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Reposted by AnnaHalifax

Government of Nova Scotia @nsgov.bsky.social · 4h

Influenza, COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments Available to Book news.novascotia.ca/en/2025/10/0...

Influenza, COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments Available to Book

news.novascotia.ca

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AnnaHalifax @annahalifax.bsky.social · 3h

Covid and flu vaccine bookings are now open in Nova Scotia!

Screenshot saying Book a seasonal immunization in Nova Scotia, for Covid, flu, and RSV

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“Our early results showed that the first trimester of pregnancy is a time to be especially… One of my previously published studies found that for every additional 10 micrograms of particulates per cubic meter of air there was a corresponding 10 percent increase in infertility risk.”

She Found a Link Between Air Pollution and Infertility

www.nytimes.com

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AnnaHalifax @annahalifax.bsky.social · 5h

I sometimes wonder if they've even tried to look at the burden on the healthcare system this disinformation has caused. In my immediate family alone, two formerly healthy people who barely saw their family doctors now have chronic illnesses and permanent disability in one case.

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AnnaHalifax @annahalifax.bsky.social · 5h

That's what I have a hard time with, since the consequences of these decisions have directly impacted my family members.

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AnnaHalifax @annahalifax.bsky.social · 5h

True, I guess I'm cynical because when we get Covid communication, usually in the fall, it's all about 'stay home if you feel sick', which of course 1) ignores that many can't do that, and 2) that many are asymptomatic (which was why testing should be considered important).

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NB COVID info @nbcovidinfo.bsky.social · 12h

Woke up to pee and for some reason I decided to punt this thing again and look what changed … now if only the actual healthcare system would switch to respirators and deploy HEPA and other IAQ improvements.

Screenshot of NS Health’s AI chat bot. At 10am this morning I asked it a question. Now at 2am I asked it again and got a VERY different answer. HMMM.
“8
www.yourhealthns.ca/
Nova
This chat will expire after 15 minutes of inactivity.
You
Thursday, 2:14 a.m.
Is Covid airborne?
COPY
Nova
Thursday, 2:14 a.m.
COVID-19 spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets or aerosols, which are produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, shouts, or talks. These droplets may come into direct contact with another person's mucous membranes (nose, mouth, or eyes or be inhaled. You can find more information about COVID-19 transmission on the Nova Scotia Health website.
• Go to bottom”

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NB COVID info @nbcovidinfo.bsky.social · 11h

As ever, I am a random mom. It’s not right that I am the one calling for and insisting on accurate info from our HEALTHCARE systems in 2025. We pay a lot of taxes and there are a lot of expensive experts who should be doing much better and not harming you.

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AnnaHalifax @annahalifax.bsky.social · 5h

Yes, he told us schools were not a source of infection spread. He's also ignored asymptomatic spread since the beginning, so I assume he doesn't believe in that either.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 7d

My partner has his final chemo infusion today. As usual, he will be the only person wearing an #N95 mask at #Whitehorse hospital.

None of the #Chemo nurses mask, in spite of knowing that chemo patients are immunocompromised.

And 1 in 90 people in the North are currently infected with #COVID -

#9 Dream @gayfabfourfan.bsky.social · 7d

It’s hard to describe how creepy and unsettling it is being one of the few people at a medical facility wearing a mask now, who knows a dangerous virus continues to freely circulate in the air.

How could public health fail us all so badly? How could we fail each other so spectacularly? #COVID

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Susan Joudrey @sujo.bsky.social · 4d

The Covid vaccine rollout across Canada, but especially in Nova Scotia, is about administrative ease, not infection control, population health, or public health. We know there's an annual wave around September, yet nothing changes. Another year of failure.

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André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 7h

Canada is close to losing its measles elimination status. What happens then? Canada eliminated measles decades ago, but it will lose that status on Oct. 27 – barring a ‘miracle,’ by @alannasmith.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com

Canada is close to losing its measles elimination status. What happens then?

Experts blame waning vaccination rates and disinformation for outbreaks that have continued for nearly a full year

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Mark Ungrin @mark-ungrin.bsky.social · 20h

For those who haven't been following this story, COVID is unambiguously airborne, routinely transmitted in tiny aerosols that float in the air for hours. Every relevant scientific body has known this for years, but some senior docs with ego problems blew the call in 2020, and now have *huge* COIs.

Mark Ungrin @mark-ungrin.bsky.social · May 12

(this very big mistake that killed an enormous number of people, if anyone's looking for the citation)

www.spiegel.de/internationa...

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/epidemiologist-jeremy-farrar-on-the-next-viral-threat-i-fear-we-are-at-the-beginning-of-an-era-of-pandemics-a-564b1dae-1c3d-4eb3-b76f-f3c5da6e8289#:~:text=DER%20SPIEGEL:%20But%20even%20the%20World%20Health%20Organization,enormous%20number%20of%20lives.

