Sick of being sick? Fix air quality in schools, Wear an N95 mask, End mask bans, Work from home, and more

Bonus Acknowledging all those anniversaries and milestones….

May 02, 2025

red and black round plastic — Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

Welcome to the latest issue of the Covid-Is-Not-Over newsletter!

One of the things about getting caught up in the day-to-day of the apocalypse is that you can forget to stop and smell the roses. And celebrate the small things!

As it happens, I’ve forgotten to celebrate a couple of those small things. For example, January 22nd was the second anniversary of the very first issue of the newsletter! Granted, that issue was just a test that I used to learn a bit about Substack and get a sense if it fit with what I wanted to do. It only has 158 views, but it’s quite recognizable as an example of what I still do. More precisely, the first “real issue” was a month later on February 21st. That one’s only got 137 views! Check them out!

A bit less late in the celebration category, this issue is the 102nd overall, meaning I’ve just missed on on the bit 100th issue celebrations. Being an old comic book fan, I know the importance of these kinds of anniversary issues! But maybe if you exclude the test issue and the issue where I announce I’m starting on Substack Notes, maybe this week’s issue is really the 100th issue? Maybe? If you squint at it the right way?

In any case, happy double anniversary to me! Buy me a coffee to celebrate!

And speaking of mini-themes, this week revolves around what society could do to make the world better, safer and healthier for everyone. Some of these are infrastructural and some are empowering individuals to make good choices. I like the systematic approach to public health rather than the individualistic “you do you” approach, and this is a good reading from Elizabeth Marnik along those lines.

And I do need at least one WTF to keep the streak going. You’ve got to be kidding me Texas, what’s up with a Texas Republican wants to test wastewater for abortion medication?

And finally, I’ve added ANSWERED: Is COVID-19 Harmful to Children? A Compilation of Peer-Reviewed Medical Research to the list of must-read articles. Enjoy!

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N95 Masks Will Save Your Life. Wear Them. by Jessica Wildfire / The Sentinel Intelligence

Here’s the bottom line: Masks work. We’re going to examine all the evidence that they work, why you need them, and where you can get the best. I’m putting this one in front of the paywall, and you can use whatever parts of it you like when you contact Starbucks and tell them how wrong they are and what it’s going to cost them in every logical, ethical, and financial sense. …
The public didn’t put pressure on their politicians to develop the infrastructure we would need to make masks available for the general population. Our institutions didn’t take up the charge. If anything, they suppressed information and minimized the threat of airborne diseases. The media helped, so it’s a little irritating that they’re now sounding the alarm about bird flu when that and several other diseases have presented an imminent threat for years now.

Stuck in the Middle with Masking: Playing the Long Game in a Short-Sighted Age by Sean Mullen / WHN

So here I am. Still masking.
And yes, I still hear it:

“Dude, seriously? Still?”
Yup. Still. Because the pandemic didn’t end—it just got rebranded. We’re still dealing with an airborne, immune-damaging virus that doesn’t care if you’re over it. I wear an N95 or better everywhere I go. In the lab. In the classroom. On Zoom calls that turn into in-person meetups. I mask because it aligns with who I am now.
I’m not playing pandemic theater—I’m playing the long game. Mask now, and maybe I can still read, think, move, and retire in peace.
People think masking is about fear. But for me, it’s about identity. It’s about clarity. I’ve read the research. I’ve seen the patterns. And I’d rather be a little uncomfortable in the present than become a cautionary tale in the future.
The comments, the stares, the awkwardness? It doesn’t bother me anymore. I’ve trained for this. I’ve lived a life on the edge of social norms. This is just another arena.

Measuring the fitted filtration efficiency of cloth masks, medical masks and respirators by Amanda A. Tomkins, Gurleen Dulai, et al. / PLOS One

Filtration efficiency for the cloth mask was 47–55%, for level 1 masks 52–60%, for level 3 masks 60–77%. A non-certified KN95 look-alike, two KF94s, and three KN95s filtered 57–77%, and the N95 and CaN99 97–98% without fit testing. External braces and overmasking with a well-fitting cloth mask increased filtration, but earguards, scrub caps, and the knot-and-tuck method did not.

