42 useful things to know about Covid

When the government gives up on public health it means most people pick up their information from news organisations at best, and social media and gossipy anecdotes at worse. All the research papers in the world don’t matter if there’s no political will to push updated guidance down the chain, and even regular doctors and nurses are repeating the same incorrect information like everyone else. Don’t accept anti-vax propaganda, inventions like “immunity debt”, and performative hand sanitising in place of science when your health is on the line. Get your science-based facts here.

Covid is airborne. This means tiny particles hang in the air like smoke and when you inhale them you become infected.
Transfer through touching surfaces is minimal and hand sanitising is not useful to prevent the spread of an airborne virus.
Covid fills a room like cigarette smoke as people breathe and can stay present in a room for hours after people have left.
You can enter an empty room that still has Covid in the air and get infected.
The more people in a space means you’re more likely to catch Covid.
The smaller the enclosed space the more likely you are to become infected.
You can catch Covid with as little as two minutes of exposure.
Opening windows, doors and ventilating rooms helps reduce your exposure to Covid.
Activities where people are expelling more air, like shouting or singing, introduces more Covid into a space and so you’re more likely to be infected.
Being outside with people reduces your chances of being infected but it is still possible dependent on wind, amount of people, proximity etc.
Social distancing or standing two metres away will not protect you from catching Covid, especially inside.
Aircraft, buses, and trains in the UK and US have terrible ventilation and are some of the most dangerous places in terms of Covid exposure. (Aircraft have really poor ventilation when they’re on the ground with no engines running).
Catching a virus is not good for your body and your body does not need to catch a virus to get better at fighting it. Viral infections damage your body.
Catching Covid while pregnant can do serious damage to you and your baby.
Your latest infection may not have the same symptoms as your first given different variants have evolved.
Being fit and living healthily will not be enough to save you from long-term damage from Covid. Lots of extremely fit people have athletic careers devastated by their infections.
Exercising too soon even after mild infection can cause heart damage.
Pushing yourself to exercise or be active too soon after a COVID infection can cause further health problems
Kids and babies are also vulnerable to long-term Covid damage.
Young and healthy people are still at risk for long term health problems.
Mild initial infections can still lead to long term health problems.
Being vaccinated significantly improves your changes of avoiding hospitalisation and death in the early acute stage of a Covid infection.
Covid vaccines are not life-long vaccines where you get one and you are safe forever. They are more like flu vaccines where they need to be updated.
Covid vaccines do not stop you catching Covid. They reduce your chances of dying and serious illness.
Being vaccinated reduces your chances of long-term damage (Long Covid).
However, vaccinated people are still at risk for long-term health problems (Long Covid).
Every Covid infection you get makes long-term damage more likely.
No-one is immune from long-term Covid damage.
Being vaccinated several years ago means your protection against current variants is not as good.
An up-to-date vaccine will give you greater protection against Covid than a several-year-old vaccination due to evolving variants, and the 2023/24 monovalents are the most up-to-date.
Filtering viruses out of the air you breathe will reduce your chances of being infected.
Surgical “baggy blue” masks are bad for protecting against infection as they are not sealed against your face. They were designed to protect against splashes in surgery and not to filter air.
Cloth masks are bad at protecting you from Covid and airborne infections.
Respirators are a type of face mask which filters harmful and infectious particles out of the air by creating a seal with your face. Respirators with earloops (like a KN95) are better protection than surgical/cloth but still not the best protection from infection as the seal isn’t perfect.
Properly fitted FFP3 and N95 respirators with head straps are the best disposable protection.
Elastomeric respirators with rubber seals offer the best overall protection.
HEPA air purifiers and Far-UVC light systems clean the air and reduce your likelihood of infection from Covid (and other airborne infections!).
One rapid at-home test is not accurate enough to demonstrate you are COVID negative. They depend on your viral load (how much virus your body is making) and so you can be infected with symptoms and still test negative. Some people have tested negative with symptoms until day 10 where they tested positive.
You can be infected with Covid and have no symptoms but still be contagious.
An at-home positive test result is rarely wrong.
You can do an antibody test to confirm if you’ve ever had Covid.
You can give Covid to your pets.