Listen to the experts: "Long covid effects every single organ system, damaging all organs in the body"
Friday, 29 March 2024
Thursday, 21 March 2024
Mask misinformation spreads like wildfire but apology & correction: Buried
Disclaimer: The baggy blue paper masks are not classified as PPE & are not effective at preventing airborne infections (they let air in!). Due to lack of supply of ffp3 respirator masks at the start of the ongoing pandemic, the UK government supplied baggy blues to frontline NHS workers, (over 800 of whom died from covid) & despite WHO guidance recommending universal masking in healthcare during the ongoing pandemic, backed by the BMA & RCN, masks have been scrapped.
My Independent article on healthcare Infection Prevention & Control protocols & the evidence supporting respirators masks in hospitals during the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 airborne pandemic: https://archive.ph/Dngo1
Expert evidence to the UK covid inquiry
Following her publication in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) with the intention of informing the covid inquiry, Oxford Professor & member of the Independent Scientific Advisory Group (ISAGE), Trisha Greenhaugh, commented: "So far. all the things we claimed in our BMJ paper have been borne out in the inquiry. This is an international scandal.
The entire populatiom has signed up to a dangerous clinical trial without consent - and in fact with the government activity denying that this was what was happening. The government consistently provided false reassurance and effectively removed personal autonomy for people to act to protect themselves. It is deeply, deeply, unethical".
Be safe, stay informed. The science is unequivocal: Respirator (ffp2/3/N95 masks work👍😷
"In a statement issued on March 10 by the Cochrane Library, Karla Soares-Weiser, MD, PhD, MSc, Editor-in-Chief of the Cochrane Library, emphasized, “Many commentators have claimed that a recently-updated Cochrane Review shows that ‘masks don't work,’ which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation.”
Also
"COVID-19: Addenbrooke's Hospital upgraded COVID
staff's face masks and 'cut ward-based infection to zero"
See my many articles in the Irish Independent (scrutinised by lawyers before publication) & previous posts for the plethora of scientific studies showing why SARS-CoV-2 infections are hazardous to your health...They're coming in thick & fast - weekly. Yet, few get the coverage they warrant in the media - while minimizing misinformation abound. Lockdowns don't cause heart inflammation, strokes & heart attacks👇
"50% of people infected with covid get damage & inflammation to the heart" - 50%!!
"Scientists have long known that COVID-19 increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and Long COVID, and prior imaging research has shown that over 50% of people who get COVID-19 experience some inflammation or damage to the heart."
Lockdowns don't cause brain damage: See recent (February 2024) PEER REVIEWED study showing drops in IQ, cognitive deficit, brain aging by as much as 20 years, dementia, several mental health disorders - caused by covid infections👇
Cut & paste below👇
"From the very early days of the pandemic, brain fog emerged as a significant health condition that many experience after COVID-19.
Brain fog is a colloquial term that describes a state of mental sluggishness or lack of clarity and haziness that makes it difficult to concentrate, remember things and think clearly.
Fast-forward four years and there is now abundant evidence that being infected with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – can affect brain health in many ways.
In addition to brain fog, COVID-19 can lead to an array of problems, including headaches, seizure disorders, strokes, sleep problems, and tingling and paralysis of the nerves, as well as several mental health disorders.
A large and growing body of evidence amassed throughout the pandemic details the many ways that COVID-19 leaves an indelible mark on the brain. But the specific pathways by which the virus does so are still being elucidated, and curative treatments are nonexistent.
Now, two new studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine shed further light on the profound toll of COVID-19 on cognitive health.
I am a physician scientist, and I have been devoted to studying long COVID since early patient reports about this condition – even before the term “long COVID” was coined. I have testified before the U.S. Senate as an expert witness on long COVID and have published extensively on this topic.
How COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain
Here are some of the most important studies to date documenting how COVID-19 affects brain health:
Large epidemiological analyses showed that people who had COVID-19 were at an increased risk of cognitive deficits, such as memory problems.
Imaging studies done in people before and after their COVID-19 infections show shrinkage of brain volume and altered brain structure after infection.
A study of people with mild to moderate COVID-19 showed significant prolonged inflammation of the brain and changes that are commensurate with seven years of brain aging.
Severe COVID-19 that requires hospitalization or intensive care may result in cognitive deficits and other brain damage that are equivalent to 20 years of aging.
