Long Covid Risk for Children Doubles After a Second Infection, Study Finds

NEW: Long Covid risk for children doubles after a second infection, study finds www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/h...

🔥From @mskellymhayes.bsky.social book #LetThisRadicalizeYou:

World’s top court says climate inaction can breach international law Nonmembership of the Paris Agreement doesn’t exempt countries from duty to fight global warming, ICJ says.

Governments can be held legally responsible for climate inaction, the world’s highest court said in a landmark decision today, opening the door to a cascade of lawsuits.

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to watch them die. One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.” Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness. Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.” Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%. AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

Thank you @n95anaesthetist.bsky.social for this great piece of #scicomm for your peers. I hope it is watched and acted upon widely.

Long-term neurological and cognitive impact of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis in over 4 million patients - BMC Neurology Background Neuropsychiatric symptoms emerged early in the COVID-19 pandemic as a key feature of the virus, with research confirming a range of neuropsychiatric manifestations linked to acute SARS-CoV-...

What struck me about this paper was not just the very high prevalence of cognitive impairment and memory issues as sequelae of infection, but also that the population effects of such high rates of cognitive dysfunction must be changing society itself.

bmcneurol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

WHO and @unicef.org surveys found that over half of parents & pregnant women are exposed to advertising from formula milk companies – violating international agreements.

Parents should be able to choose how to feed their babies, but no-one should be fed untruths.

bit.ly/4bNKFdF

A blue graphic with white text that says: "for every child, peace". There is a UNICEF logo in the bottom right corner.

Children pay the highest price in war and violence.

#ForEveryChild, peace and protection.

Love this! With you two! ✅

The rise of right-wing Christian populism and its powerful impact on Australian politics

An network of Australian Christian groups have adapted the language of global right-wing populism to amplify their influence on Australian politics.

COVID didn’t end. Its story just stopped being told. A new story, rooted in the way we live now, would necessitate the telling of present-day truths.

canadahealthwatch.ca/2025/04/04/c...

The Government is rushing changes through Parliament set to weaken environmental protection laws and benefit destructive industries.

Today, 50 environment organisations have joined an open letter demanding that these changes are rejected.

Published in The Aus, Cbr Times, Fin Review, SMH & the Age.

Raising revenue right: Better tax ideas for the 48th Parliament The 48th Parliament has the opportunity to tackle some of Australia’s biggest problems – inequality, poverty, sustainability, health and education

By cutting fossil fuel subsidies, ending the gas industry’s free ride, reforming negative gearing and closing tax loopholes for superannuation and luxury utes, Treasury would raise between $12 billion and $63 billion.

Read: 5 ideas for a better tax system:

‘I believe…’ is a powerful exercise I encourage all leaders I work with to do - write a list of the things you believe in (try to get to at least 50 ‘I believe…’ statements) to help find your voice, your integrity and your courage. Then use it to find your people.

Next week will be the Parliament's last chance to spare voters from an onslaught of outright lies in political ads.

87% of Australians support truth in political advertising laws. Our Government should do its job.

Sign and share > theaus.in/TIPApetition

At my GP right now to get a referral for a booster!

Long COVID Awareness Day 15 March 2025

Today, March 15, 2025, is #LongCOVIDAwarenessDay.
We stand with those affected, advocate for research, and raise awareness for better care and recovery. 💙

#LongCOVID #COVIDisNotOVER

UK emissions fell 3.6% in 2024 to lowest level since 1872: UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions, MtCO2e, 1850-2024. Note the impact of general strikes in 1921 and 1926; the miner’s strike of 1984 had a smaller impact. Source: Jones et al. (2023) and Carbon Brief analysis of figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

NEW – Analysis: UK emissions fall 3.6% in 2024 as coal use drops to lowest since 1666 | @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org @vernerviisas.carbonbrief.org

Read here: buff.ly/MZcCeds

America Is Sleeping on a Powerful Defense Against Airborne Disease Treating clean indoor air as a public good would have protected Americans against more than COVID-19.

"As the pandemic unfolded, though, it became clear that the coronavirus did indeed spread through airborne transmission—even if the WHO took more than a year and a half to officially describe the coronavirus as a long-range airborne pathogen."

Disability increase from COVID in the US graph

An important graph and caption on the impact of Covid www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Trump regime expands its discouraged (BANNED) words across federal agencies. The list is long

Gift article www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Sharing this for Brisbane folk with very young families preparing for Alfred. (HT @naomihull.bsky.social)

www.breastfeeding.asn.au/emergency-re...

James Harrison, blood donor whose rare plasma saved millions of babies, dead at 88 | CNN James Harrison, a prolific Australian blood donor famed for having saved the lives of more than two million babies, has died at age 88.

James Harrison, a prolific Australian blood donor famed for having saved the lives of more than two million babies, has died at age 88.

Harrison, whose plasma contained a “rare and precious antibody” known as Anti-D, donated blood more than 1,100 times, according to Australian Red Cross Lifeblood.

For nursing students facing a warming world, planetary health must be central to their university education

For nursing students facing a warming world, planetary health must be central to their university education

You’ve been clear in saying that Covid has not gone away. You ask people to wear masks at your events. But that attitude is not necessarily where the rest of the world is. How do you think about continuing to take precautions and advising others to do so when it feels as if society has moved on? I do it for a bunch of reasons. Firstly, I have learned that I enjoy not being sick. I know that the cost of long Covid is real and substantial, and I don’t want to run that risk lightly. I also know that I have many friends and people I’m close to who are immunocompromised. So for the sake of the people around me, I also don’t want to get sick. When I do events, I wear a mask for those reasons, and because I know that every time I do a talk, while the vast majority of people in the audience have probably moved on, there are going to be other people who haven’t. I think it makes a huge difference to them to have the person at the front of the stage wear a mask. It tells them, It’s not weird. So I do it for that reason, too. In terms of holding this line at a point when a large swath of society has moved on, I have written a lot about the panic-neglect cycle.

I appreciate this response from Ed Yong on why he requests that people mask at his events. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/m...

‘Misleading’: Gina Rinehart’s mining firm breached environmental code with ‘clean gas’ job ad, panel rules Ad Standards Community Panel upholds complaint over Hancock Prospecting’s promotion in the Weekend Australian

The advertising regulator has found Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting misled consumers with an unsubstantiated claim that gas was clean, in an online advertisement in The Australian last year.

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/f...

Ad Standards finds ‘clean gas’ claim is misleading - Comms Declare Hancock Prospecting found in breach of Advertising’s Environmental Claims Code

Greenwashing "Gas is clean" statements from Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting found to be misleading by Ad Standards, forcing their ads to be pulled.