At my ophthalmologist appointment and wearing a mask. So is everyone else here because my doctor insists on it.
A Public Health Crisis:
U.S. suicide rates have increased 37% over the past quarter century.
And no, the cause is not COVID.
Poverty and access to affordable healthcare is a major cause. And that cause will likely get much worse once Trump's Big Hideous Bill takes effect.
Metro Vancouver wastewater COVID surveillance data was published July 11. The most recent test was July 2. #covid #covid19 #wastewater #vancouver #yvr
Jeremy Faust has a good post up about yesterday's FDA narrowing of Moderna's #covid #covid19 vaccine recommendations for children. Tl;dr: a bad decision unsupported by data or logic.
https://insidemedicine.substack.com/p/no-the-fda-did-not-actually-fully
Outbreak: #COVID-19
Facility: St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Facility Type: Hospital (Acute Care)
Unit/Floor/Area: 4-M
Location: #Toronto #Ontario
Date: 2025-07-07
Public Health Unit: Toronto Public Health
Facility Tracking Hash: #TPHU0120
PHU Tracking Hash: #OnObTPHU
Click or follow tracking hashtags to see data for individual facilities or a specific public health unit.
For over a decade now (since he announced in 2015) I've been pointing out how #DementiaDon is a #Conspiracy NUT who believes EVERY insane #ConspiracyTheory he's told.
It proved deadly in 2019 when the #RWNJ lunatics on the Right convinced him #Covid was "a Chinese bio-weapon" that we DIDN'T need to protect ourselves from with masks or social distancing.
And now he's filled his cabinet with CT crackpots who think the #Kerrville flood was "bioengineered." #JFC
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/gop-s-conspiracy-theorist-problem-worsens-as-flood-disasters-trigger-misinformation-frenzy-243057221742
During #COVID people started hobbies—how many people continue with their hobbies? Mine is learning German using Duolingo, and it got pretty tough all alone, but I keep it up as a brain exercise.
Dr. Melissa Lem, a family physician in Vancouver, on CBC News talking about #Covid and #LongCovid .
She correctly stated that vaccines reduce your risk of Long Covid IF you were already vaccinated when you got Covid. That's a big if, and the vaccine true believers often do not state it. People downplayed that caveat from day one when that study came out.
Some people do get better over time, but most don't.
There are a lot of theories about brain fog (which is really brain DAMAGE). She discussed neuroinflammation.
I almost missed her answer as to why more middle-aged women get Long Covid, the theory is a difference in immune response. Which is fascinating to me, but she quickly and adroitly pivoted away.
Points off for "during the pandemic."
It's so hard to get your points across when on the spot like that, but she packed a lot of information into three minutes. Hope it wakes people up.
A relative due to visit in a few days just canceled. Their partner is down with COVID after a flight home from a job on the other side of the world.
On our last trip, domestic, five percent of passengers wore masks on the flight.
“Trauma is not a life-sentence; you can get treatment for it. It should not be used as an excuse to marginalize disabled and vulnerable people.” She continues, “I’m begging for people to care about my life, and it’s just mind-boggling to me that they don’t.”
That's all it is: a (made-up) excuse. People are so arrogant and self-centered they absolutely cannot be bothered to care whether other people live or die. Masking is basic airborne infection control, and they Can Not DoIt.
By sharing her personal story—from ME to post-COVID disability—Cat calls out the absolute need for systemic change: real biomedical treatment, clean air, radical rest, and policies that protect the sick rather than abandon them.
Read the full piece: http://whn.global/we-need-to-talk-about-long-covid
Edit: @ABScientist shared https://ccnse.ca/sites/default/files/Fomites%20and%20COVID-19%20March%2022%20final%20in%20template-revised.pdf !
hey Covid-Competent, well-informed folks! I have a favour to ask!
has anyone bookmarked a good reference for what % of SARS-CoV-2 cases are due to fomite transmission?
the US CDC was at one point saying:
each contact with a contaminated surface has less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of causing an infection [1]
but that's not a % of infections, it's per contact with contaminated surface. That's supported a few ways, eg. by a sampling that included counting touchpoints:
The estimated risk of infection from touching a contaminated surface was low (less than 5 in 10,000) by quantitative microbial risk assessment [2]
but that study didn't actually culture virus, they checked RNA levels and counted touches (and again, is per contaminated touch, not per case)
Try as I might, I can't actually find a grounded estimate of how many actual infections have been fomite-driven at any point in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
[1] https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7927285/
Get caught up: NZ’s Royal Inquiry excludes #LongCovid, Dear Jacinda (remix), US hits record measles tally since elimination, Masknerd responds to NYT’s clean air disinfo, 1 in 6 toddlers get LC, LA protestor indicted for masks, sharp #Covid rise in California, more
no -splaining thanks
One of the things I don't see talked about at all with regard to people using AI for everything instead of thinking themselves, is the cognitive function decline due to repeated covid infections (and probably undiagnosed long covid).
Looks like #COVID cases and hospitalizations have dropped again after last week's blip, to 1.0 hospitalizations per lakh per day, maybe lower, and #COVID19 deaths continue to drop, to 19 in the 30 days of June.
I am out of #OutbreakMode so I am singing karaoke and eating in restaurants, but #CovidIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains, buses, taxis, doctors' offices, pharmacies, hospitals and nursing homes!
@TexasObserver @candicequestions When #Texas Lt. Governor #DanPatrick said “There are more important things than living”, he was including keep businesses open during the most dangerous (early) period of the #COVID # pandemic. https://www.texastribune.org/2020/04/21/texas-dan-patrick-economy-coronavirus/
But he said “things”, plural. Now we can add NOT having #FlashFlood warning systems, which would be both #woke (empathy for future #flood victims) and based on #science. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2025/07/10/texas-couldn-t-find--1m-for-flood-warning-system-near-camps