#SystemsApproaches

Please consider boosting; remember on Mastodon there's no algorithm and 'liking' is only seen by the author

The best mask is an N95, but all masks work

Double masking or overmasking

FAQs are:

Does it make a difference?

Which mask should go on top, the cloth mask or the medical mask?

What about two cloth masks?

Or two medical masks?

Answers at updated page:

https://maskevidence.org/double-masking

#WeNotMe

#BetterMasks #MasksWork

#SystemsApproaches #CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver.#DoAllTheThings #ventilation #filtration #PaidSickDays #BringBackMasks #WearAMask #MasksSaveLives #MaskeAuf #MaskUp #MaskMandate #MaskMandateNow #CovidLong #LongCovid #N95s #n95 #FFP2 #ffp3 #n99

New eligibility for PCR testing in Ontario.
#Covid symptoms plus
Everyone >60y
>18y with a high-risk condition
>18y with <2 vaccine doses
>18y with >6m since last vaccine or last Covid infection
all the previously eligible groups (frontline workers, pregnant people, people who are immunocompromised etc)

https://www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-testing-and-treatment

#Paxlovid eligibility expanded too (same page, scroll down):
Everyone >60y
>18y with a high-risk condition or immunocompromised
>18y with <2 vaccine doses
>18y with >6m since last vaccine or last Covid infection

Where to get tested:
https://www.ontario.ca/assessment-centre-locations

Self-certify 'I'm eligible' if you are in one of those groups.

In #HamOnt|Hamilton

https://www.stjoes.ca/coronavirus/covid-19-test-home

Don't rely on test-and-treat or vaccination. Prevent community transmission to a vulnerable person and prevent #LongCovid with #Masks and #Ventilation

#BetterMasks #MasksWork

#SystemsApproaches #CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver.#DoAllTheThings #ventilation #filtration #PaidSickDays #BringBackMasks #WearAMask #MasksSaveLives #MaskeAuf #MaskUp #MaskMandate #MaskMandateNow #CovidLong #LongCovid #N95s #n95 #FFP2 #ffp3 #n99 #CovidTesting #BringBackTesting

https://maskevidence.org/why-masks-matter

Please boost

*New resource* for advocates for Masks in Schools

We have created a FAQ page and a downloadable, customizable template summarizing arguments for mask requirements in schools:

https://maskevidence.org/masks-in-schools

Mask mandates in schools reduce student and teacher absences

https://tinyurl.com/ps3jpk6a

4% of children with COVID will get long covid

https://tinyurl.com/mryp6zvh

@MyraBatchelder @nilikm #WeNotMe

#BetterMasks #MasksWork

#SystemsApproaches #CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver.#DoAllTheThings #ventilation #filtration #PaidSickDays #BringBackMasks #WearAMask #MasksSaveLives #MaskeAuf #MaskUp #MaskMandate #MaskMandateNow #CovidLong #LongCovid #N95s #n95 #FFP2 #ffp3 #n99

This time with working links

One of the wisest commentators on the climate crisis for years, @georgemonbiot writes about our need to take care of each other

We need to #WearAMask https://maskevidence.org/mask-types

We need to #Ventilate
https://itsairborne.com/
https://cleanaircrew.org/

#SystemsApproaches #CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver. #DoAllTheThings #ventilation #filtration #PaidSickDays #BringBackMasks #WearAMask #MasksSaveLives #MaskeAuf #MaskUp #MaskMandate #MaskMandateNow #CovidLong #LongCovid

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/26/covid-roulette-clean-air-ventilation-long-covid

So...1 in 24 Canadians has Covid, XBB1.5 (kraken) variant is projected to be at 22% in Ontario by the end of the week, people are still dying of Covid (279 in Canada in the first week of January), and though voluntary mask wearing is low, 69% of Canadians support mask mandates if necessary.

Public health in many regions recommends or strongly recommends mask wearing.

But no mask mandates?
Not even in education and the workplace?
Nothing?

Mandates would make it so much easier for the caring majority to normalize wearing a mask again. Many people understandably don't want to #WearAMask unless it is clearly necessary. #MaskMandates are necessary to get mask wearing in public up to >80%, which IHME estimates would halve deaths from covid with a month.

In the absence of clear direction from public health, #MaskUp and protect yourself and those around you as best you can.

https://maskevidence.org/why-masks-matter

#SystemsApproaches #CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver #DoAllTheThings #ventilation #filtration #PaidSickDays #BringBackMasks #WearAMask #MasksSaveLives #MaskeAuf #MaskUp #MaskMandate #MaskMandateNow #CovidLong #LongCovid #BetterMasks

Tara Moriarty's lab's estimates of current infections and risk: https://twitter.com/MoriartyLab/status/1614737208602230784

Incomplete count of deaths from Covid in Canada: https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/current-situation.html?stat=num&measure=deaths_weekly&map=pt#a2

CTV/Nanos Nov 2022 poll of Canadians: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/majority-of-canadians-support-return-of-face-masks-in-indoor-public-spaces-if-deemed-necessary-survey-1.6144419

IHME projections: https://covid19.healthdata.org/canada?view=daily-deaths&tab=trend

It's taken me a while to figure out how to write an #Introduction. Here goes:

I’d appreciate a boost to help meet like-minded here.

I’m a professor of medicine at McMaster University #MacDeptMed, #McMasterU

Clinically, I work as a #KidneyDoctor (#Nephrology)

I’m an associate member of #HEI (#Epidemiology) at #McMasterU

I’m a member of the Centre of Excellence in Protective Equipment and Materials (#PPE, #N95, #CEPEM) at #McMasterU

My #ClinicalResearch is in #KidneyDisease #KidneyEpi (#CKD, #Potassium, #CKDProgression) and #Masks

I’m editor-in-chief of #CJKHD (@CanJKHD on the birdsite, not here yet) an #OpenAccess kidney journal with #PublishingPolicy:

#SupportiveReview (#Kindness, #KidneyKindness) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20543581221080327
https://theconversation.com/peer-review-can-this-critical-step-in-the-publication-of-science-research-be-kinder-182142

#PortableReview (was your hard work rejected by a journal with IF>=4? Submit clean, redline, point-by-point response-to-reviews, and tell us which journal and undertake that you responded to all reviews received)
https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/canadian-journal-of-kidney-health-and-disease/journal202590#aims-and-scope

I’m editor-in-chief of https://maskevidence.org/ which curates evidence on #BetterMasks and #MasksWork

For the pandemic, we need #SystemsApproaches because #CovidIsAirborne and #CovidIsNotOver. #DoAllTheThings #ventilation #filtration #PaidSickDays #BringBackMasks #WearAMask #MasksSaveLives #MaskeAuf #MaskUp #MaskMandate #MaskMandateNow #CovidLong #LongCovid

I’d like to see #KidneyVerse as the tag to find others with interest in #KidneyHealth and #KidneyDisease. #AskKidney #AskRenal

Also trying to be #LGBTQ #LGBTQ2 ally, working on #EDI #equity #diversity #inclusion, interested in #SocialJustice #UrbanPlanning.

Treaty 3|Dish with One Spoon, Turtle Island; Hamilton ON Canada. She/her