Laboratory experiments in human and mouse brain organoids designed to emulate changes in the human brain showed that SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers the fusion of brain cells. This effectively short-circuits brain electrical activity and compromises function.
Autopsy studies of people who had severe COVID-19 but died months later from other causes showed that the virus was still present in brain tissue. This provides evidence that contrary to its name, SARS-CoV-2 is not only a respiratory virus, but it can also enter the brain in some individuals. But whether the persistence of the virus in brain tissue is driving some of the brain problems seen in people who have had COVID-19 is not yet clear.
Studies show that even when the virus is mild and exclusively confined to the lungs, it can still provoke inflammation in the brain and impair brain cells’ ability to regenerate.
COVID-19 can also disrupt the blood brain barrier, the shield that protects the nervous system – which is the control and command center of our bodies – making it “leaky.” Studies using imaging to assess the brains of people hospitalized with COVID-19 showed disrupted or leaky blood brain barriers in those who experienced brain fog.
A large preliminary analysis pooling together data from 11 studies encompassing almost 1 million people with COVID-19 and more than 6 million uninfected individuals showed that COVID-19 increased the risk of development of new-onset dementia in people older than 60 years of age.
Drops in IQ
Most recently, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine assessed cognitive abilities such as memory, planning and spatial reasoning in nearly 113,000 people who had previously had COVID-19. The researchers found that those who had been infected had significant deficits in memory and executive task performance.
This decline was evident among those infected in the early phase of the pandemic and those infected when the delta and omicron variants were dominant. These findings show that the risk of cognitive decline did not abate as the pandemic virus evolved from the ancestral strain to omicron.
In the same study, those who had mild and resolved COVID-19 showed cognitive decline equivalent to a three-point loss of IQ. In comparison, those with unresolved persistent symptoms, such as people with persistent shortness of breath or fatigue, had a six-point loss in IQ. Those who had been admitted to the intensive care unit for COVID-19 had a nine-point loss in IQ. Reinfection with the virus contributed an additional two-point loss in IQ, as compared with no reinfection.
Generally the average IQ is about 100. An IQ above 130 indicates a highly gifted individual, while an IQ below 70 generally indicates a level of intellectual disability that may require significant societal support.
To put the finding of the New England Journal of Medicine study into perspective, I estimate that a three-point downward shift in IQ would increase the number of U.S. adults with an IQ less than 70 from 4.7 million to 7.5 million – an increase of 2.8 million adults with a level of cognitive impairment that requires significant societal support.
Another study in the same issue of the New England Journal of Medicine involved more than 100,000 Norwegians between March 2020 and April 2023. It documented worse memory function at several time points up to 36 months following a positive SARS-CoV-2 test.
Parsing the implications
Taken together, these studies show that COVID-19 poses a serious risk to brain health, even in mild cases, and the effects are now being revealed at the population level.
A recent analysis of the U.S. Current Population Survey showed that after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional 1 million working-age Americans reported having “serious difficulty” remembering, concentrating or making decisions than at any time in the preceding 15 years. Most disconcertingly, this was mostly driven by younger adults between the ages of 18 to 44.
Data from the European Union shows a similar trend – in 2022, 15% of people in the EU reported memory and concentration issues.
Looking ahead, it will be critical to identify who is most at risk. A better understanding is also needed of how these trends might affect the educational attainment of children and young adults and the economic productivity of working-age adults. And the extent to which these shifts will influence the epidemiology of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is also not clear.
The growing body of research now confirms that COVID-19 should be considered a virus with a significant impact on the brain. The implications are far-reaching, from individuals experiencing cognitive struggles to the potential impact on populations and the economy.
You can avoid brain, heart & multi-system organ damage, long covid & disability by wearing a snug fitting ffp2/3 & cleaning indoor air (ventilate & filtrate)👍
Sunday, 17 March 2024
Story of St Patrick: Give up yer aul sins!
Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh ☘💚
This is the trad music we jigged around the kitchen table to tonight. Raising a glass to my foremothers & fathers who taught me that knowledge is power & truth is my anchor.
Prepping for next/first Vogue cover teaming pound shop glasses with cake toppers in my hair💅😎
Lovely to share this day with our fabulous Welsh friends who wore green as it is the actual law to do so on Paddy's day. I went for understated fairy cakes this year.
