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Heather "ElbowsUp" Hanwell

@drhanwell.bsky.social

🌾🌈 Canadian Epidemiologist & Human Biologist (esp #Nutrition) #HealthEquity #PublicHealth #LandBack #CleanTheAir #CovidIsAirborne Director @ONSchoolSafety.bsky.social Opinions my own.

316 Posts818 Follower771 Folgt
Karuna S@karunas.bsky.social · 7mo ago

“Schools are shared indoor spaces, making clean air essential to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses.” If filters are too loud, try turning them down instead of off. Better yet, use a PC-fan filter, they’re so quiet and efficient.

Institute of Health Emergencies & Pandemics@uoftpandemics.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Schools are shared indoor spaces, making clean air essential to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. 🏫 In this new video, IHEP Member Sarah Haines (@civmin.bsky.social) shares practical guidance on steps schools can take to improve the air quality. Watch the video ▶️ #PublicHealth #Health

Heather "ElbowsUp" Hanwell@drhanwell.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Ontario is having a BAD time with flu. On this note! I’m looking for anyone who might have old snapshots from ACES that 1. Display only influenza-like illness data & 2. Use the old ACES definition of “historic average” (ie using prepandemic data for the historical avg, not a rolling 2y avg).

Heather "ElbowsUp" Hanwell@drhanwell.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Also tagging @dgbassani.bsky.social! Any chance you have old snapshots from ACES for *just* influenza-like illness prior to their changing the “historic” baseline? We’re now at >2 SD above the 2y rolling “historic” baseline which was calculated during years of extremely high rates of illness…😬

Viral Respiratory Mapper -ACES admissions graph demonstrating a spike in Influenza-like hospital admissions in Nov to current early Dec 2025. The current number of admissions is approximately 60 which is more than two standard deviations above the rolling two year average.
Mark Ungrin@mark-ungrin.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Please use every opportunity to put this in front of people being pressured to let EBM/GRADE and "evidence synthesis" gatekeep and rent-seek their way into power over science. Mind-blowingly stupid, shielded from retraction, and impacting guidance made by EBM cargo cultists today. #MedSky #SciSky

Respiratory consequences of N95-type Mask usage in pregnant healthcare workers—a controlled clinical study - Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control

Background Outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases have led to guidelines recommending the routine use of N95 respirators for healthcare workers, many of whom are women of childbearing age. The resp...

aricjournal.biomedcentral.com

Mark Ungrin@mark-ungrin.bsky.social · 10mo ago

If Evidence Based Medicine has a poster child, it's the 2015 Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control study claiming N95s interfere with breathing in pregnant women. Here's their setup, which they described as "simulating the actual wearing of an N95 respirator". The RCT "gold standard" 🤣

A figure showing a spirometry mask either alone, or with a small piece of N95 material less than 10% the size of the full respirator taped over the hole, as used in a 2015 clinical trial widely cited during the pandemic as evidence of "harms" from N95s. To breathe the same volume of air at the same rate through 1/10th the cross sectional area, it has to move 10 times faster. This means flow resistance is increased by a factor of 10 - this is pretty intuitive (unless you're a clinical triallist, apparently), it's the same thing that makes it harder to breathe through a drinking straw than just your open mouth. This means the entire trial was performed under conditions equivalent to wearing 10 N95s on top of one another at once, and everyone involved and everyone who cited this study as meaningful should go and do something they are better equipped to handle than science, like watching paint dry. But since it is a clinical trial, EBM mindlessly treats it as the highest form of evidence - and since almost nothing gets retracted in clinical journals no matter how crappy it is, EBM processes keep using it. The image is from here: https://aricjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13756-015-0086-z/figures/2
Carolyn Barber, MD@cbarbermd.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Long COVID can leave people more disabled than 98% of the population — with struggles rivaling stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, even Parkinson’s. This is far more than “just fatigue.” theconversation.com/long-covid-i... #BlueSky #MedSky #IDSky #NewsSky #EMSky #NurseSky #PedsSky

Long COVID is more than fatigue. Our new study suggests its impact is similar to a stroke or Parkinson’s

Long COVID isn’t just a bunch of lingering symptoms. A new study shows it can stop peoole doing what they want to do, and need to do.

theconversation.com

Jen needs a Wishing Well@jenmindelen.bsky.social · 11mo ago

More proof that it is not merely a "respiratory disease" (which are threatening enough as it is!) Covid is a full on vascular disease with multiple organ involvement, including - and especially - the brain Do your best not to get it and spread it, please

Chantzy@chantzy.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Covid-19 roughly doubled the risk of vascular dementia in adults 50+ and for those with pre-existing mental illness the risk rose ~5x. A similar signal appears after other viral infections - a reminder that viruses aren’t "mild" when it comes to brain health 🧠 www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Naomi Klein@naomiaklein.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Israel has just arrested Greta Thunberg and many others. Statement from the Global Sumud Flotilla: “People of conscience have been abducted. The flotilla broke no laws. What is illegal is Israel’s genocide, Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, and Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon.” 1/3

Naomi Klein@naomiaklein.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Close to 65k watching the livefeed from the Global Sumud Flotilla off the coast of Gaza. Israel seems to be intercepting right now. All eyes needed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEN2...

