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Sick and tired of being sick and tired? It doesn’t have to be this way!

With today’s laissez-faire “you do you“ public health policies, it can be hard to know what to do to protect yourself and those around you. Covid-19 is airborne. Covid-19 has not gone away. It has not become less dangerous. In fact, the more it mutates, the more possibilities it has to become more dangerous. 1,000 people are still dying every week in Canada from Covid-19. They deserved better and so do you!

Ten COVID Facts Health Officials Dangerously Downplay

We know that the people who are having the worst outcomes from Covid-19 infections are those who are already marginalized by mainstream society, e.g. Indigenous, Black and other racialized people, disabled, immunocompromised people, queer people, especially our trans relatives. This effect is compounded when one belongs to multiple, intersecting communities. Also included in the list of people who are most vulnerable are infants, children, seniors, women, those who are living with other medical conditions such as cancers, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and more. This actually means that those who are most vulnerable are actually a large segment of society. Even if it was only a small number of people who are vulnerable, we should all collectively work together to protect them because they deserve to be protected. You also deserve to be protected. This is Disability Justice.

Make no mistake though, everyone is vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease, Covid-19. 

People tend to think of Covid-19 as a “respiratory” illness. While it is transmitted that way and some initial symptoms affect the respiratory system, it is in fact a vascular disease, which means the virus can affect any part/system in your body where blood goes! It causes delayed harms like diabetes, hepatitis, heart attacks, strokes, organ damage, loss of taste and/or smell, brain injury, muscle abnormalities, and more, including Long Covid. Covid-19 may also be causing cancer. The symptoms one feels during the acute stage is just your body’s immune response to the virus gaining access to your body. 

There are only two viruses that we know of that cause lymphocytopenia or lymphopenia, a disorder in which your blood doesn’t have enough white blood cells (called lymphocytes). Covid-19 is one. HIV/AIDS is the other one. Lymphopenia is a form of immune damage. Your body needs white blood cells to fight off future infections. Covid leads to longterm changes in the immune system, meaning once you have had a single Covid-19 infection, you are now immunocompromised and should take extra precautions to protect yourself. Reinfections cause cumulative damage. If you have already had multiple infections, please do not be disheartened. You can still act now to start to protect yourself. Every infection you can delay or prevent is helpful in the longrun. 

Your immune system is not a muscle. It does not get stronger the more you get sick. In fact, the opposite is true. It would benefit you to start or to continue to protect your immune system by taking a layered approach to preventing infections.

But you shouldn’t rely on your immune system alone to protect you from Covid-19 nor the other airborne illnesses which have become more prevalent since the powers that be decided to let Covid-19 rip through the populations globally. In fact, there are many Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) that you can use to get sick less often, and the protection of each is better the more layers you use, such as:

• Masking with high quality respirators (N95 or KN95). One-way masking is not as efficient as most people masking together, but N95s and similar respirator masks do offer greater protection for the wearer than a surgical mask which is still better than no mask, and there are many people who unfortunately are the sole masker in their lives and do so well who haven’t been sick in years! Masking works! The most important feature of your mask is having no leaks. Masks are not one size fits all so you’ll potentially have to experiment to find the one that fits your face best. 

• Ventilation. Upgrade indoor ventilation systems to include high quality HEPA filters, open some windows, have your gatherings outside. Outside is certainly safer than indoors, but Covid-19 can also be transmitted outdoors, so to be extra sure, mask outdoors too. 

• HEPA air filters clean the air in a similar way to the how we filter water before we drink it. There are large HEPA air filters that go in the HVAC systems of buildings and there are large air filters you can buy for your home, office, schools, etc. There are also small, handy travel sized air filters that you can bring with you in your daily activities.

• CO2 monitors can also be a useful tool. They tell you how much Carbon dioxide (CO2) is in the air. While it can’t tell you how much SARS-CoV-2 virus is in the air, you’ll know that if the air is heavy with CO2, people have breathed in it. The higher the CO2 in the air, the higher the level of rebreathed air. The lower the CO2 in the air, the better the ventilation. 

• Testing with rapid tests and other commercially available tests can help but you should know that the rapid tests that are available are not as effective as once thought. One negative test is not enough to know that one is Covid-19 negative. They miss a lot of cases for various reasons. Tests should be repeated every 24, 48 hours for several days to a week to be sure. In many cases, positives do not show up until day 4 of symptoms. However, a positive test is very likely correct.

• Vaccination is good but vaccination alone as a strategy is not enough. Vaccination reduces some risks of death, hospitalization and long covid but vaccination should be your last line of defence if the virus gets through all your other layers of protection. It should not be your only line of defence as vaccination alone does not prevent transmission. Yes, that means you can still get covid over and over even if you’ve been vaccinated. And in 2025, statistics show most people have stopped getting these vaccinations anyway. 

• Last but not least, stay home if you get a positive test or if you have any symptoms of illness. Isolate yourself from anyone else you live with (including pets) and increase in-home ventilation to prevent spreading it. Encourage others to do the same. Every chain of transmission that is stopped makes a difference.  
  
  What Would an Adequate Covid-19 Response Look Like?
  
  These resources are here for you. Let’s all practice the precautionary principle together! More resources will be added periodically. If you don’t see something that relates to the issue you’re looking for, feel free to reach out on the contact page.