Tania J. Spencer
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taniaspencer.bsky.social
Tania J. Spencer
@taniaspencer.bsky.social
🇨🇦🇿🇦 • writer • photographer • Long COVID first waver • vaxxer • masker • maker of Corsi-Rosenthals • Yukoner • Antifa
Pinned
This is what #LongCOVID looks like.

Post-it notes everywhere.
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
Patient came in with sore throat. While waiting for rapid Strep test result we glanced back at the Covid-19 RAT result: positive. Reminder that masking in health care makes sense, if you don’t want everyone in your waiting room to go home sick, your staff to get sick, and physicians to get sick.
November 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
It costs next to nothing to wear a mask

It’s one of the best investments you can make in your long term health

Covid is still here & still disabling

It only takes one infection to change your life forever

Masks, especially N95s, are great protection!

If you can’t afford one try a mask block:
Worldwide Mask Bloc Directory – Find your local Mask Bloc
MaskBloc.org lists active Mask Blocs around the world. Free high-quality masks, COVID-19 tests and other equipment for your community. Mutual Aid & We Keep Us Safe.
maskbloc.org
November 24, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
Long C-19 is not your friend.

"Conclusions: Long COVID affects over one-fifth of SARS-CoV-2 survivors, with fatigue and dyspnoea persisting in many. Female sex and severe acute infection increase risk. Standardized definitions and longer follow-up are needed."

www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/13...
www.mdpi.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:38 AM
1/
It's very difficult to endure #LongCOVID in a country steeped in -

▶️ religion (much of it of US televangelist/Pentecostalist origin);
▶️ anti-vax beliefs;
▶️ a robust wellness industry;
▶️ rugged individualism (a result of the political isolation of Apartheid);
▶️ & #TimNoakes + his #BantingDiet.
Sunday Times: '‘Living dead’ talk about lives shattered by Long Covid'

‘Zombies’ rise up at SICK Pride event to raise awareness'

'About 5-million to 10-million South Africans battle with the symptoms of Long Covid..extreme fatigue, brain fog..'

www.sundaytimes.timeslive.co.za/news/2025-11...
‘Living dead’ talk about lives shattered by Long Covid
Up to 10-million South Africans may be struggling with Covid symptoms long after 2019
www.sundaytimes.timeslive.co.za
November 25, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
Everyone must have access to safe vaccination.
Novavax is the safest option for those with Long COVID.
Please help bring back access to this excellent vaccination tool for all Canadians:
www.change.org/p/demand-acc...
Sign the Petition
Demand Access to NovaVax for All Canadians
www.change.org
November 22, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
Canadian COVID Forecast: Nov 22 - Dec 5, 2025

SEVERE: AB
VERY HIGH: MB, NB, North, NS, SK
HIGH: CAN, BC, NL, ON, PEI, QC
MODERATE: none

About 1 in 161 people in Canada are CURRENTLY infected.
November 25, 2025 at 2:02 AM
#Yukoners, herewith an explanation for all that coughing & sniffling you're currently hearing around town 👇
Canadian COVID Forecast Nov 22 - Dec 5, 2025

NUNAVUT, NWT, YUKON

VERY HIGH [no change]

About 1 of every 151 people is infected.

Compared to lowest point of pandemic in Canada:

-Infections: 9.5 x higher
-Long COVID: 6.1 x higher
-Hospitalizations: 9.7 x higher
-Deaths: 14.0 x higher
November 25, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
Canadian COVID Forecast Nov 22 - Dec 5, 2025

CANADA

HIGH [no change]

About 1 of every 161 people is infected.

Compared to lowest point of pandemic in Canada:

-Infections: 8.8 x higher
-Long COVID: 6.0 x higher
-Hospitalizations: 8.2 x higher
-Deaths: 11.4 x higher
November 25, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
Calling Long COVID a “shadow” and claiming the acute phase has “faded” is misleading.

COVID hasn’t faded, it still causes waves of ongoing transmission, repeat infections, hospital pressure, Long COVID and deaths. It’s not a shadow; it’s still shining a light on an ongoing crisis.

archive.md/9Tcay
November 22, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Susan Sontag "offered a more apt metaphor than journey, though she ultimately preferred straight, unadorned talk: illness as a place, and often a dark and lonely one, 'the night-side of life' in 'the kingdom of the sick'":

Via @bhanlon15.bsky.social
#LongCOVID

www.statnews.com/2025/11/25/c...
I have long Covid. Don’t call my chronic disease a ‘journey’
A “journey” is something you choose. No one chooses chronic illness.
www.statnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Until the world is free of Gender-Based Violence & Femicide ( #GBVF), I do not celebrate International Women's Day (March 8).