MJ Nabuurs@mjnabuurs.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Thanks for sharing that article, @onschoolsafety.bsky.social! Evidence just keeps piling up: #CleanAir is the way: bsky.app/profile/mjna...

Ontario School Safety@onschoolsafety.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Looking for another compelling reason to prioritize clean indoor air? “Exposure to the airborne particles causes proteins in the brain to misfold into the clumps, which are hallmarks of Lewy body dementia, the third most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.”

sighborg👩‍🦼🫁🩸🩻@sigh-b0rg.bsky.social · 11mo ago

My pharmacist told me the other day that anyone in proximity to me can also be vaccinated early because of my risk factors so if you're in a similar situation &/or live with someone who meets high risk criteria, it's worth seeing if you can also get vaccinated.

Bill Comeau 🇨🇦@bill-comeau.bsky.social · 11mo ago

PSA: Ontario #Covid vaccines available for high risk/priority individuals starting w/o Sept 22 (now) (Flu shots Oct 14). Free flu and covid shots will be available to the general public Oct 27. More in link, including pharmacy locations. *Website may change over time* www.ontario.ca/vaccine-loca...

Ontario School Safety@onschoolsafety.bsky.social · last yr.

Back to school means back to poor indoor air quality for our kids in Ontario’s schools and school buses. Indoor air quality has been shown to affect mental well-being, academic performance, and school attendance. These door hangers could serve as a helpful reminder that it’s time to clean the air.

A door hanger cutout with a dark blue background. Indoor air quality has been shown to affect mental well-being, academic performance, and school attendance. Image of a white school with a yellow heart. Time to clean the air Ontario school safety logo Ontarioschoolsafety.comA door hanger cutout with a yellow background. Each day, we breathe around 11,000 litres of air-enough to fill 20,000 water bottles. Image of two blue water bottles. Time to clean the air Ontario school safety logo Ontarioschoolsafety.comA door hanger cutout with a light blue background. About 5 children in each classroom have asthma, which can be worsened by poor indoor air. Image of yellow lungs. Time to clean the air Ontario school safety logo Ontarioschoolsafety.comA door hanger cutout with a white background. We spend 90% of our time indoors. Indoor air can be 2-5 times worse than outside. Kids spend most of their time at school indoors. Image of a yellow tree. Time to clean the air Ontario school safety logo Ontarioschoolsafety.com
Jamie Dyer@jamiedcville.bsky.social · last yr.

Thirty-one Israeli signatories call for action from the international community: "The international community must impose crippling sanctions on Israel until it ends this brutal campaign and implements a permanent ceasefire." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

The starvation of Gaza is shameful. Crippling sanctions on Israel are needed | Letters

Letter: Thirty-one Israeli signatories express their shame, rage and agony over the plight of Palestinians and call for action from the international community

theguardian.com

Harms Committed@harmscommitted.com · last yr.

"Netanyahu is now hoping the concentration camp, or possibly camps [..] will be the gun forcing Palestinians to 'volunteer' to leave." "It is a plan that [..] would have been worthy of Adolf Eichmann." #Gaza #Palestine #Israel #USA #Ethiopia #Libya #Indonesia #Genocide #EthnicCleansing

Israel and the Trump administration are carrying out their final solution in Gaza

The head of the Mossad spy agency was recently in Washington to coordinate with the White House on plans to expel Palestinians from Gaza. The plan, along with the forced starvation and mass killing…

mondoweiss.net

Kelly@broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · last yr.

New study finds that air filters in schools reduces the number of sick days kids take. Clean air works wonders. It’s egregious that we haven’t adopted it in all public places by now. It reduces risk of COVID & other viral infections, allergies, asthma and helps with pollution and wildfire smoke!

Air filters in classrooms reduce sick days by more than 10 per cent

Putting air filters in classrooms seems to boost student attendance, which may be due to them reducing levels of air pollution, pollen, pathogens or all three

newscientist.com