Photo of Bobbito García, New York DJ, author, radio host known for the legendary “Stretch and Bobbito” show, filmmaker, basketball sage, and VO talent with a career spanning 5 decades, wears N95 masks anytime he’s in public. Photo credit: Mask Together America.

Greetings, public health PHANs! We hope you're having a healthy and safe March so far. This is our weekly newsletter for March 5th, 2026, with some updates on our work, highlights of Long COVID Awareness Day and month events, plus news and articles about COVID, other airborne pathogens, and clean air. We're developing some great software tools, hosting twice monthly public Zoom meetings, producing a podcast, and making connections with people around the world. 

 

You can manage your 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. 

A call for proposals 

to Reduce Airborne pathogens

We're excited to announce a call for proposals for projects that will measurably reduce airborne pathogens. We're inviting proposals for high impact projects designed to produce measurable and verifiable reductions in indoor airborne pathogen transmission. The deadline for submissions is March 31st, 2026. 

 

We're doing this during Long COVID Awareness Month because we know that the way to avoid getting Long COVID is to not get COVID. For more information, read our blog post, and read a full description on our Request for Proposals page. Questions about the proposals process? Email us at proposals@phan.global.

 

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On March 15th, International Long COVID Awareness Day, Becky Ancira Robertson, who's had Long COVID since 2020, will host a 24-hour Twitter Space event starting at 1pm ET to help increase awareness of the disease and the myriad healthcare, social, and economic impacts it can have, both on individuals and society as a whole. She'll have several guest speakers, including author Jonathan Howard, educator and clean-air advocate Liesl McConchie, immunologist A.J. Leonardi, actress Morgan Fairchild, Mask Together America director Julie Lam, pandemic data specialist Mike Hoerger, and many others. The Space will be recorded for listening afterwards. We are proud to be a co-sponsor of the event and to call Becky a friend of PHAN.

 

Becky wrote the following on March 6: 

 

"On this International Long Covid Awareness Day, 2026, we are doing something rare, something radical, & something deeply needed: we are bringing the people who know the most, & the people who are struggling the most, into the same room for 24 hours straight of truth, science, advocacy, & solidarity.

 

For one full day, this Space becomes a living bridge between cutting‑edge research and the daily reality of Long Covid. Some of the most respected doctors and scientists in the world are joining us to share the latest innovations, discoveries, and emerging treatments shaping the future of Long Covid care. They are the ones pushing the science forward when the world would rather look away—standing with us, not above us. 

 

Alongside them, you’ll hear from patients whose lives have been forever altered by this virus—parents, workers, caregivers, disabled & chronically ill people who never chose this path, but walk it every day with courage, grief, humor, & fight. Their stories are the heartbeat of this marathon. Tonight, evidence & experience sit side by side, & neither has to apologize for taking up space. 

 

We are also honored to welcome powerful celebrity advocates & Covid‑cautious entertainers & artists who have used their platforms—& sometimes risked their careers—to tell the truth, protect their communities, & refuse to accept mass disablement as “normal.” They are here not as decoration, but as partners in this struggle, bringing creativity, visibility, & joy into a movement born from loss.

 

This is a magical, almost impossible opportunity: to gather so many of our most treasured experts, advocates, & artists in one place, at one moment, to offer what so many of us have been starved of—real information, real community, & real hope. On a day that can feel heavy with what we’ve lost, we are choosing to build something powerful with what we still have: our voices, our knowledge, & each other.

 

I am honored & proud to share this space with all of you and to help host this extraordinary 24‑hour Long Covid marathon for & with our community. Please join us March 15th, starting at noon CST & running through Monday the 16th—an event for the community & by the community, sponsored by @TogetherWeMask, @theWHN, @LongCFoundation, @LCawarenessInt, & @pubhealthaction." 

 

*The event will be recorded so that no one is left behind.*

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On Thursday, March 19, we'll host a discussion on young adults living with Long COVID, with guest speakers Ariana Zwern and Marisa Swanson, both of whom were infected by COVID in their early 20s and are now disabled by it, before their adult lives have really even begun. They'll talk about how Long COVID has affected them, what they've done about it, and what keeps them going. The event takes place at 12 noon ET / 4pm GMT. Registration is required, and you'll need a Zoom account in order to register.

PHAN's first annual report is now available

We're proud to announce that our first annual report is now available on our website. The story of PHAN so far has been of assembling the team and the community to solve major challenges in public health, building online tools to educate and empower people who have the interest, time and resources to proactively protect their own health from the spread of airborne disease; and taking care of the community by distributing PPE and other supplies. Moreover, all of this has been accomplished with financial efficiency, with over 75% of funds going directly to active programs, and 20% spent on fundraising, which is crucial for a young and small nonprofit.

