News weekly update: Oct 17th 2025

PHAN Weekly News Update for October 17, 2025
Greetings, public health PHANs! This is our weekly news update for October 17, 2025, with a selection of public health and air quality articles. If you want to keep getting this weekly news update, great! You don't need to do anything else. If you'd rather just have the monthly newsletter, you can manage your PHAN email subscriptions from the “manage preferences” link at the bottom of this email.
Twitter Space recording from Thursday, october 16
We had another terrific Twitter Space last night with the folks from Air Support Project, this one on the topic of the connection between IAQ (indoor air quality) and COVID advocacy. Our guests were Keith Muise, a Long COVID advocate and activist; Becky Ancira Robertson, co-founder of Mask Together America; and Joe Eastman, Long COVID researcher. Listen to the recording of the event.
We'll co-host another Twitter Space with Air Support Project on October 30. Check our Twitter account for guests and topic. We're so excited to be continuing this collaboration with Air Support Project and reaching out to other folks in the COVID and clean air communities.
Upcoming events
Every Saturday evening: Pandemic Pals meetings on Zoom. Every Saturday at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET, the Pandemic Collaborative hosts a Zoom call that is inclusive and welcoming to all COVID-conscious folks. They offer several breakout rooms based on age groups, life situations, special interests, or just for general hanging out. Check their Google Document the day of the call for that week's Zoom link.
Every Monday & Sunday: Rising Hope meetings on Zoom. Rising Hope is a community of COVID-conscious folks that meet Monday evenings, plus Sunday mornings for church services. Contact them via Reddit.
Every Day: World Health Network meetings. The World Health Network is a public health non-profit organization that's done a terrific job of creating communities around public health issues. Check out their calendar to see if one of them fits your interests.
October 20-21, 2025: 2025 Canadian Symposium on Long COVID, St John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Long COVID Web and Memorial University of Newfoundland will host the 2025 Canadian Symposium on Long COVID. ​Attend in-person or online. They're providing a discounted rate of $5 for those with lived Long COVID experience. Tickets are on sale now, and sales end on October 3rd at 7:29am NT (Newfoundland Time).
October 21, 2025: Free Atlantic Meetup, as part of the 2025 Canadian Symposium. The symposium organizers are hosting a free Canadian Atlantic provinces Meetup session, online and in person, on Tuesday, October 21, at 7 am ET/8 am NT (Newfoundland Time).
October 21, 2025: Clean Air Allies, an organization focused on clean air in schools in California, will host an organizer check-In and and a re-cap meeting of the recent United Nations event on healthy indoor air. The webinar takes place on Zoom at 6pm Pacific time, and they are asking folks to register for the event ahead of time for security reasons. The agenda includes: offering takeaways from the UN Healthy Indoor Air: A Global Call to Action event; answering questions; sharing what we’re all working on; and listening to what’s on your mind about school indoor air quality (IAQ).
October 22, 2025: Rising Hope special Zoom meeting with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Dr. Gupta is a practicing cardiologist from York Cardiology who specializes in treating those suffering from Long COVID, POTS, Dysautonomia, & MCAD (Mast Cell Activation Disorder). He will discuss Long COVID, Dysautonomia, POTS, and the treatments he is currently using for his patients. In his own words, “Long COVID has become an epidemic.” Following his talk, viewers will be free to ask him questions. They will record the Zoom meeting, which will take place at 11am PT / 2pm ET.
October 28, 2025: From Classrooms to Communities: The Future of Healthy Air Policy and Advocacy. The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) presents a webcast on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 9 a.m. ET: “From Classrooms to Communities: The Future of Healthy Air Policy and Advocacy”. They’re bringing together policy advocates, IAQ leaders, innovators and public organizations to discuss how policy and technology are driving real change. With schools leading the way, they’ll explore how coordinated action is transforming classrooms, workplaces and public spaces to deliver healthier environments for all.
October 31, 2025: IACC Long COVID Case Competition. The 2025 IACC Long COVID Case Competition takes place at located at Tauber Auditorium, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, 701 Tappan Ave, Ann Arbor MI 48109. It's free and they also have a virtual attendance option.
This full-day conference organized by the Safer Air Project will take place at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, and online. The event will highlight why improving IAQ matters, examine the science and the evidence for mandating IAQ performance standards, and set out how we can make indoor air safer for everyone to breathe. This conference will bring together people with lived experience, advocates, policymakers, clinicians, scientists, and built-environment and industry leaders to highlight why IAQ must be recognized as a foundation for health, equity, and inclusion. Attendance is free, or you can support their work with a contribution when reserving a ticket.
November 7, 2025: Long COVID Defense forum from Mask Together America. This online forum will bring together advocates and experts on Long COVID to discuss how we can all protect ourselves from getting Long COVID and how we can help those who've been affected by it. Guest speakers will include:
  • Solenn Tanguy of Winslow Sante Publique
  • Dr. Angelique Corthals, a biomedical scientist
  • Adam Van Bavel, of Maryland Indoor Air Quality Advocates
  • Ann Wallace, a patient representative for NIH RECOVER
  • Becky Ancira Robertson, a founding member of Mask Together America
November 19-20, 2025: 3rd International Long COVID Conference, in Boston, MA. The event will be both in-person and online. This conference aims to raise awareness, clarify misconceptions, promote understanding, and stimulate discussion among healthcare professionals, investigators, policymakers, and community representatives on the clinical manifestations, management, plausible preventive and therapeutic options, and public health challenges related to Long COVID (or post-acute sequelae of COVID-19).
important news you may have missed
These are some stories that may have been overlooked in the onslaught of other news but that we think are important for everyone to know and to share with friends and family.
May 27, 2025: Long COVID is now (possibly) the most common chronic health condition among children, surpassing asthma.
Sept. 30, 2025: Children and teenagers are twice as likely to develop Long COVID after an initial infection, a large new study has found.
LATEST NEWS
October is National indoor Air Quality Awareness Month! We're encouraging supporters to take some actions to improve indoor air quality, like getting and using an air quality monitor, installing a high-efficiency air purifier in your home, and talking to your workplace and your children's school system about their HVAC systems. You can learn more about HVAC systems and why they're important for your air quality and health on our website.
October 3, 2025: WHN has launched a campaign for the general public to help improve local public health department's messaging. WHN has provided step-by-step instructions on finding who to contact and what to request of them, with an email template and resources to refer the public health departments to.
October 13, 2025: Biomarkers for COVID-19 may have been found in sweat excretions.
October 14, 2025: The Sick Times reports that the CDC has stopped updating their national infectious-diseases trends page. They also report that the COVID-19 data that we do have, from independent wastewater surveillance and state public health departments, shows disease levels in the U.S. continuing to decline. They refer readers to the terrific Outbreak Outlook blog from epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers, with state by state disease surveillance of COVID-19, influenza and RSV amid federal public health cuts.
October 16, 2025: Major story from Rolling Stone Magazine: Long COVID is real – and it's changing an entire generation.
October 16, 2025: Pandemic reporter Violet Blue reports that some SCAN wastewater sites have not been updated since the shutdown. She also has many links to news stories about COVID from around the world and to live COVID-safe events in the San Francisco Bay Area.
October 17, 2025: City of London to roll out air purifiers to 200 schools.
and now, your moment of zen
New Cutting-Edge Scans Able to Show Whether You're Battling Long-Term Effects of Covid Infection or a Legion of Demons
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Thank you for being a public health advocate,
From the entire PHAN team

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