Instead, I observe International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25) -
#25N: En amont de la Journée mondiale pour l'élimination des violences envers les femmes, notre Conseil du genre publie une Déclaration dénonçant la montée de l'extrêmisme et son impact sur les droits des femmes et les journalistes
#StopVAW
25 November: IFJ Gender Council Statement / IFJ
On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Gender Council of the International Federation of Journalists states:
www.ifj.org
November 24, 2025 at 4:12 PM
1/
"This is not in the book, but the 2nd & 3rd time I had #COVID, I was acutely disabled for 18 months.

I don’t know why I am one of these cases where I had a perfect track record of health my whole life, & for some reason was uniquely susceptible to [Long] COVID":

www.forbes.com/sites/davidc...
Musician Greta Morgan’s Poignant Memoir Details The Loss Of Her Voice
In 'The Lost Voice' Greta Morgan looks back at the period when she lost her singing voice after contracting COVID in 2020.
www.forbes.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:51 PM
1/
"There was sufficient information available by October 2020 for decision-makers to understand that Long Covid was a significant policy and health issue to be tackled”. Yet those warnings were dismissed as anecdotal":

www.longcovid.org/impact/news/...
Long Covid Support
To learn more visit LongCovid.org
www.longcovid.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
We asked people to let us know why they wanted to join us. We all want to see a better approach to public health. #Covid #LongCovid #CleanAir #MakeHopeNormal @greenparty.org.uk
November 24, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
In his series 'Ratios', cartoonist Johan van Zanten shows proportions & magnitudes of real statistics - a cross of cartoon & infographic.

The silent pandemic: total sick days from 2019 to 2025 #LongCovid
November 24, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
"Hi my name is Marcie, I am nearly 12 years old, I was diagnosed with Long Covid last year but I have been having symptoms since 2021"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9817...

#ChildHealth #LongCovidKids #LongCovid
Marcie's Story | Long Covid & Me | Understanding Long Covid In Children And Young People
YouTube video by Long Covid Kids
www.youtube.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:39 PM
The #Yukon River today. Wind still, -17 degrees Celsius, ice crystals hang in the air, fog rises off the river, trees encrusted with hoar frost, and the deep groan of ice cracking.

"It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world"

- Mary Oliver, Invitation
November 23, 2025 at 10:04 PM
"“Have they given up? Are they just deciding to build up herd immunity by watching us die? The government has given up, hasn’t it? They are throwing us into the slaughterhouse".

Yes.
Powerful piece by @drrachelclarke.com on the COVID inquiry. Those who say it’s easy to be wise in hindsight are being utterly disingenuous. Many of us spoke out at the time, and it’s in the public record.
@independentsage.bsky.social

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
I’ll never forget the horror of the Covid wards | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 5:03 PM
1/
In the first year of #LongCOVID, I was so desperate that I took cold showers twice a day during a #Yukon winter.

It brought a measure of respite from some of my dysautonomic symptoms -
November 23, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
There is a lot of good research and amazing people working on #LongCovid in Europe! Yes, the road is long, but after today, I feel my hope is restored. Some of my favorite moments from today's meeting at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome:
November 21, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
It’s so great you’ve quit smoking to reduce your chances of heart attack, stroke and cancer. 🫶
Now wear a mask. Covid causes those health issues, too.
November 23, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Tania J. Spencer
Everything wrong with the last almost 6 years right there.
November 23, 2025 at 12:39 AM
"Maybe they know that, despite the strong case for upgrading air filtration & establishing indoor air quality requirements, this has not been done, & masks are an easy-to-implement, effective layer of protection against pathogens":

Via @bcschoolcovid.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/misfitme...
Why Are People Wearing Masks in 2025?
A Mental Health Professional’s Perspective
open.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:21 PM
1/
It would be useful to see the following examined through a lens of #EpistemicInjustice -

▶️ #PublicHealth co-opted by gov;
▶️ #COVID minimised by gov;
▶️ #LongCOVID ignored by gov;
▶️ & an #OngoingPandemic of an injurious #AirborneVirus, that excluded the expertise of aerosol scientists.
You can now preview the book, which means you can look and search inside, and I think read the acknowledgements (the most personal part of it by far) and the preface - there's a 'preview book' button below the cover:
Epistemic Injustice: An Introduction
Epistemic injustice is one of the most important yet complex subjects to have emerged in philosophy in recent years. It refers to the idea that a person can be wronged when they are not properly belie...
www.routledge.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:53 PM
#ThePandemicIsNotOver, & #LongCOVID is real, whether governments like it or not.

It's time to #FollowTheScience, rather than politicians who don't read anything except opinion polls -
November 22, 2025 at 3:56 PM