chantzy Profile picture
Science communicator & writer ✍🏼 🧬 global health, epidemiology, grad student (perpetual) & activist
Jun 16 8 tweets 2 min read
I have a positive healthcare story to share! Like dreamy good experience (as much as you could ask for in these times). Sharing to give others hope. I had to have an endoscopy a few days back and was of course... feeling very hopeless about SARS-CoV-2 risk. An endoscopy means no mask 😷, so I was losing sleep over it, worried I'd get another hospital-acquired infection
Apr 20 9 tweets 2 min read
Who is still doing public health? @YaleSPH is. Graphic showing two illustrated people, one lying in a hospital bed and a HCW. Caption: the more Covid-19 vaccine doses you get, the lower the risk of Long Covid. The more reinfections you have, the higher the risk Going to post this whole series, because it's awesome and in part informed by the work of @VirusesImmunity What we know and don't know about Covid-19's effect on the immune system
Jan 21 7 tweets 1 min read
5 years of a pandemic is hard on mental health & so is C*vid itself, so as a refresher, here's 5 things not to say to someone struggling & why

🧵 1. "It can't be that bad"

In the person's mind who is struggling, their pain is that bad. Don't diminish it
Dec 18, 2023 10 tweets 2 min read
Covid is a disability justice & workplace equity issue. It seems absurd to have to keep saying this out loud, but no one should have to choose between their lives & longterm health & a paycheck How employers can help:

1. Clean the air. Employees should have real time access to air quality readings so they can make their own risk assessments

hbr.org/2023/11/its-ti…
Dec 6, 2023 10 tweets 3 min read
I've had an abnormal # of trolls this week & I've realized they all follow the same generic archetypes, so I thought I'd categorize them for future historians

🤡🧵 #1 The face diaper/masks are sieves troll Tweet from paid user @MatthewSHarriso saying "I never wore a face diaper-never" and linking to an epoch times article
Aug 12, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
People have told me Covid is only a big deal to my 'Twitter echo chamber.' As someone who has checked out allllll the other platforms lol, I can assure you it's not.

#LongCovid is everywhere. It's on every platform. In every workplace. Every city. If you don't hear the chatter, it's because you're not listening
Apr 28, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
I'm all ready for today's @DoNoHarmBC protest at 12noon outside Minister Dix's office at 5022 Joyce St. in Vancouver!

Here are 3 BC'ers I'm fighting for 🧵 1. My father who ended up in LTC because a Covid infection accelerated his dementia overnight. He likely got sick because he couldn't mask well in public due to cognitive issues
Apr 24, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
Whoa, has anyone seen this @LifeLabs long list of blood work you should consider for #LongCovid symptoms? Would be nice if public health informed us
Lifelabs graphic that is a printout patients can bring to the doctor for blood work.
Long list of recommended blood work for Long Covid that includes blood counts, renal function, basic metabolic tests, liver function, inflammatory markers, thyroid function, vitamin deficiencies
.@LifeLabs considering folks can *acquire* Long Covid by visiting your unsafe labs, don't you think you should mandate high-quality masks?
Mar 28, 2023 15 tweets 6 min read
Starting a Covid ✨hope✨thread because these are dark times & something's got to give.

Here are some examples of policy shifts & research wins. Feel free to add to this. 1. S. Korean government funds mandatory air purifiers in schools koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20…
Mar 26, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
Many Covid activists have been cast as "extreme" by family & friends for asking for more protections, but our leaders are actually the extreme ones for insisting we simulate 2019 without any concessions for the vulnerable. Can't do mask mandates? Why not at the very least safe masked shopping hours? Classrooms with masks for those who need them? Transit runs with masks? CR boxes, UV & HEPA filters. Anything.
Mar 23, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
This week in homeschooling my 11yo we had to do a project on bias in the media. So we chose @nytimes' coverage of the remote work debate.

We looked at how powerful senior executives & business leaders are platformed & why we rarely hear from workers themselves Two headlines from the NYT opinion recently on the remote wo This isn't unique to the NYT. There's a deliberate movement to brand in-office work as crucial for one's social life and productivity.
Mar 22, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
Lol nytimes.com/2023/03/22/opi… Seriously though, I'm getting really tired of these takes from powerful, rich white men.
Feb 9, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
There are people considering & applying for MAiD in Canada because they can't access timely healthcare or safe healthcare because our leaders refuse to make hospitals safe for immunocompromised people. This is heartbreaking 💔 also concerned about how BC closing Long Covid clinics while relaxing MAiD criteria will play out. A terrible combo
Jan 16, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
Sorry, but you don't get to quote MLK without criticism when your policies have harmed BC's Indigenous population. A thread 🧵
Jan 15, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
The @WHO changes guidelines on masks - now recommends masks in crowded, enclosed, *OR* poorly ventilated spaces.

So schools/daycares. Why is Dr. Henry not following the science?

who.int/news/item/13-0… "Masks are recommended following a recent exposure to COVID-19, when someone has or suspects they have COVID-19, when someone is at high-risk of severe COVID-19, and for anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space."
Jan 5, 2023 5 tweets 1 min read
The BC Gov reverted their webpage *back* to masks *not required* -- removing a recent update about how masks are recommended in all public indoor spaces 🤦🏻‍♀️

You can't make this stuff up. BC Gov: wearing masks in public indoor settings is not requi This was their recent update. A long awaited improvement that didn't even go far enough. BC Gov: masks are recommended in all public indoor spaces
Dec 31, 2022 16 tweets 4 min read
Top 10 lies we were told about Covid in 2022. BC edition. 🧵 1) Dr. Henry - Covid can be stopped by handwashing 🤦🏻‍♀️
Dec 29, 2022 5 tweets 2 min read
This was an awful read. A @NewYorker writer with a large platform representing the media elite goes after a relatively powerless group of activists @PeoplesCDC for trying to save lives in a pandemic.

Painting activists as "ragtag" tells you everything. Not surprisingly, @emmaogreen is white & cites black activists who tell her how Covid "can ravage cities, especially in Black and working-class communities."

But clearly she didn't listen to them.
Dec 3, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
From today's report:

"Indigenous respondents held more negative views on government’s performance than others, with almost 90% disagreeing with the statement "'The B.C. Government managed the pandemic well'" "The abrupt removal of most restrictions in April 2022 left most First Nations with no time to react to the changes in areas surrounding their communities and lands."
Dec 2, 2022 5 tweets 2 min read
The BC government held a private press conference today in response to a 150 page independent report that found their pandemic response lacking.

Why was the press conference not public?
Dec 2, 2022 7 tweets 2 min read
I'd like to ask our provincial health officer to stop wearing performative Indigenous jewelry & accessories out of respect for this population that has been disproportionately harmed by her lax Covid policies.