“Despite growing research…indoor air quality remains largely absent from education policy. Schools are inspected on safeguarding, food standards and water safety, but the air children breathe for a large portion of their waking day is largely unmonitored and unregulated.”
I suggested that we aren't employing the same types of health and safety measures to the same degree that we do to prevent slips, trips, and falls (e.g., signs, sand/salting, monitoring) to prevent infections. They think they are.
Will have to find another opportunity to push back!
Update: While IAQ was included in today's agenda, the employer continues to rely on "being compliant with current legislation" to not improve IAQ per Health Canada's guidelines, and that, like slips, trips, and falls, (apparently) infection is inevitable and a community problem that can't be solved.
If I could just finish my PhD before getting conscripted into WW3 that would be nice.
I cannot restructure my dissertation from a trench.
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'.
COVID killed >100,000 people per year over the course of 2023 and 2024 in the US alone.
The level of indifference to this massive annual toll among both the public and the majority of my public health colleagues is stunning.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Mask game still going strong heading into Year 7 😷
Happy New Year!
Screenshot of a comment on the Waterloo Region Record article: RY Ryan 5 minutes ago ... Great advice! If you are heading out into the public and want the best protection for yourself and others, reaching for a Canadian made CA-N95, N95, or KN95 makes a huge difference. They're designed to filter out those tiny respiratory particles that we breathe in and out much better than standard cloth or surgical masks. Stay safe, everyone!
My comment on this article:
“With New Year's celebrations in the coming days, Aoki recommends that residents who are feeling sick stay home. If staying home is not an option, he said, people should wear a mask and make sure to wash their hands as much as possible.”
A line graph titled "Figure 2b: Historic and Projected Influenza Activity (Percent Positivity) Among Ontarians". The y-axis tracks Percent Positivity from 0% to 60%, and the x-axis tracks dates from July 1st to June 1st. The graph compares the current influenza season against historical data: Current Season (2025-2026): Represented by a blue line with dots, showing a sharp, almost vertical increase in test positivity starting in November and reaching approximately 35% by early December. Projection (NOWCAST): A red line extends from the current data, projecting a continued steep rise that could exceed 50% positivity. A light red shaded area around this line represents the 95% prediction interval. Historical Seasons: 2024-2025 (Brown line): Peaked later in the season (around February) at approximately 24%. 2023-2024 (Green line): Peaked in January at roughly 18%. Previous Seasons (Grey lines): Show varying peaks, mostly lower than the current projection. A dashed vertical line marks the "Most recent day observed." A footnote warns that prior model validations have demonstrated a likelihood of overestimating influenza activity as it approaches its seasonal peak. Data source: Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS).
The latest PHO surveillance report just dropped, and flu positivity is already surpassing historical peaks that go back to 2020.
Stay safe out there! 😷 🪟💨 🧼
www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/Docu...
Why the “immunity debt” narrative ultimately collapsed:
Over the past few months, the conversation has moved toward the conclusion the evidence has been pointing to for years.
Since 2022, immunity debt offered an easy explanation for the unusual patterns of illness we kept seeing.
1/7
My email says: not only will this cause rent increases, evictions, and homelessness; It will also further exacerbate the climate and housing crises by forcing folks like me to seek stability in monthly housing costs by buying instead of renting, abandoning the sustainable choice (apartment). #onpoli
My colleague wrote about the impact of #UWaterloo's RTO policy for staff on campus health, especially when it comes to airborne illness transmission. uwimprint.ca/uw-staff-lef...
So this went surprisingly very well. The support and encouragement I received is just words for now but there are potentially some concrete steps that will be taken going forward to address the issues around indoor air quality on campus.
A white male with short brown hair wearing a white 3M n95 respirator standing infront of a silver occupational health and safety office sign
I’m on today’s JHSC meeting agenda at #UWaterloo, representing @cupe5524.bsky.social, speaking about Health Canada’s Guidance for Indoor Air Quality Professionals, published this past September.
Wish me luck for even the smallest win in making indoor air safer at our workplace!
Wastewater Virus Signals graph for Ontario
#Ontario #wastewater graph updated with November 2 data
- Kingston, London, Toronto updated: wwater.ca/Ontario
- Also updated: AB, BC, MB, NS, PEI, SK
wwater.ca
Source: health-infobase.canada.ca/wastewater/
Increasing prevalence of H5N1 globally, drastically reduced surveillance in the US, H3N2 driving a severe flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, a mismatched flu vaccine, and the possibility of undetected human - human transmission of H5N1 is a recipe for a reassortment event.
bsky.app/profile/isaa...
The doctor shortage isn’t an accident. It was policy. canadahealthwatch.ca/2025/11/10/c... @codeblackamerica.bsky.social
A new @ca.theconversation.com article, co-authored by @juliamwright.bsky.social (FRSC), explores how updated CSA standards for respirator use can better protect health-care workers and patients — and why adopting evidence-based safety measures is vital for all Canadians. #RSCVoices
Wastewater Virus Signals graph for Ontario
#Ontario #wastewater graph updated with October 26 data
- Kingston, Peel, Toronto updated: wwater.ca/Ontario
- Also updated: AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, PEI, QC, SK, YT
wwater.ca
Source: health-infobase.canada.ca/wastewater/
This finding emphasizes that chronic disease management must be aligned with effective infection prevention and control to protect this growing at-risk population.
One more reason to adopt enhanced respiratory protection standards, particularly as outlined in the new draft of CSA Z94.4.
4/4
Importantly, the study notes a concerning rise in sepsis-related deaths linked to NCDs, the leading causes being stroke, COPD, and liver disease.
These chronic diseases are frequently complicated by secondary infections, primarily blood stream infections and lower respiratory tract infections.
3/4
After decades of progress, the global sepsis burden is rising again, particularly in adults (15+ years old), driven in part because of COVID-19.
Since 1990, adults aged 15+ have seen a 230% rise in sepsis incidence and a 26% rise in sepsis mortality.
2/4
New data from The Lancet on sepsis (a life-threatening dysregulated host immune response to infection leading to organ dysfunction) shows that in 2021 alone, 166 million sepsis cases and 21.4 million deaths were estimated globally.
That's nearly 1/3 of all global deaths for the year.
🧵1/4
Considering the vast amount of evidence that Covid can cause serious long-term health problems, mitigating risk of infection is absolutely logical. This should be utterly uncontroversial. But alas, politics, tribalism, and a desire to conform trump logic for most people. Not me.
Canada is leading in safety with the new draft of the CSA standard on respirators.
@dickzoutman.bsky.social, @juliamwright.bsky.social, @mark-ungrin.bsky.social, and I explain key updates that bring protections up to date with the evidence on respirator use against airborne disease transmission.
Feel free to share! I have a longer version of this presentation too (just over an hour) that I’ve given which goes into more detail. I just need to find some time to record it.
bsky.app/profile/isaa...
