Conor Browne

I very much want to be wrong, but I think this outbreak is going to get much, much worse. Attacks on healthcare workers, active conflict zone, porous borders, sub-optimal surveillance. A very bad combination. apnews.com/article/ebol...

The media has been full of reporting regarding the potential future risks of AIxBio for some time now, when the real, tangible risk is this: avian influenza burning through a mink farm in Utah. We are giving this beast too much room. www.propublica.org/article/bird...

I met an old friend recently, someone I haven't seen in years. Immediately noticing my mask, he said, 'are you still worried about Covid?'. I replied, 'yes'. He then said, 'Why? Sure everyone's had it now'. I don't think he understood when I then said, 'that's why I'm worried'.

Walking through a small seaside town on the North Coast of Northern Ireland a few days ago, I saw a very elderly man in a wheelchair. A woman was walking beside him, wearing a well-fitted FFP2 respirator mask. A rare sight these days, but a reminder that it's an easy thing to do.

Benone Strand from Mussenden Temple, Northern Ireland, earlier today. Michael Palin once described the train journey along the coast here as one of the most beautiful in the world.

The ruins of Dunluce Castle, between Portballintrae and Portrush on the North Coast of Northern Ireland. There has been a castle on this promontory since the 13th century.

The Atlantic Ocean from the Nun's Walk in Portstewart, Northern Ireland, earlier today.

Hiking from Portbradden to Dunseverick Harbour on the North Coast of Northern Ireland earlier today.

I am immensely proud of my friend @nastassjacarnivora.bsky.social for launching this much-needed counselling service. She is an extraordinarily empathetic person and all-round good human, and I have no doubt she will help many people indeed in the future.

Absolutely heartening experience in Belfast today: I was walking through a park I spotted a young woman wearing a mask, a black surgical. As I often do, I offered her an FFP2 - she said she was wearing a mask because she was sick. She thanked me, and I thanked her for masking.

This is obviously a worrying development, especially considering the fact that air travel was involved. I am considerably more concerned by the ongoing outbreak of Ebola in this region than I am by current events in Russia. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Many people have recently reached out to me regarding the current situation in Irkutsk. Right now, the information environment there is both too sparse and too unreliable to base any firm analysis and / or prediction on. The next week will make the picture much clearer.

A friend has Covid right now. They have lost their sense of smell and they're having cognitive problems. This hit me today, as it often does: we made, and continue to make, a huge collective mistake in allowing a virus that impacts the brain to transmit unmitigated globally.

'...meaning that each additional infection event represents an opportunity for adaptive mutations that could favor mammal-to-mammal or, ultimately, human transmission'. We keep giving this beast too much space to mutate. beaconbio.org/en/report/?r...

I am rarely affected by discourse on social media, but the current wave of posts asserting that Long Covid is psychosomatic has angered me. To be very clear: if you're asserting that LC isn't a physical disease, you're ignorant of science. End of.

The disconnect between the millions of dollars being thrown at biosecurity / biodefense right now and the simultaneous mocking of people wearing masks is so painfully, tragically stark. A respirator is a tool, just like a biosensor or a biological countermeasure.

A contractor was at my house a few days ago. The last time he was there - about two years ago - he told me that he'd been having some brain fog after Covid. This time, he told me, completely nonchalantly, that he, 'can't remember anything now'. He's ten years younger than me.

Articles like these are emblematic of the institutional amnesia surrounding Covid-19. A pathogen that emerged less than seven years ago, which can cause fatigue during the acute infection and as a common long-term effect, not even mentioned. Conspicuously absent. www.nbcnews.com/health/menta...

The disconnect between the frenetic discourse regarding the potential risk of AIxBio enabled biological weapons being developed and the political reality in the US, where antivaxx ideology is being institutionalised and masking near-demonised is stark.

The strange dissonance of sitting in the main entrance foyer of a major hospital in Northern Ireland, with SARS-CoV-2 prevalence increasing here to boot, and seeing hundreds of people walk past, all unmasked, and realising that some of those people are going to get Long Covid.

'Our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection can activate an immune program that closely resembles those involved in established autoimmune disorders...'. I have seen this so many times now. New-onset autoimmune disease following COVID-19.

This is very concerning. www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

'Vaccination against COVID appeared to have a dose-response protective effect. The more doses workers received before infection, the less likely they were to report prolonged symptoms'. This dose-response effect is why I get vaccinated every six months.

I dislike sharing anecdotes, but I genuinely feel compelled to inform you all that in the past week I have found out that two more people I know have Long Covid, and that a family friend is still shielding. As you all know already, 'normality' is fundamentally a veneer.

As I'm sure you know by this point, Covid-19 continues to concern me (which is why I take serious measures to avoid infection, including masking in all public indoor spaces). However, no virus concerns me more than H5N1. We are giving this beast too much room. theconversation.com/first-bird-f...

There is a reason why many people you know seem different now. Not quite who they were before. www.psypost.org/brain-scans-...

'Furthermore, vaccinated and subsequently challenged cohorts failed to transmit the virus to naïve animals, demonstrating a *complete block of onward transmission*'. * my emphasis. Extraordinarily promising research. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Walking The Boyne Camino in the Republic of Ireland from Drogheda to Mellifont Abbey a couple of days ago.

“The biggest problem is that the conclusion doesn't match the data.” Allen said. “If you look strictly at the data, the conclusion is a small HEPA filter that's turned off doesn't work.” www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/can...

I think it is now very possible that the outbreak in DRC will become the most deadly outbreak of Ebola thus far recorded. A nightmare is unfolding in DRC, and a deadly combination of the virus itself, armed conflict, aid cuts, and misinformation is fueling it. news.sky.com/story/ebola-...

'Our ability to smell is linked to brain health, and losing this sense is often one of the first signs of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease'. www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...