DER SPIEGEL: But even the World Health Organization didn't take the spread via aerosols seriously and didn’t issue a warning about it until the autumn of 2020 …

Farrar: Yes, you are right, that was a very big mistake. We could have prepared better if bigger decisions would have been made around aerosols, around face masks, around the best treatment options, personal protective equipment for nurses, doctors, about the capacity for intensive care units. That would have saved an enormous number of lives.

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The Octopus Gallery @octopusgallery.bsky.social · 22h

Good news for sewists: the paper pattern company feared lost to bankruptcy has been saved as an independent company.

craftindustryalliance.org/sewing-patte...

Sewing Patterns Rise from DGA Bankruptcy Ashes - Craft Industry Alliance

The “Big 4” sewing patterns are saved. Simplicity, McCall’s, Vogue & Butterick get new life under Rubelmann Capital.

craftindustryalliance.org

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Billy Hanlon @bhanlon15.bsky.social · 17h

IFL Science: 'New Blood Test Offers Potential For “Simple, Accurate” ME/CFS Diagnosis, Researchers Claim – Other Experts Aren’t So Sure'

'If it does work, it would be the first test for the condition.'

www.iflscience.com/new-blood-te...

New Blood Test Offers Potential For “Simple, Accurate” ME/CFS Diagnosis, Researchers Claim – Other Experts Aren’t So Sure

If it does work, it would be the first test for the condition.

www.iflscience.com

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AnnaHalifax @annahalifax.bsky.social · 16h

Can't wait for the AI's advice on long Covid, since NS public health avoids mentioning whenever possible. 😒

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NB COVID info @nbcovidinfo.bsky.social · 22h

NS is also home to one of the only clinical trials exploring UVC for infection prevention. Make it make sense. Dr. Rockwood is able to write in his trial protocol in 2021 about aerosols but NS health in late 2025 intentionally serves droplet dogma. 2/2 clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT050...

ClinicalTrials.gov

clinicaltrials.gov

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NB COVID info @nbcovidinfo.bsky.social · 22h

As far as I can Google, there has been no media coverage of the AI chat bot yet. This is a great opportunity for media in NS and Canada wide, especially independent media to ask some good questions and inform the public.

NB COVID info @nbcovidinfo.bsky.social · 1d

Holy F. NS health is using an AI chat bot called Nova and their recent Facebook post encourages people to ASK THE AI CHAT BOT about their SYMPTOMS. This is absolutely wild. www.yourhealthns.ca #nspoli

YourHealthNS

www.yourhealthns.ca

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naberu 🇨🇦 @naberu.bsky.social · 21h

Five and half years since we’ve known covid is transmitted by aerosols and a provicial health authority has released an AI chat bot that disseminates droplet disinformation.

NB COVID info @nbcovidinfo.bsky.social · 1d

Asking NS’s official health AI about airborne transmission, aerosols, etc #NSPoli

Screenshot of asking NS health AI if Covid is airborne. Is Covid airborne?
Wednesday, 10:02 a.m.
0 COPY
• Nova
Wednesday, 10:02 a.m.
The primary method of COVID-19 transmission is through droplets, which quickly settle on surfaces within two meters. However, airborne precautions are used during aerosol-generating medical procedures (AGMPs) to minimize the risk of transmission. More information on AGMPs can be found here.

Screenshot of asking NS health AI about aerosol transmission. Tell me about aerosol transmission
Nova
Wednesday, 10:02 a.m.
Airborne transmission occurs when airborne particles remain suspended in the air, travel on air currents, and are inhaled by others nearby or some distance away from the source. Control of airborne transmission requires control of airflow through special ventilation systems and the use of respiratory protection.
An aerosol-generating medical procedure (AGMP)
is any procedy
production of
+ Go to bottom
aerosols of va
roplet nuclei.
Examples of AGMPs include bronchoscopy

Screenshot of asking NS health AI if breathing generates aerosols You
Wednesday, 10:03 a.m.
Does breathing generate aerosols?
•Nova
Wednesday, 10:03 a.m.
While normal breathing does produce some droplets, activities like talking, screaming, coughing, or sneezing produce larger droplets.
Labour and delivery are also not considered aerosolized events. Aerosol Generating Medical Procedures (AGMPs) are specific medical procedures that generate aerosols.

The AI claimed that breathing generates fewer aerosols than AGMPs so I tried asking for more info. How many aerosols are generated by breathing compared to an AGMP?
0 coPY
Nova
Wednesday, 10:04 a.m.
To best answer your question, could you clarify what context you're interested in? For example, are you concerned about a specific medical setting or a particular activity? #NSPoli

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Mark Ungrin @mark-ungrin.bsky.social · 1d

The worst part is that if you ask an up to date LLM like chatgpt-5 that same question, it gets it right. So either NS Health is using out of date LLMs, or 👉 they specifically trained it to be wrong to align with their own negligently ignorant opinions. 👈

Yes — SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is transmitted through the **air as an aerosol**. This is now the consensus position of virtually all leading scientific and public-health bodies, and it’s supported by multiple independent lines of evidence. Here’s a concise summary of the most robust evidence:

---

### 🦠 1. Direct measurements of airborne virus

* SARS-CoV-2 RNA and infectious virus particles have been repeatedly detected in **air samples** from hospital rooms, homes, cars, and public spaces where infected individuals were present .
* Viable virus has been collected **meters away** from patients, even in well-ventilated spaces — distances far beyond those possible for ballistic “droplets.”