Saturday, 16 March 2024
Starmer's refusal to reinstate the whip to Diane Abbott looks vindictive. More electoral Hara kiri
"Bored with the verbal Riverdance routine and suffering from campaign-induced sleep deprivation, I leaned in: “If you attack Diane Abbott live on air, I’ll call you out – live on air”. Hatchet job averted"
New Statesman article I wrote calling out the vicious racist targeting of Diane Abbott by the Tories & media during the 2017 elections 👇 Same racism with attacks now also coming from within the Labour Party.
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2017/09/tories-attacked-diane-abbott-pack-hounds-it-backfired
Saturday, 2 March 2024
Wokies cancelled my parenting advice column
A decade on, I'm still bitter about my parenting advice column being cancelled by wokies. #cancelculture #freedomtooffend #righttodiscriminate
Women need to embrace inequality, not fight it
Why not give your daughters les
Tess Finch Lees
Wednesday 12 June
If I never hear the word “suffragette” again, it’ll be too soon. Last weeks media fest was tiresome. Fortunately, this week it’s business as usual with women fading into their rightful place. The background.
A couple of years ago I cringed as I watched my toddler grab a toy from a similar aged girl in playgroup. Supernanny would advocate that I intercept my son, “encourage” him to return said toy and teach him the virtues of sharing. I wrestled with this one and on balance I decided that, whilst sharing is a valuable life skill, it’s gender specific.
After all, when that girl (with princess emblazoned across her chest) grows up, there won’t be a knight in shining armour to fight her battles for her. If my son snatches a coveted promotion from under her nose while she’s on maternity leave, she’ll have to find the time and energy to snatch it back, all by herself. If she persists she’ll be labelled a trouble maker and will face a tribunal, whereupon an all male panel will preside as judge and jury. Because there’s no class action in the UK, she’ll have to re-mortgage her house to pay for the court case (assuming she can get a lawyer to represent her), the strain of which will have caused her marriage to collapse, resulting in a nervous breakdown and the baby being taken into care.
A responsible parent would teach their daughters not to resist the inevitable. Why not give them less pocket money than their sons? I realize now that, if you’re a parent, equal pay only matters if you have a daughter. As things stand, the odds are stacked in favour of my son. He only needs to achieve average grades to get paid up to double that of a more qualified female graduate. If he marries one and has children it will be her (she’ll be less paid) who stops working. Fulfilling society’s expectation of him as breadwinner, he’ll be free to network, work long hours and get noticed (she’ll be working ‘round the clock for no pay and no-one will notice). His route to world domination need not be derailed by fatherhood.
So why should I take on someone else’s battle? What with sourcing Mini Boden outfits and block booking Monkey Music, it’s all I can do to lift a glass of Chardonnay before unwinding in front of Loose Women. With few exceptions, women who make it to the top are unlikely to have done so by challenging the status quo. Parliament, business and the media, is awash with women willing to demonstrate their masculine credentials. Rebekah Brooks didn’t get where she is today (unemployed and in the dock) by tackling sexism (see p.3) in The Sun. Until there are sufficient numbers of women in top jobs to make a difference, my boy’s future is safe.
The vacuum created by the absence of a feminist movement in the last four decades has enabled the proliferation of the sexualisation of girls. Everywhere we look there are images of women with splayed legs and surgically enhanced boobs. A cursory glance at M&S share price is enough to warrant a full page spread of a woman in her knickers.
Its little wonder 60 per cent of teenage girls aspire to be “glamour” models, like Jordan. Soft porn models are ubiquitous. Women who dare to make a bid for power, using their minds instead of their bodies, such as Mary Beard, however, are either invisible or pilloried by the press. Another victory for the boys.
Despite the fact that it is men’s reckless incompetence at the highest level that has brought the global economy to its knees, still we don’t question their merit. In 2008, a male journalist made a compelling case as to why men were to blame for the recession. No-one has heard from him since. Rumour has it he’s in witness protection and writes verses for Hallmark.
The bottom line is, when my son takes his rightful place (s) at the top table (s) of power, be it as media mogul, corporate giant or political behemoth, even if he did fail (through no fault of his own, obviously), his contract will contain so many get out of jail cards he’ll be laughing all the way to the bank, where he’ll take out enough money to buy a peerage and live happily ever after on the Costa del Tax Haven.
