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Courtesy @celebrate845, a photo of over 20 masked supporters in the NY Hudson Valley area gathering for #WorldMaskWeek.

Weekly Newsletter, June 5, 2026

Greetings, public health PHANs! We hope you're having a healthy and safe June so far. This week we have news of our most recent podcast episode with long COVID patient and advocate Adam Van Bavel; an upcoming Zoom discussion on June 28 about the precautionary principle; our recent Zoom discussion on May 28 about mask blocs with links to several mask bloc groups that are active on Instagram; a community spotlight on a request from Mask Together America to submit a comment to the FDA about repurposing drugs for Long COVID; events related to COVID and clean air; and news about COVID, other airborne pathogens, and clean air. 

 

If you have news or events that you think would be useful for our newsletter, email us at info@phan.global.

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Our latest podcast episode is now available with noted long COVID advocate Adam Van Bavel, a fierce advocate for long COVID patients and the founder of Maryland Indoor Air Quality Advocates, an organization working for clean air in schools in Maryland. We talked at length about his Long COVID journey and struggles, and how he's working to improve indoor air quality in Maryland schools. We'll publish that next week, so subscribe to our YouTube and Spotify streams to be notified!

 

Our second episode of Breathe This is also available on YouTube and Spotify, with our guest Dr. Jonathan Howard, physician and author of We Want Them Infected and Everyone Else is Lying to You. We talked about his experience at Bellevue Hospital in New York City when COVID first hit the U.S., and about his documentation of the disinformation about public health that has run rampant. 

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On Sunday, June 28 at 7:30pm ET, PHAN and Air Support Project will present a live Zoom discussion: “Precautionary Principle”. We'll discuss what it is, how it came into practice, and how it's been virtually abandoned by the healthcare community and by many government public health agencies. Our guest speakers will be Sarah Masih, MBA, MD, executive director of Air Support Project, and Dr. Jonathan Howard, author of We Want Them Infected, the story of how several public health speakers gained power by discarding the precautionary principle. Register in advance. You'll need a free Zoom account in order to register. This event will be recorded and we'll make it available on our YouTube channel.

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As part of World Mask Week (May 25-31), we co-hosted a special Zoom discussion on May 28 with advocates from Air Support Project: All About Mask Blocs. Our guest speakers were Chris Covell, who runs a mask bloc in New York state, and Babs and Max from Mask Bloc Northern Virginia (MaskBlocNoVa). This was a terrific discussion that touched on how their mask blocs got started, how they solicit masks donations or buy them in bulk, and how their communities have responded. You can watch the recording on our YouTube channel.

 

For those of you in northern Virginia or who may have friends or family in the area who need masks, Mask Bloc Northern Virginia has provided a mask request form for anyone in the area to request masks from them. 

 

If you're looking for a mask bloc in another area, check with maskbloc.org, or look for "mask bloc" and your city or area on Instagram. If you're not able to find one in your area, email us or DM us and we'll try to find one near you. 

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Mask Together America is calling on all supporters to submit a public comment to the FDA that you want to see cures for long COVID prioritized in drug repurposing, and that you find it odd that CURE ID is not mentioned in its request for drug repurposing info for unmet medical needs. The deadline to submit public comments is June 11, 2026. Learn more at the Mask Together America website.

Ongoing Meetings

Pandemic Pals meets up every Saturday

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.

 

Every Monday & Sunday: Rising Hope meetings on Zoom

Rising Hope is a community of COVID-conscious supporters that meet Monday evenings, plus Sunday mornings for church services. Contact them via Reddit.

 

Every Tuesday & Sunday: WHN hosts weekly Zoom “Kids' Connect Zone” meetings on Tuesdays and Sundays for kids, teens, and families who want to connect through COVID-conscious activities, games, and discussions. Find out more at the WHN website.
 

Join Celebrate845 on Zoom for COVID Creative Coalition community meetings on Saturdays at 11AM ET. No artistic experience required. Great for visual artists, writers, graphic designers, or those interested in Street Team efforts. “Non-Hudson Valley supporters are welcomed to attend, connect & get inspired, but we'll be centering building our efforts in the HV. We are down to host breakout rooms by locale!” More info at Celebrate845.com/COVIDCreativeCoalition. 

 

The organizers at The Little Zoom Writers Room host a weekly co-writing space open to all COVID realists. Check their welcome page for more info or their account on Instagram.

 

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.

 

The COVID-Safe Art Collective holds an online gathering every Sunday at 2:30pm PT / 4:30pm CT / 5:30pm ET until 4pm PT / 6pm CT / 8pm ET for COVID-safe adults to create art or just chat and be with other aware people. Check their Instagram bio for the current Zoom link.