Why Mask Bans In America Could Set A Dangerous Precedent For Public Health by Omer Awan / Forbes

Although legislation of mask bans makes exceptions for those with health conditions, these exceptions are difficult to enforce and implement practically. Law enforcement officials are only allowed by law to ask about religion or health if an action pertains specifically to the crime in question. This can be difficult to enforce, and creates an uncomfortable environment for the many immunocompromised patients that require masks to protect their health. Asking these individuals about masking and to potentially take it off is an invasion of their health and privacy that should be protected by HIPAA laws. Remember, those who are immunocompromised are much more common than you may think and include cancer patients who are on chemotherapy, those who take steroids, organ transplant recipients as well as those with chronic medical conditions.
In addition, if mask bans are successfully implemented, those that need to mask may be forced into social isolation. Many may fear being incarcerated and could be reluctant to leave their homes. Businesses could deny service to those wearing masks, which would include immunocompromised people and patients with disabilities. Mask bans create unnecessary bias and discrimination against our most vulnerable populations.

Air filters in classrooms reduce sick days by more than 10 per cent by Michael Le Page / New Scientist (non-paywall version)

School attendance increased by 1.3 days per pupil per year when five elementary schools in Milan, Italy, introduced air filters into classrooms, in the first randomised controlled trial of its kind.
“It’s the first experimental evidence,” says Stefania Renna at the Polytechnic University of Milan. Her team installed high-quality portable air purifiers in 43 randomly chosen classrooms in the schools. Renna describes these as being better than HEPA filters.
The researchers recorded an increase in attendance of 1.3 days per pupil per year in the classrooms with air filters, which corresponded with a 12.5 per cent fall in absenteeism. “It’s a pretty large effect,” says Renna, who presented the results at a meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, Austria, this week.

“I’m sick of being sick”: Call to fix air quality in schools and childcare by Cate Macintosh / The Press

A group of doctors, teachers, academics and principals are urging the Government to improve air quality in schools and childcare centres to reduce Covid-19 and other air-borne illness.
An open letter to Minister of Education Erica Stanford and Minister of Health Simeon Brown coordinated by Aotearoa Covid Action (ACA) and signed by 15 organisations and individuals, including Professor Michael Baker and Dr Siouxsie Wiles, says too many children and educators are still getting Covid-19, with teachers being the most at risk profession.
“Tamariki at our ECEs and schools should be playing and learning, not bringing home disease and spreading it to their families and across the wider community,” ACA spokesperson Tara Forde said.
“If this Government is serious about increasing school attendance, they need to do more to protect the health of students and educators.”

Indoor air purification improves lung health in children - Study Summary by Lucas Roldos / Examine

The results contribute to the literature that suggests that people (and particularly children) can reduce the adverse respiratory health effects of fine particulate matter by using indoor air purifiers in spaces where they spend most of their time. Previous crossover trials have also reported improvements in lung function and markers of airway inflammation.[18][19] Although those trials were smaller than the summarized study and certain other studies did not demonstrate changes in lung health markers,[20][21] the intervention durations were shorter (2 to 14 days), and air purification was restricted to a single setting. Moreover, it's important to note that all of these studies showed decreases in fine particulate matter, which were attributed to the HEPA filters used in the air purifiers.

Remote Work Empowers Workers. Conservatives are using Pandemic Culture Wars to Target it by Julia Doubleday / The Gauntlet

The right has spent years spinning a narrative about early pandemic measures - imperfect measures nonetheless that saved millions of lives, kept people out of poverty, provided people with the ability to work remotely, and more, during a tragic emergency. In response, the left has continually swallowed the right-wing narrative about these measures, accepted and promoted right-wing framing, and then expecting the public to somehow tack left-wing ideas onto the end of a right-wing worldview.
If you start from the premise “we should’ve let a million more people die rather than switch to remote schooling and close restaurants” you’re not going to end up at “Medicare-for-all” and you shouldn’t wonder why your country is falling to fascism. There are implications within these arguments; implications about the value of human lives, about the importance of protecting the vulnerable, about the primacy of the almighty dollar, and above all about the sacredness of the status quo. And ultimately, the argument for returning to the office, like every argument for the “return to normal”, is an argument for the return of the status quo.