As long as our daughters aspire to be princesses rather than politicians, and the closest thing we have to feminist literature is Heat magazine, men will continue to ride roughshod over women. If I had a daughter I’d be throwing myself in front of the Queen’s Corgis, but I don’t, so I’m off to the hairdressers instead.
Thursday, 22 February 2024
Health warning: Don't be a casualty of BBC drama
BBC drama Casualty's take on masking during a pandemic: How dare you angsty patients [women] come into our hospitals wearing those scary respirators [unavailable to NHS workers] and trigger trauma in medics which was never resolved because everyone [except a few pathetic sheep] consented to pretend the thing that caused the trauma went away.
The recent episode of Casualty was a pro-harm, ableist attack on the clinically vulnerable/covid informed (minority) community. A work of pure gaslighting fiction, bereft of truth, compassion or integrity. The unbridled hostility and derision towards vulnerable people trying to access healthcare safely - in an ongoing airborne pandemic - felt cruel & painful to watch.
Two people close to me were killed directly & indirectly by SARS-CoV-2 infections acquired in hospitals - from unmasked healthcare workers. I've written several articles documenting just some of the heartbreaking stories in my inbox from vulnerable patients being forcibly infected with SARS2 - by medics whose job it is to DO NO HARM.
Such as, 4 year old Jess, who was hospitalised with RSV in December, following a covid infection forced on her by a doctor who refused to mask during a routine outpatients appointment. Her mother's pleas were met with patronising disdain & veiled threats of being reported to social services - for asking a coughing doctor to mask up to protect her child. Jess has been constantly sick since being infected with SARS-CoV-2. She now has Long Covid & has gone from being a bouncy, happy social kid to a lethargic, achy, grumpy shadow of her former self. A childhood lost due to harm caused, in my view, by medical negligence.
SARS-CoV-2 is still killing. Since testing has all but stopped, numbers are likely considerably higher than reported. Whilst vaccines have helped reduce hospitalisations & deaths, they don't prevent infections. Long Covid & post Covid sequelae are a growing concern as we enter year 5 of the ongoing pandemic.
Denial & fear avoidance is harmful to health & wellbeing. Accepting & adapting to reality/science will protect you, your family & community. That requires adjustments: Masking indoors, socialising outdoors, cleaning the air, testing & isolating when sick. Without government support, these protections are beyond the reach of many. The right to health & life confined to those who can afford to buy them.
Having this scientific knowledge & knowing the government's plan is mass, forced infections, fear & anxiety are rational responses. Misrepresenting scientific facts and pathologising knowledge, compassion & rational fear, as BBC Casualty does, puts us all at risk, but clinically vulnerable patients & staff disproportionately so. Be it attacks in the street or being bullied by traumatised health care workers, triggered by masks.
As I wrote in a recent article, "Fear is a self-preserving emotion, enabling us to detect and react to hazards, crucial for survival. Fear drives adaptive behaviours aimed at escaping the source of danger. Fear avoidance leads to denialism, which is irrational. It involves the refusal to accept an empirically verifiable reality: the pandemic is not over. The threat remains & is made greater by media misinformation
If you value your health & life & that of your family, follow the science, not the herd.
Please read the brilliant rebuttal thread by Clinically Vulnerable Families which has a link to BBC complaints (complaints really do make a difference & worth the time/energy) 👇
https://twitter.com/cv_cev/status/1768180056130527361
Bearing witness: The fourth estate's role in maintaining a healthy, functioning democracy is to scrutinise evidence in pursuit of truth & holding power to account. Those of you who feel able to send me your stories documenting your experiences accessing healthcare (UK & Ireland), particularly since the removal of masks, I promise to send them to all the main print & broadcast editors in the respective country, along with links to the scientific evidence cited below. You can post them in comments below or email me directly: tflees26@gmail.com🙏
Masks Work
"The evidence shows a good ffp3 mask stops you getting covid" Dr Rachel Clarke, NHS doctor whose book was turned into a recent ITV drama Breathtaking.
In her interviews, Dr Clarke warned that covid is still here & staff STILL do not have access to proper PPE. She called on government to provide ffp3 respirators to healthcare workers now. She also raises awareness that over 850 health & care workers died of covid at work early on (staff are not being tested now: No data = no evidence = limited legal recourse & no accountability). NHS staff remain traumatised, many of whom have been disabled by Long Covid, with numbers growing constantly.
