Greetings, public health PHANs! We hope you're having a healthy and safe January so far. This is our weekly news update for January 16, 2026, with a selection of upcoming events and articles about COVID, other airborne pathogens, and clean air. We're busy with developing some great software tools, developing our website, creating a podcast, and making connections with people around the world. 

 

If you want to keep receiving this weekly news update, great! You don't need to do anything else. If you'd rather just receive the monthly newsletter, you can manage your PHAN email subscriptions from the “manage preferences” link at the bottom of this email.

 

You can support us by liking, sharing, and commenting on our social media posts on Bluesky, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Would you like to help shape PHAN's work for 2026? If so, please join us for a special Zoom meeting on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT. We'll briefly review our work and progress in our first year of operations, present our proposed plans for 2026, and invite feedback and suggestions for what we could work on in 2026. We really want to know what you think! If you can't make it to the meeting but you have some feedback or suggestions for us, email us at info@publichealthactionnetwork.org.

Photo of Jordan Crane (@sickandtiredaus.bsky.social): “Long COVID took away my ability to exercise, work, socialize, think and leave the house. I suffered from elevated heart rate, debilitating headaches and nausea, pins and needles/numbness, severely impacted cognition and bleeding for long periods.”

 

The World Health Network (WHN) has sent a letter to the WHO that calls for respirator use as the standard in healthcare to protect patients and staff. Over 2300 researchers and advocates have endorsed the letter, and the campaign has been covered by The Guardian. WHN is asking everyone in the COVID-aware communities to share this letter with your networks. 

ONGOING WEEKLY 

COVID COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Every Saturday evening: Pandemic Pals meetings on Zoom. Every Saturday at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET, the Pandemic Collaborative hosts a Zoom call with several breakout rooms based on age groups, life situations, and special interests. 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.

 

Daily: The World Health Network hosts COVID-aware community meetings every day. Community care starts with conversation! Their Welcome page explains how to connect with their meeting groups.

January 22, 2026: PHAN and Air Support Project meeting on COVID, airborne pathogens, and IAQ. The meeting is at 9 am PT / 12 noon ET / 5pm GMT and we'll have some guests from the COVID-aware and clean-air communities to talk about their work.

 

January 27, 2026: PHAN Plans for 2026. See our section above for more details.

 

January 29, 2026: WELL 2026 Summit New York. This summit hosted by the International WELL Building Institute invites you to participate in dynamic education sessions and engaging discussions on critical topics shaping the future of health, sustainability and well-being. 

 

January 31-February 4, 2026: ASHRAE Winter Conference 2026 Las Vegas. This conference invites you to immerse yourself in a world of HVAC&R with 100+ technical sessions at the ASHRAE Winter Conference 2026 Las Vegas, and 1700+ exhibitors at the AHR Expo. Registration for the ASHRAE Winter Conference 2026 Las Vegas includes registration for the AHR Expo, also in Las Vegas, February 2-4, 2026.

 

March 11, 2026: Take Action Against Long COVID Demonstration in Olympia, WA. Die-in demonstration at the North Steps of the Washington State Capital in Olympia, WA, 11am-1pm. 

 

March 15, 2026: International Long COVID Awareness Day. Events will be happening that day all around the world.

January 12, 2026: US Weekly COVID update from the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative (PMC). For additional data, visit the PMC Data website, and follow PMC Data author Mike Hoerger on Twitter.

 

🔹892,000 new daily infections in the past week, based on wastewater-derived models

🔹1 in 55 people (1.5%) actively infectious

🔹Infections in the past week: 5,600,000

🔹Infections in 2026: 12,000,000

🔹Cumulative infections per person in the U.S.: 4.94

🔹Long COVID cases resulting from new daily infections: 45,000 to 178,000

🔹Long COVID cases resulting from new weekly infections: 280,000 to 1,120,000
 

December 26, 2025: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of 97 million individuals shows that SARS-CoV-2 infection increases the risk of autoimmune diseases, particularly those affecting vascular and connective tissue. 

 

January 6, 2026: San Mateo County public health officials confirmed Thursday that a positive case of measles has been reported in the area — making it California’s first measles case of 2026.

 

January 9, 2026: Long COVID Clinics are quietly closing, leaving thousands of patients without specialized care.

 

January 14, 2026: The Arkansas Department of Health reported 10 influenza-related deaths over the past week, nearly doubling the state's death toll for the 2025-26 flu season. 

 

January 15, 2026: Delaware and Georgia see major commercial avian flu outbreaks.

 

January 15, 2026: A rash of school closings across the U.S. due to excessive illness with students and teachers: Kansas/Reno County, Kentucky/Trimble County, Kentucky/Robertson County, Missouri/Couch School District, Missouri/Marion County, Oklahoma/Augustine Christian Academy, Tennessee/Perry County, Texas/Bell County.

and now for your moment of zen

Donate, volunteer, share our posts!

If you want to support our work, please donate! Your donations will go towards the projects we're developing and to pay a small team of staffers making it all happen.

 

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