While our knowledge expands faster than ever, our ability to anticipate and respond to global challenges or opportunities remains limited. A political upheaval in one country, a technological innovation in another, or an epidemic in a far-away city – any of these can create a global change cascade with many unexpected repercussions. Why is this? … Continued
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have minimized the perceived severity of COVID-19 by adjusting how pandemic data are measured and presented. For example, reducing the availability of PCR testing, alongside irregular reporting of PCR positive cases, has allowed for the appearance of “declining” cases. At the same time, the … Continued
The massive wildfires raging across numerous locations worldwide are producing a significant amount of smoke, particles, and other air pollutants. As a result, the summer of 2023 has highlighted the critical importance of air quality on health. But the covid pandemic with its highly transmissible airborne virus already taught us that bad air quality leads … Continued
Dear Infection Prevention and Control Team, I’m writing to you today as I have some concerns about the recent changes to mask policies within the trust. However, please know that part of the reason I am spending the time to contact you is because I have hope that you will truly listen; the prevalence of … Continued
In mid-XIXth century Vienna, Ignaz Semmelweis found that washing hands in obstetrical clinics drastically reduced mortality, and lost his life in the struggle to make doctors wash their hands. His contemporaries ignored his findings, and only decades later, when the germ theory of disease was accepted, doctors began washing their hands regularly. How many people … Continued
The COVID-19 pandemic has starkly illuminated an existent, yet often overlooked, chasm in our public health systems and governmental response: the shortfall of tangible operational capabilities, including delayed response times, lack of coordinated action, and failure to execute preparedness plans effectively. The rampant spread of the virus, followed by its significant societal fallout, wasn’t primarily … Continued
It’s been said that a smile is worth a thousand words. But in today’s world, the smiles of healthcare workers abandoning their masks on social media are chilling to those whose access to safe healthcare is thus denied. The removal of mask requirements in many healthcare institutions is causing infections with immediate and long term … Continued
The World Health Network (WHN) is urging governments not to let their guard down and to continue to protect everyone, especially vulnerable populations, with COVID mitigation strategies. The recent announcement made by the World Health Organization (WHO) that the emergency phase of the pandemic is over has been interpreted by many governments as the time … Continued
Highlights 1- COVID-19 causes turnover and aging of the immune cells responsible for responding to other pathogens. These cells have limitations in their proliferative capacity (ability to reproduce) and this gets used up when it is employed to generate cells for combating disease. 2- COVID-19 broadly activates these cells, so they have turnover – reproduce. … Continued
Many studies have now provided strong evidence that the SARS2 virus can enter the brain during infection and cause damage to its function, including loss of both gray and white matter – impacting both the nerve cells and the support cells. In a sense, COVID literally ‘eats’ parts of your brain. It might enter via … Continued