 

We invite PHAN supporters to read the entire report and share it with other potential supporters and donors.

Makers' Spotlight: Chris Covell

Chris Covell is a creator and Long COVID survivor who makes wonderfully cheeky and bold art related to Long COVID. We are delighted that he's donating a portion of his profits during March to PHAN! You can check out his Instagram account for his store and purchase any of his Long COVID and other designs on his website. 

On Sunday, March 15, Clean Air LA is sponsoring a “Lie Down for Long COVID” demonstration in Los Angeles at Gloria Molina Grand Park, the lowermost level in front of Los Angeles City Hall. The event will take place from 4:00PM to 7:30PM, and the first ever lighting of City Hall for Long COVID Awareness Day occurs at 7:00PM. Clean Air LA is looking for volunteers to take videos, distribute water, act as event and safety liaisons, and anything else you'd like to help with. Follow Clean Air LA on Instagram for more updates and DM them to volunteer.

Ongoing 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 Saturday: The Little Zoom Writers Room hosts a weekly co-writing space open to all COVID realists. Check their welcome page for more info.

 

Every first Tuesday and third Saturday of the month: COVID Creative Coalition Sessions. Tuesdays meetings are at 6PM ET, and Saturday meetings are at 11AM ET. These will be virtual gatherings where we co-work, plan projects, center disability justice, and hold optional check-ins. Full info at Celebrate845.com/COVIDCreativeCoalition. 

 

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.

All PHAN events are listed on our Events page and can be added automatically to your calendar app of choice.

 

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

 

March 19, 2026: PHAN and Air Support Project will co-host a discussion on Long COVID in young adults. More details in our item above. Register in advance.

 

March 31, 2026: NURA Community will host a discussion with Julie Lam, founder and director of Mask Together America. RSVP.

 

April 2, 2026: PHAN and Air Support Project will co-host a discussion on COVID, Clean Air, and the performing arts. More details to follow. Register in advance.

 

April 19, 2026: PHAN and Air Support project will co-host a discussion on COVID and stress awareness. More details to follow. Register in advance. 

March 2, 2026: US Weekly COVID update from the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative (PMC). This week we will likely see the 100th consecutive day above 500,000 estimated new daily infections. However, the 12th wave is winding down. CDC levels are Moderate in 18 states, High in 7, and Very High in 0. Note the many states with limited data. For additional data, visit the PMC Data website, and follow PMC Data author Mike Hoerger on Bluesky.

 

March 4, 2026: In a sample of 650,173 COVID cases among active-duty U.S. military personnel, a total of 278,278 were identified as having post-COVID-19 syndrome (42.8%). Of these, 273,405 reported post-COVID symptoms in at least two visits (42.1%). Findings showed that the top three symptoms of post-COVID-19 syndrome in military personnel are related to pulmonary, neurological, and fatigue issues. 

 

March 10, 2026: An evolutionary analysis from a team led by researchers at UC San Diego finds no evidence that most viruses with epidemic or pandemic potential that jumped from animals to people were shaped by selection in a lab or prolonged evolution in an intermediate host.

 

March 12, 2026: In a recent clinical drug trial that ended in 2023, participants who took the highest daily dose of an epilepsy drug called sultiame had nearly 50 percent fewer breathing interruptions while sleeping. 

 

March 12, 2026: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a new website on Long COVID.

 

March 12, 2026: The avian flu outbreak previously seen among elephant seals at Ano Nuevo State Reserve on the California coast has spread to at least two other marine mammal species (cases seen with one California sea lion and one sea otter) and is spreading to other nearby beaches. 

 

March 12, 2026: The first known meta-analysis of how SARS-CoV-2 variant type and time since infection influence long-COVID symptoms ties Omicron to brain fog and paresthesia (numbness and tingling), while earlier variants were more likely to cause shortness of breath and loss of smell.

 

March 12, 2026: From the Pandemic Center at Brown University's School of Public Health: The US recorded 148 new cases of measles over the past week across 14 states, 39 more cases than were reported last week, and the highest weekly case count seen in the past four weeks. Weekly reported cases had been declining since mid-January, when case counts topped 250 per week, to an average of 108 per week over the past three weeks (eg, late February to early March). This week’s increase in cases is due in large part to increases in Utah and Texas. 

on the lighter side…

Credit: The Vertlartnic

support our work!

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.

 

Another way you can support us is by sharing our social media posts on Bluesky, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Follow us and like and share our posts to increase our visibility. We really appreciate everyone who follows us and shares our posts!

 

If you're interested in volunteering, we'd love to have you! We're looking for folks interested in:

If you match any of those needs, or you have other skills or experience that you think might help our work, we'll find a way for you to help! Fill out our contact form on our website and one of us will get back to you as soon as we can.