---

### 🌬 2. Epidemiological patterns best explained by aerosol spread

* Superspreading events in **choirs, restaurants, buses, and offices** consistently involve people who never had close contact but shared air .
* **Attack rates drop sharply** when ventilation is improved or when high-filtration respirators (e.g., N95s) are worn — a signature of airborne transmission.

---

### 🧪 3. Laboratory and physical evidence

* SARS-CoV-2 remains **viable in aerosols for hours** and retains infectivity .
* Human breathing, talking, and singing generate aerosols capable of carrying enough virus to infect others .

---

### 🏛 4. Official recognition

* The **U.S. CDC**, **WHO**, **Public Health Agency of Canada**, and **U.S. National Academies** all now state clearly that **aerosol (airborne) transmission is the dominant route** of spread 【9†WHO 2023†[https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-how-is-it-transmitted】](https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-how-is-it-transmitted】).

---

### 📊 Key implications

* **Shared ind)** are crucial for prevention.
* Droplet and surface transmission can occur but are **minor compared with inhalation of aerosols**.

---

In summary: …

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Mark Ungrin @mark-ungrin.bsky.social · 1d

When medical influencers get after me for saying things like "medicine has no meaningful standards of competence for leadership", "COVID is the Dunning-Kruger pandemic", or "public health policy is routinely based on pseudoscience", this is why I am right.

It's a 🤬 gong show.

#StandUpForScience

NB COVID info @nbcovidinfo.bsky.social · 1d

Asking NS’s official health AI about airborne transmission, aerosols, etc #NSPoli

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Samantha Spoopy @fictionaluser.bsky.social · 18h

beta.novascotia.ca/register-sen...

If you are a Nova Scotian diabetic or knows one you should be aware of this program. Or make someone else aware.

These sensors are an incredible tool and we're all fuckin' poor and bleeding from our fingers here.

Family income Annual deductible
$60,000 or less $0
$60,001 to $80,000 $500
$80,001 to $100,000 $750
$100,001 to $150,000 $1,000
$150,001 or more $0 (not eligible for the program)
You need to use any sources of insurance that you have (like private insurance) before the program can begin coverage. This includes insurance plans that require you to submit receipts to your insurance company for reimbursement.

Any amounts that are not paid by insurance are eligible for reimbursement by the Sensor-based Glucose Monitoring Program.

Register for the Sensor-based Glucose Monitoring Program
Register for the Sensor-based Glucose Monitoring Program to help with the costs of sensor-based glucose monitoring supplies. You need to be living with diabetes and use multiple daily injections of insulin to register.

The Sensor-based Glucose Monitoring Program helps pay for approved sensor-based glucose monitoring systems that are listed in the Nova Scotia Formulary. Sensor-based glucose monitoring systems are an alternative to regularly testing your glucose levels by pricking your finger and using a test strip.

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Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 1d

My new piece.👇

Sure, Ultra-Processed Foods Are Bad. But How Does That Help Anyone? thewalrus.ca/sure-ultra-p... via @thewalrus

86% of proposed strategies to regulate UPFs focus on changing behaviour – which can lead to equity issues – rather than addressing broader food system.

Sure, Ultra-Processed Foods Are Bad. But How Does That Help Anyone? | The Walrus

Nutrition panic distracts from the policies that make healthy eating a privilege

thewalrus.ca

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Jen the Feisty Librarian @feistywaters.com · 17h

Attended two excellent conference presentations today about health misinformation, while also noticing about 5 other masks and lots of past tensing the pandemic while coughing, because 2025.

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Sue Poncin @poncin-sue.bsky.social · 17h

The science is catching up to what most with Long Covid and those who treat us already know. Therapists and doctors have compared my symptoms to MS all along.

Hope looks like solving the mysteries behind Long Covid 🌈

thetranscendedman @atranscendedman.bsky.social · 23h

Scientists analyzed blood cells from people with COVID-19, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s.

Using deep learning, they found shared immune genes like XIST and HLA-DRB5 that may link COVID-19 inflammation to long-term neurodegeneration.

www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...

Linking COVID-19 to Neurodegeneration: A Single-Cell Deep Learning Study of PBMCs in Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s Disease

COVID-19 has increasingly been linked to neurological complications that may overlap with those observed in neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases. In this study, we analyzed single-cell RNA-sequen...

www.researchsquare.com

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