“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.”

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!

“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.”

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.

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!

#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.

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

I expect this is what we will see. www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

#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/

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.

Here's a recording of my 10-minute presentation about addressing shared indoor air as an accessibility barrier in our learning environments. Feel free to share! youtu.be/HD0wVoN7Pr8

"Can we disconnect not caring about a pandemic from a rise in fascist politics, war crimes and genocide in Palestine, and a cost of living and housing crisis amid record private sector profits?" #covid #longcovid www.thespec.com/opinion/cont...

“Demo­cratic gov­ern­ments and equit­able pub­lic health must pro­tect every­day people more than they pro­tect private sec­tor profits and declin­ing pub­lic health stand­ards, or they risk pro­mot­ing fas­cist and eugen­i­cist logic.” www.thespec.com/opinion/cont...

TVO: "What does (losing elimination status) mean?" Dr. Bowdish: "It means we're on a list of countries that are torn apart by war & that don't have good public health -- & none of our G7 contemporaries are on that list. It shows that there are multiple systems that broke down to have this happen."

I try to be professional on this platform but there are times, like now, when it hits me hard on a visceral level that we are in the midst of a catastrophic global public health crisis and it seems, as a species, we've somehow decided that ignoring it is the best plan we've got.

It's Accessible Education Day at #UWaterloo! This afternoon, I'm looking forward to joining the panel "What are instructors doing to integrate accessibility in their courses?" My talk will focus on how shared indoor air quality is a fundamental barrier to accessibility and what we can do about it.

Clinics are the one place patients should be SAFE Colds, flus & coughs are the #1 reason why Canadians see a doctor …so where did masking in healthcare go? It’s political.

Last week, I was invited to be a panel respondent to a Keynote presentation by Dr. Maurita T. Harris at the Ethical Tech for a Global Future Symposium at #UWaterloo. Dr. Harris's talk was titled, "Human Factors, Ethics, and the Future of Responsible Innovation." 🧵1/4

NEW: Vehicles registered to Doug Ford's cabinet ministers have been caught by automated speed cameras more than 20 times. In one case, they were driving 70 in a 40 zone. On average, they were 17 over the limit. #OnPoli globalnews.ca/news/1146373...

At UWaterloo, TAs, RAs, and sessions are simply asking for a fair first contract, including fair wages and safer working conditions. Use this link to send a message to UW admin and show your support for the university’s academic workers in @cupe5524.bsky.social. cupe.ca/WeAreUW?sour...

Had a fantastic time talking to you, the other instructors and the students for this piece! Thanks for letting me cover this and thanks to Teaching Innovation Incubator for featuring it on the site!

Great piece on our course in @uwimprint.bsky.social @ #UWaterloo “Having the skill to see things from different lenses helps them see how different accessibility issues may manifest, whether that’s indoor air quality or something else. Solving those types of problems can help everyone.“

Reposting for visibility. Please feel free to share widely! 👇

Reposting for visibility. Please feel free to share widely! 👇

Are you a Radiologist in Canada? Your expertise is needed for a new AI research study at #UWaterloo! Topic: AI Safety in Radiology Task: Evaluate X-rays with an AI co-pilot Format: Anonymous online survey Time: ~90 minutes To learn more and participate email: [email protected]

Just finished Risk Assessment training. The example for "hazard elimination"? "When the University closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and people were required to work from home." But... SARS-CoV-2 is still here, and we're back on campus. Did I just identify a hazard through the training module?

'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...

“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...

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!

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. 😷

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 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/...

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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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...

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...