December 22, 2025
I've been volunteering with the World Health Network for over two years, meeting weekly with the campaigns team. Because of this commitment, the latest COVID data, research, and proactive communication about disease prevention have remained top of mind for me. At the WHN, we continue to do our best to communicate clearly and effectively about the considerable risk SARS-CoV-2 still poses to our daily lives. And while our broadcasts are typically through social media and public health outreach, my team members and I have a common challenge: how to have effective conversations about COVID mitigation with our own family members. That’s why I’ve created page of information.
With Canadian public health mostly silent about COVID, the media misrepresenting society as being "post-pandemic," and the lack of mainstream coverage of the considerable research about the severity of any COVID exposure, it is understandable how most people ignore COVID and think it a thing of the past. Alas, even our own family doctors and pharmacists are not readily masking and are downplaying the effects of the virus, leaving COVID-aware individuals in the minority in almost all situations. Unfortunately, this many years into the pandemic, many people have been infected multiple times—each infection increasing the risk of long-term health complications and exacerbating underlying conditions.
Having had a COVID infection also makes you more susceptible to other infections, too—the rise in flu, RSV, tuberculosis and other diseases points to how SARS-CoV-2 impairs our immune system. These effects are being seen at a societal level. It is well understood that the measles virus, for example, causes immune "amnesia," in which the body forgets past immunity and immunizations. SARS-Cov-2 also has similar oncogenic (cancer-causing) and immune deficiency effects as seen with the HIV virus. Many viruses have long-term, delayed effects (Epstein-Barr potentially triggering Multiple Sclerosis, HPV causing cervical cancer, flu virus increasing the risk of Parkinson's disease, and research is finding links between previous viral infections and the risk of dementia like Alzheimer's). SARS-CoV-2 is still a relatively new virus, and though there is ample research being published daily, the long-term repercussions of one or multiple COVID infections are yet to be fully understood by science and medicine. I prefer to side with science and caution, and therefore live a COVID-aware lifestyle to keep myself and my child healthy.
Flu is way up this year (and RSV, oh and hey there, measles.)
(2021-21 was when we were actively mitigating COVID, which basically eliminated that year's flu strain.) graphic from here.
https://health-infobase.canada.ca/respiratory-virus-surveillance/influenza.html
https://health-infobase.canada.ca/respiratory-virus-surveillance/rsv.html
The best way to stay virus-free is to wear a well-fitted respirator mask. Not only do these mask filter the viral particles; they stay put inside the mask due to electrostatic charge. "Baggy blue" surgical masks do not fit snuggly to the face, nor does the material trap viral particles as effectively as an N95 or N99. (Immunization does not protect you from getting ill, nor does it prevent you from spreading the disease; vaccination only potentially reduces the severity of acute illness.)