Conor Browne
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brownecfm.bsky.social
Conor Browne
@brownecfm.bsky.social
Biorisk analyst
In 2026 there will be more mass media articles and commentators ridiculing people taking precautions to avoid SARS-CoV-2 infection while simultaneously hundreds of pieces of research will be published further demonstrating the long-term harms of infection.

Ignore the ridicule.
January 2, 2026 at 12:49 PM
A very Happy New Year to you all. If you're still mitigating against infection from SARS-CoV-2 you have nothing but my respect and admiration. Wishing each and every one of you a wonderful 2026.
January 1, 2026 at 10:18 AM
1. Sometimes, the absurdity of the situation we're all in just hits me. Going forward, ongoing and continuous transmission of SARS-CoV-2 will lead to an ever-increasing percentage of the global population developing chronic illnesses due to sequelae of infection.
December 28, 2025 at 11:45 AM
This was my late mum's favourite Christmas ornament. One year, she forgot to put Santa here away, and when her friend from Canada visited in May and pointed out that he was still on the mantelpiece, mum deadpanned, 'it's Christmas every day in this house'.

Happy Christmas all!
December 24, 2025 at 7:21 PM
A key component of analysis is the distillation of complex situations to the fundamental concepts that underpin them. I never, ever thought in 2020 that the simple concept of, 'I don't want to get infected with a novel virus' would be warped from common sense to a rebellious act.
December 24, 2025 at 10:04 AM
SARS-CoV-2 is so dangerous precisely because of its insidious nature. Its propensity to continually re-infect. The superficial similarity of the symptoms it causes to those of other common viruses. The unseen risk of sequelae. That wretched molecular shark tricks almost everyone.
December 22, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Please remember, every time you see a newspaper or magazine article denigrating people - people like myself - who choose to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2, there will always be a tiny, quiet voice in the mind of the author whispering, 'what if they're right'?

We are right.
December 21, 2025 at 11:08 AM
To be blunt: if you are doing anything at all right now to reduce your risk of infection from SARS-CoV-2, you're being smart. As a result of the current high prevalence of flu, masking is back in the media. Ignore anything negative said about it. Political nonsense is irrelevant.
December 20, 2025 at 10:52 AM
'John Muir, co-founder of the Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation, a UK charity campaigning for the improvement of clean indoor air, said any investment in the devices was well worth the money'.

There's a poll in this article - please vote.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/educati...
Education bosses ‘missing a trick’ by failing to roll out air cleaners in schools
Northern Ireland is “missing a trick” by not rolling out air cleaners across its school estate, an industry expert has said.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 10:04 AM
I am convinced in the future we will look back and realise the sheer unimaginable folly of letting a virus that can cause immune dysregulation and cognitive dysfunction in humans infect and re-infect the global population over and over again. Worse still, that we encouraged it.
December 18, 2025 at 12:12 AM
This is a great piece from Lucy at Pandemic Pages Podcast drawing comparisons between masking during the 1918 - 1920 influenza pandemic and today. Strongly recommend!

pandemicpages.substack.com/p/the-case-for…
https://pandemicpages.substack.com/p/the-case-for…
December 16, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Read the study and think about population level implications, remembering that the vast majority of people have been infected multiple times.

What are the possible long-term neurological sequelae?

What are the implications for societies now?

news.griffith.edu.au/2025/12/16/c...
COVID-19 leaves a lasting mark on the human brain - Griffith News
COVID-19 does not just affect the respiratory system, but also significantly alters the brain in people who have fully recovered from the infectious
news.griffith.edu.au
December 16, 2025 at 11:10 AM
While this is to be lauded, it always frustrates me that masking is *initiated* when levels are high. The best time to mask in hospitals is always; the second best time is when it is patently obvious that prevalence of flu / RSV / Covid is low but *increasing*.

