misinfo about nasal sprays preventing illnesses!!

including ones in HA that actually improve entry into mammalian cells (while HA from the virus from the BC teen does have mutations in HA at positions where some mutations do improve entry into mammalian cells, the mutations are not to the amino acids that improve this)

it's actually not true, a lot of this thread is misinfo. the H5N1 pandemic is likely imminent, but the PB2 E627K mutation has been found in many human and mammal isolates for years and is not "the necessary mutation needed for adequate transmission among human hosts", more mutations are needed

including ones in HA that actually improve entry into mammalian cells (while HA from the virus from the BC teen does have mutations in HA at positions where some mutations do improve entry into mammalian cells, the mutations are not to the amino acids that improve this)

it's actually not true, a lot of this thread is misinfo. the H5N1 pandemic is likely imminent, but the PB2 E627K mutation has been found in many human and mammal isolates for years and is not "the necessary mutation needed for adequate transmission among human hosts", more mutations are needed

including ones in HA that actually improve entry into mammalian cells (while HA from the virus from the BC teen does have mutations in HA at positions where some mutations do improve entry into mammalian cells, the mutations are not to the amino acids that improve this)

a lot of this thread is misinfo. the H5N1 pandemic is likely imminent, but the PB2 E627K mutation has been found in many human and mammal isolates for years and is not "the necessary mutation needed for adequate transmission among human hosts", more mutations are needed

the mixed sequence codes for Q (wt) or H at this position. a change to H is not one of the mutations that improves entry into mammalian cells

including ones in HA that actually improve entry into mammalian cells (while HA from the virus from the BC teen does have mutations in HA at positions where some mutations do improve entry into mammalian cells, the mutations are not to the amino acids that improve this)

it's actually not true, a lot of this thread is misinfo. the H5N1 pandemic is likely imminent, but the PB2 E627K mutation has been found in many human and mammal isolates for years and is not "the necessary mutation needed for adequate transmission among human hosts", more mutations are needed