I came across the Breathtaking behind the scenes footage (below) reportedly filmed between April-May 2023 - after mask mandates were lifted in some hospitals. Extraordinary that film/TV production companies provided better quality masks for crew filming a drama about SARS2 overwhelming the NHS than was/is available to actual overwhelmed NHS staff working in SARS-CoV-2 filled hospitals. Health & Care workers' trauma is being exploited by political/institutional misinformation & media complicity 😪💔
The producers know respirators work. Infections = delays = costs👇
Dr Clarke on set👇
Facts for healthcare professionals, health correspondents & Casualty script writers
The most recent data from Wales (18 February) shows 67% of inpatient covid cases were the result of nosocomial (hospital acquired) infection, which have a circa 10% mortality rate.
SARS-CoV-2 is a level 3 airborne biohazard. Snug fitting respirators (ffp2/3, N95s), ventilation and HEPA filtration are effective in preventing all airborne infections, including SARS2
Vaccines help prevent death & hospitalisation but they don't prevent infections, Long Covid and post-covid sequalae. Immunity from infection & vaccines wanes.
Herd immunity doesn't exist. However, hundreds of studies do exist showing that repeated infections cause cumulative harm. According to the WHO, 1 in 10 infections results in Long Covid, a chronic, disabling disease for which there's no cure and negligible understanding within the medical profession.
Around 50- 60% of transmission is pre or asymptomatic, which is why testing & universal mask mandates are essential in health care settings. Both of which have been jettisoned against WHO, BMA & RCN advice. Many healthcare professionals now work with vulnerable patients even when symptomatic.
SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to cause neurological & brain damage, linked to neuro-psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. Repeat SARS2 infections damage mental, as well as physical health.
Universal masking in healthcare is WHO policy - pandemic not over: (2) Cat in the Hat on X: "Back when we still did routine testing in hospitals, data showed that ~30% of patients in hospital with Covid caught it whilst they were there. It will almost certainly be worse now… …but we can no longer track this metric as the data is no longer reported. https://t.co/mkPtxeQwLM" / X (twitter.com)
Maria Van Kerkhove: Covid cases likely up to 20 times higher than reported, so little surveillance, remains global threat: Be smart: avoid infection & spread: (2) Maria Van Kerkhove on X: ". #COVID19 is still a global threat & we can’t wish it away What to do: Limit your exposure as much as you can. Test, mask, ventilate, get boosted/vaccinated… If you get (re)infected: limit contact with others, mask, ventilate to prevent onward spread; seek medical care…" / X (twitter.com)
World expert, Dr Zalaly Aly on his Long Covid research (burden of disease on a par with cancer & heart disease): (2) Dr. Lucky Tran on X: ""The burden of disease and disability from Long COVID is on par with the burden of cancer and heart disease. The best way to prevent Long COVID is to prevent COVID in the first place. There is no Long COVID without COVID." Brilliant testimony by @zalaly! #HELPLongCovid https://t.co/Cw24Eg8TiJ" / X (twitter.com)
BMA Long Covid survey: Drs suffering with long covid: Disabled, unable to work & suicidal : First major survey of doctors with Long Covid reveals debilitating impact on health, life and work - BMA media centre - BMA
The first "S" in SARS2 means "severe", it's never mild, even if it feels that way in the acute phase. Just one of many studies showing brain damage caused by "mild" Covid: Long Covid: Even mild Covid is linked to damage to the brain months after infection (nbcnews.com)
Long Covid expert, Dr Rae Duncan on BBC Scotland recently on risks of repeated SARS2 infections: https://youtu.be/5kE5UCV1XE4
Around 2m people in the UK suffer from Long Covid, a disease for which there's no cure & very little understanding within the medical profession. Numbers are no longer being counted.
See Lit Covid data base to access SARS-CoV-2 studies, so far 403, 904 & growing almost weekly. How many have you read about in the MSM?. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/research/coronavirus/
Zero studies exist showing SARS-CoV-2 infections are harmless/safe/benign
Useful thread with links to studies documenting damage SARS-CoV-2 does to various body systems & organs: What SARS-CoV-2 Does to the Body (3rd Edition, December 2023) (panaccindex.info)
Co-writer, Jed Mercurio's twitter background pic - on Call of Duty set👇 Interesting choice 😷
SARS-CoV-2 is not a cold & it's not the flu. Protect your health: Stay informed.
Fact: SARS-C0V-2 is a level 3 airborne biohazard. Don't share indoor air.
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