Infinite Wrench in San Francisco offers a mandatory masked show the first Saturday of every month

 

 

Ongoing weekly online open-mic events with Nina Wildflower: Ben Collins, who performs as Nina Wildflower, hosts a weekly online open mic for COVID-informed performers. Each show has a designated theme but all themes are optional, as they are just a way to keep things interesting for regular performers. If you play one song that is on-theme, then you are on-theme! He's hosting these performances via the Facebook group "Still Coviding - Virtual Meetups" (private group, apply for membership). Sign up for weekly emails at ninawildflower@yahoo.com.

 

Every month: SF Neo-Futurists hosts Infinite Wrench mask-required performances on the first Saturday of each month. Infinite Wrench is a set of 30 plays in 60 minutes, new plays every week. While audience members will be required to stay masked throughout the show, performers may invite select audience members to unmask for plays that involve audience participation. All performers test weekly for COVID-19 and extra masks will be available for those who need them. Upcoming masked shows: June 6, August 1, Sept 5, Oct 3, Nov 7.

 

June 7, 2026: The Bay Area chapter of the International Order of Community Fit Testers will host a free PortaCount fit testing event in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, CA. They'll offer quantitative fit testing with a PortaCount testing instrument, to help you find your best, most protective mask. Find out more about this fit testing event and RSVP for a time slot (access code is 415). Wear your best-fitting, highest-rated respirator to the event. Bring at least one other respirator to test. Learn more about Community PortaCount Fit Testing and public fit-testing events and groups around the world.

 

June 25, 2026: phytocene, a clean-air-aware singer, songwriter, and producer living in Paris will host a mask-requested album release party and concert in Paris for her new album. She is now also offering tickets to view the event online.

 

June 28, 2026: Clean Air Events presents a COVID-Safe Pride Weekend Concert in Seattle, WA. KN95+ respirators required. Organizers will provide air purifiers, Far UVC devices, and outside air flow. Performers include Kirby Krackle, Shubzilla Bill Beats, and Klop Fen Pop. 100 W. Roy St, Seattle WA. Advance tickets available.

 

 

 

June 9, 2026: The Air We Share: Shaping healthier indoor air quality in Europe and beyond. The IDEAL Cluster Summit in Brussels is bringing together seven Horizon Europe research and innovation projects, and it will convene policymakers, researchers, industry leaders and public authorities.

 

June 14-18, 2026: Indoor Air 2026: The International Society of Indoor Air Quality & Climate will convene its annual conference in Singapore in 2026. 

 

June 28, 2026: PHAN and Air Support Project present a live Zoom discussion: “Precautionary Principle”. See item above.

June 1, 2026: The Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative reports that SARS-CoV-2 transmission remains at its lowest levels nationwide since mid-July 2021. “Note that this week we have updated our heat map to show county-level data. The CDC map depicts each state with the state-level median. That approach often works well, but during lulls can be misleading, as the state-level median can overshadow local hot spots.”

 

May 18, 2026: From Forbes Magazine: WHO says the world is not prepared for another pandemic, and experts are warning the world could be less prepared for the next pandemic than it was for COVID. 

 

June 1, 2026: From BBC News: How healthcare workers are treating Ebola patients and trying to stay safe in DR Congo. "All patients - suspected and confirmed - are isolated and all those who come into contact with them are supposed to wear full personal protective equipment (PPE), and use other equipment to minimize transmission."

 

June 1, 2026: From the International Rescue Committee: The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is likely far larger than the official figures suggest. 

 

June 2, 2026: The National Science Foundation's Office of the Inspector General is no longer investigating research misconduct, due to the elimination of 22 positions in the office. “All allegations of research misconduct received by OIG will be referred to the grantee institution to do as it sees fit.”

 

June 2, 2026: From CIDRAP: Florida's measles outbreak continues as the total number of cases this year hits 154, which is the highest number of cases reported in the state in a single year over the last 25 years.

 

June 3, 2026: From Nature.com: Children with Long COVID show measurable retinal microvascular changes. In 74 kids ages 7–17, scans found wider arterioles, wider venules, and a higher A/V (arteriolar-to-venular) ratio, consistent with endothelial dysfunction.

 

June 3, 2026: Public health experts are expressing concern about funding cuts for one of America's major infectious disease surveillance programs. "As part of President Donald Trump's budget plan, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) will see its funding cut from around $125 million a year to about $25 million."

 

on the lighter side…

Credit: The Vertlartnic

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