The unrelenting grief of Long Covid / M (is) Living with Long Covid

I feel grief in so many places (in no particular order):
--When I watch my friends live their lives unbothered and unaffected by the brain fog, brain damage, and extreme fatigue I live with on a daily basis (along with all my other symptoms)
--When I try to explain to my family why I still care about Covid and they should do, but they don’t believe me or respect my request to take precautions while we live together
--When I think about the fact that I’ve lost so much of my mental endurance
--When I think about how I’ve lost most of my physical endurance

Long COVID clinical evaluation, research and impact on society: a global expert consensus by Andrew G. Ewing, David Joffe, et al. / Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials

The survey resulted in 187 comprehensive statements reaching consensus with the strongest areas being diagnosis and clinical assessment, and general research. We establish conditions for diagnosis of different subgroups within the Long COVID umbrella. Clear consensus was reached that the impacts of COVID-19 infection on children should be a research priority, and additionally on the need to determine the effects of Long COVID on societies and economies. The consensus on COVID and Long COVID is that it affects the nervous system and other organs and is not likely to be observed with initial symptoms. We note, biomarkers are critically needed to address these issues.

COVID-19 triggered a life-threatening pulmonary embolism that led to long-term lung damage. It took two ER trips before doctors believed me by Anna Wenner / The Sick Times

Even now, every time I meet a new medical professional, they’re shocked when they go through my health history. They simply cannot connect how young I was with how serious my blood clot became. When I explain what happened, some are even quick to assign the full blame to a medication I had recently started and refuse to acknowledge COVID-19 as a factor at all.
Medical gaslighting is the reason I still have damage in my lung. If it hadn’t been for the RN who finally listened, it genuinely may have meant I wasn’t around to share this story at all.

How ‘revenge of the Covid contrarians’ unleashed by RFK Jr puts broader vaccine advances at risk | Robert F Kennedy Jr by Jessica Glenza / The Guardian

Experts said as Kennedy makes major cuts in public health in his first weeks in office, the infrastructure built to mitigate Covid-19 has become a clear target – an aim that has the dual effect of weakening immunization efforts as the US endures the largest measles outbreak since 2000.
“If his goal is to undermine public health infrastructure, he’s making strides there,” said Dorit Reiss, a University of California Law School professor whose research focuses on vaccine law. “If his goal is combating chronic diseases – he’s not doing very well.” …
Gregg Gonsalves, a Yale University associate professor and infectious disease epidemiologist, calls this strategy the “revenge of the Covid contrarians”.
“They’re not interested in the science, they’re interested in their conclusions and having the science bend to their will,” said Gonsalves. “They want to create a Potemkin village of their own making that looks like science but has nothing to do with science at all.”
Among Kennedy’s changes: attacks on the promising platform that supported Covid-19 vaccine development, delayed approval of a Covid-19 vaccine, the clawing back of grants that provided local immunization support and studied vaccine safety, and elevating one-time critics of Covid-19 policy.

Stuff that Would Have Been Included if I Did Two Newsletters per Week

Louisiana Gator Boys (ft. B.B. King). How Blue Can You Get?

M (is) Living with Long Covid

May 2

Thank you for the mention!

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Stephan Trump RESISTS in NJ

Airborne Blood Clotting Virus SARS2 disabled me. I can't convince my Dad SARS2 is dangerous. He doesn't have it now.

They tested for flu and RSV and SARS2.

But he dropped wearing a respirator when everyone else did. He witnesses me in my disability and still doesn't wear an N95 which would protect me.

Neither does my sister and her girls. Or RJ and Leslie, who are the parents of Taylor, my grandchild. Only Ronnie, Kira, Tylar and Samuel continue to wear N95s for themselves and me. It hurts me beyond words can describe that my blood relatives do not believe my words.

They can see how my mobility is restricted. Yes, I can walk. If I walk for more than 5 continuous minutes, my

right leg goes numb. If l bend over at the waist, I risk sharp stabbing pains. Bending compresses the spinal cord at the bottom of my spine. L4/L5

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