www.derryjournal.com/health/face-...
Face masks return at hospitals and health hubs in Derry and the west amid flu and other viruses surge
The Western Trust has announced that all visitors, staff and patients are required to wear face masks at some hospital areas and other health care facilities for the first time since the pandemic, due...
www.derryjournal.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:19 PM
1. As a result of the current high prevalence of influenza and the accompanying media coverage of the spread of the disease, I've been asked about mitigations by a number of friends who take *no precautions against SARS-CoV-2*. A few observations regarding these conversations:
December 15, 2025 at 1:01 PM
1. Like everyone else in the biodefense community, I've been watching H5N1 like a hawk since long before SARS-CoV-2 emerged. H5N1 could easily undergo reassortment with another influenza strain to create a reassortant virus with a significant CFR and efficient human transmission.
December 13, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Tomorrow is the earliest sunset of 2025 in Northern Ireland. To celebrate, please enjoy two seagulls watching the setting sun from Ramore Head, Portrush, earlier this evening.
December 12, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Delighted to have the opportunity to discuss the current influenza surge in today's Belfast Telegraph; the virus itself, what we should be doing to mitigate it - vaccination, ventilation, masks - and how infection control has become ideological.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/...
‘Not a pleasant Christmas for the NHS’: ‘Super flu’ mutation will further stress NI healthcare system, says biorisk expert
The early surge in a so-called ‘super flu’ strain of the influenza virus is going to “dramatically stress” the Northern Ireland healthcare service in the run-up to Christmas, a biorisk expert has said...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM
With influenza surging in the UK and Ireland, the fact is that the culture war nonsense surrounding masks combined with the lack of airborne mitigations in hospitals (itself a result of the political and social erasure of Covid) will lead to deaths that could have been avoided.
December 11, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Recent discourse has really cemented for me that many objections to mask wearing are rooted in an insecure kind of masculinity. Wearers seen as 'weak' or 'scared'. This idea is as absurd as calling a soldier weak or scared because he or she chooses to wear a Kevlar vest.
December 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
'Speaking on RTÉ's This Week, Mr Gloster* added that hospital emergency department attendance was at its "highest ever" last Monday'

Highest ever.

*The HSE Chief Executive.

www.rte.ie/news/2025/12...
IMO warns that flu has hit Ireland 'fast and hard'
The Irish Medical Organisation has warned that the flu has hit Ireland "fast and hard" and will add enormous strain to the already stretched public hospital system.
www.rte.ie
December 7, 2025 at 8:14 PM
This is exactly what happens when a novel seasonal influenza strain meets a population with Covid-induced immune dysregulation; it's not 'like Covid again', it's the ongoing and continuous effects of Covid.

www.bbc.com/news/article...
Flu: It is like Covid again, says principal as 170 pupils sick
Confirmed flu cases among adults and children across Northern Ireland have more than trebled in the last two weeks.
www.bbc.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Some patients do attend A&E with problems that could be dealt with by other healthcare services. However, the article makes clear this cadre represents 2% of patients. If you really want to reduce pressure on A&Es, offer Covid vaccines free for all.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Patients clogging up A&E with hiccups, sore throats and niggles
NHS bosses warn the public to use hospitals wisely amid concern this could be a tough winter.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 10:08 AM
5 years 11 months ago, I become very concerned.

5 years 10 months ago, I wander my city, dazed, knowing what's going to happen soon.

5 years 9 months ago, I read an email that suggests anosmia is a symptom. I decide to do everything I can to not get infected. Still doing so.
6 years ago today: A man in Wuhan, China starts feeling ill, becoming the first confirmed case of COVID-19
December 1, 2025 at 2:58 PM
'What surprised them was that 16.3% of those babies received a neurodevelopmental diagnosis by three years, compared with 9.7% of the babies who were not exposed to COVID-19 in utero'.

www.propublica.org/article/covi...
Amid Confusing CDC Guidance About Vaccines, Study Highlights New Risk of COVID-19 During Pregnancy
A Harvard study found that the children of women who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant may be at an increased risk for autism and other diagnoses, raising new concerns about the CDC’s decision to sto...
www.propublica.org
November 29, 2025 at 8:13 PM
'H5N1 is no longer the slow-moving outbreak of the past. It has become a fast-changing global pathogen, spreading through birds, repeatedly testing the biological boundaries of mammals and producing more genetic variation than at any time in its history'

cambodianess.com/article/a-mu...
A Mutating Threat: Scientists Warn H5N1 Bird Flu Is Evolving Faster Than Ever
PHNOM PENH — The dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus has entered what scientists describe as a new, unpredictable stage, spreading across the world and mutat...
cambodianess.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:47 PM