About Covid

Welcome! You’re here because you want to learn more about Covid, or because someone who cares about you wants you to protect yourself and those around you.

Contents

• Summary
• Reducing Risk
• Links

Summary

Covid is not just a cold. Every infection with covid puts you at risk of many long term problems. There is overwhelming evidence that every infection can cause damage which will impact your long term health, even for “mild” and asymptomatic initial infections.

We already know that even one Covid infection can cause problems in your:

• Brain:
  • Creates persistent inflammation in your brain
  • Increases your risk of Alzheimers disease for at least a year
  • Accelerates dementia
• Immune System:
  • Weakens your immune system (t-cell dysfunction)
  • Weakens your immune system (dendritic cell dysfunction)
  • “higher likelihood of acquiring autoimmunity”
  • Makes bacterial infections more likely
  • “significantly increased risk for RSV infections”
  • “is a substantial risk factor for certain fungal infections, particularly those caused by invasive molds, likely because of COVID-19–related immune system dysregulation”
  • “The risk of HZ within a 12-month follow-up period was significantly higher in patients who had recovered from COVID-19 compared with that in the control group”
• Other Organs:
  • long term heart problems
  • “persistent pulmonary dysfunction in children and adolescents”
  • Damages your liver, and “it can exacerbate chronic liver conditions”
  • Increases your risk of Diabetes
  • Increases your risk of gut disorders
  • “suggesting that sub-clinical vascular and erythrocyte turnover are universal features of COVID-19, independent of disease severity”
  • Can create long-term thyroid dysfunction

There is strong research that covid is associated with cancers:

• Breast Cancer
• Lung Cancer
• “SARS-CoV-2 infection .. a crucial role in cancer onset and progression”, “potential risk factor for .. developing cancer”

Evidence shows the virus lives in people long after the acute infection:

• “Persistence for Up to 2 Years”
• Can be detected months after “recovery”
• “can spread systemically and persist for weeks to months.”

Every infection increases your risk.

The only way to reduce your risk is to reduce the number of times you are infected.

The only way to reduce the risk to others is to not spread an infection.

Links to longer explanations:

• A Covid FAQ
• Common Myths about Covid
• What Covid Does To The Body
• We are all playing Covid roulette. Without clean air, the next infection could permanently disable you - George Monbiot
• Why our family is covid cautious
• Covid Isn’t Over.

Reducing Risk

Covid is airborne - you breathe it in from an infected person’s breath, and it can stay in the air for a long time after being breathed out. So you need to remove the virus from the air you are breathing, or replace that air.

You can remove the virus from the air with:

• filtration, to treat a whole space
• masks, to treat the air you are breathing
• good airflow, bringing outside air in to replace possibly infectious air

And you can limit the amount of time you spend in enclosed spaces with infections people.

You need to use these as “layers of protection”, and apply them together to reduce your risk.

protection	detail
masks / respirators	N95 or P2 standard are the best, a common choice is the “3M Aura”, this guide explains more: People’s CDC - Masking
air filtration	Some kinds of filters can remove the virus from the air. “Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes” are an easy to build, cheap solution for this.
outside air	Bringing air from outside into your shared spaces can dilute the amount of virus you are exposed to, if someone else is carrying it. Open a window or door, and keep the air moving through.
limit your exposure	Reduce your risk by reducing the time you spend in enclosed spaces with potentially contagious people.

Links

Blogs

These are blogs which mostly focus on Covid - they might also cover other topics.

• Absolutely Maybe - Evidence and uncertainties about medicine, science culture, and life.
• Dr. Ruth’s Newsletter - Ruth Ann Crystal MD - Substack
• Digital Epidemiology - Marcel Salathé - Substack
• ¡Do Not Panic! - Nate Bear - Substack
• Easy Chair - Anthony J Leonardi, MBBS, PhD - Substack
• Ground Truths - Eric Topol - Substack
• Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts
• Its Airborne - Joey Fox
• OK Doomer - Jessica Wildfire - Public Health
• Pandemic Accountability Index - Substack
• People’s CDC - Substack
• T.A.C.T. - TACT - Substack
• TracingCOVID - A.J. Fish - Substack
• Teams Human - Chloe Humbert - Substack
• Your Local Epidemiologist - Katelyn Jetelina - Substack

Public Health Organization Links

• CDC - Long Covid
• NIH - Long Covid

Community Organisation Links

Link	Description
John Snow Project	The John Snow Project provides information for the general public to help them understand the risks and how to best manage those risks. Check out their Primers section.
Covid Is Airborne	Resources about Covid, including transmission and prevention, reports, guides, tools, media articles, infographics, videos, studies and more.
The People’s CDC	The People’s CDC is a coalition of public health practitioners, scientists, healthcare workers, educators, advocates and people from all walks of life working to reduce the harmful impacts of COVID-19.
Clean Air Crew	How and why to build your own low cost air purifier
Zeroes.CA	zeroes.ca is a COVID-aware community built on Mastodon and connected to the fediverse. We’re hosted on servers in Canada, operated by admins who live in Canada, and open to people from anywhere in the world. See also, their collection of links to other resouces.

Other Bookmarks, Studies, Lists etc

Link	Description
Long-COVID Resource Guide	Contains lots of information, not just applicable for Long-COVID. Sections on risk, covid impacts, children and covid, long covid, and risk reduction methods including masks.
Covid Bookmarks List	A categorised set of bookmarks about covid and its impacts. Compiled by JW from OK Doomer
COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 Studies	Hundreds of studies about covid, organised.
Scientific publications on long covid / PASC	An exhaustive and constantly updated collection of studies and data about Long Covid