Greetings, public health PHANs! We hope you're having a healthy and safe January so far. This is our weekly news update for January 23, 2026, with a selection of upcoming events and articles about COVID, other airborne pathogens, and clean air. We're developing some great software tools, hosting twice-a-month public Zoom meetings, producing 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.

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Behind the Vogmask is Micah Symphony (@enchantedpencil.bsky.social), one of the organizers of Make A Scene (@makeascenemn.bsky.social). “I think society would be a better place if people did more to come together as a community and share in the responsibility for taking care of everyone's health.”

 

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 Sunday: The COVID-Safe Art Collective holds an online gathering every Sunday at 4:30pm until 6pm CT for COVID-safe adults to create art or just chat and be with other aware folks. 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 27, 2026: PHAN Plans for 2026. See our section above for more details about this special public Zoom meeting.

 

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.

 

February 5, 2026: Join PHAN and Air Support Project on Thursday, Feb 5, 2026 at noon ET as we have a focused discussion on how COVID is affecting Black people, and how we can elevate Black voices in the COVID-aware community and collaborate beyond Black History Month. Register in advance.

 

February 19, 2026: Join PHAN and Air Support Project on Thursday, Feb 19th 2026 at noon ET for a discussion about how COVID and IAQ can affect or cause childhood cancer. Register in advance.

 

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 19, 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.

 

🔹New daily infections in the past week, based on wastewater-derived models: 941,000  (up from 892,000 last week)

🔹Proportion actively infectious: 1.52 (1.9%) (up from 1 in 55 people (1.5%) last week)

🔹Infections in the past week: 6,020,000 (up from 5,600,000 last week)

🔹Infections in 2026: 18,000,000 (up from 12,000,000 last week)

🔹Cumulative infections per person in the U.S.: 5.01 (up from 4.94 last week)

🔹Long COVID cases resulting from new daily infections: 47,000 to 188,000 (up from 45,000 to 178,000 last week)

🔹Long COVID cases resulting from new weekly infections: 301,000 to 1,200,000 (up from 280,000 to 1,120,000 last week)
 

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 16, 2026: The Sick Times published a terrific article about nine artists who depict various aspects of Long COVID and how their lives have changed: Peace Waters and Dimitrea Tokunbo, Emma Kim Rust, Charlie (@doodlesbycharlie_), Radical Birding, Sheyam Ghieth, Courn Ahn, Dylan (@Kitten.Cowboy), and Hazel Newlevant, plus the author of the piece, Grae Salisbury.

 

January 21, 2026: From CIDRAP: A large Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study suggests that US school-aged children diagnosed as having long COVID are at 2.5 times the risk of related chronic absenteeism compared with those without the condition. The study, published last week in Emerging Infectious Diseases, also found double the prevalence of memory impairment, problems concentrating, and learning difficulties in this group.

 

January 22, 2026: The U.S. has officially left the World Health Organization. “The HHS focused much of its critique on the WHO's actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming that it delayed its response in declaring COVID-19 to be a global health emergency, and saying the organization unfairly criticized Trump for actions such as shutting down travel from certain foreign countries during the early days of the pandemic.”

and now for your moment of zen

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