🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA Weekly COVID Update: 17 October 2025 TAS up (+12.5%) and WA up (+4.4%; Avg 25/day in hospital) Others states down — SA (-30.6%), NSW (-21.8%), ACT (-21.7%), QLD (-10%; 27 in hospital) and VIC (-3%) Aged care cases up (+32.8%) and 4 deaths reported

Long Covid Is Real — And It’s Changing an Entire Generation. "Hundreds of thousands of kids in America are struggling with an illness that many doctors and schools refuse to recognize" "In February 2024, a paper published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) estimated that up to 6 million children in the United States had suffered from long Covid at some point." #LongCOVIDKids Source: https://archive.li/0CwNs

Queensland Weekly Respiratory Surveillance Report: 7 Oct to 13 Oct 2025 Reported cases: 🔹COVID: 303 (-10.0%) 🔹Influenza: 1,165 (-21.2%) 🔹RSV: 441 (-9.4%) Hospitalisations: 🔸COVID: 27 (-20.5%) 🔸Influenza: 56 (-26.3%) 🔸RSV: 42 (Stable) Source: https://www.health.qld.gov.au/clinical-practice/guidelines-procedures/diseases-infection/surveillance/reports/flu

🇬🇧 UK: COVID-19 could cost UK £7 billion a year without autumn vaccinations. "A new OHE model shows that stopping annual autumn COVID-19 vaccinations could cost the UK economy £7 billion each year, highlighting the importance of continued immunisation" Source: https://archive.md/nyvSp

🇺🇸 USA: Mask mandates return in parts of the Bay Area as virus season nears. Mask rules are returning to Bay Area health care settings from Nov 1 as COVID, flu, and RSV cases rise. Counties including Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Napa, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz will require masks for workers, and in some cases patients and visitors, through the winter and early spring. https://archive.md/VFpwB

Queensland Weekly Respiratory Surveillance Report: 30 Sep to 6 Oct 2025 Reported cases: 🔹COVID: 337 (-14.8%) 🔹Influenza: 1,479 (-19.5%) 🔹RSV: 487 (-25.3%) Hospitalisations: 🔸COVID: 34 (+3.0%) 🔸Influenza: 76 (-30.2%) 🔸RSV: 42 (+7.6%) Source: https://www.health.qld.gov.au/clinical-practice/guidelines-procedures/diseases-infection/surveillance/reports/flu

🇺🇸 US Breaks New Measles Record, Surpassing 1,500 Cases – The Most In 33 Years. "Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000 – that is no longer the case." "As of September 30, there have been a total of 1,544 confirmed cases of measles in the United States in 2025. This is the highest since 1992, which saw 2,126 cases" Source: https://archive.md/n2cRz

COVID Isn’t a Cold. It’s Cigarettes All Over Again. "We’re 5 years into this experiment. Five years of letting it rip. Five years of pretending it’s fine. Five years of accumulated damage that we’re only beginning to understand. Smoking took decades to reveal its true cost. COVID is speedrunning the whole thing. We’re seeing the consequences in real-time, and we’re still pretending we don’t. Your body doesn’t forget. Every infection leaves a mark. Every “mild” case adds to the pile. You might feel fine now. You might feel fine for years. But the bill always comes due. And when it does, remember: You had a choice. We all did. We chose comfort. We chose denial. We chose to look away." Source: https://archive.md/Jyi7k

Scientists Finally Reveal Biological Basis of Long COVID Brain Fog. "Patients with brain fog might exhibit disrupted expression of AMPA receptors (AMPARs)—key molecules for memory and learning." "By comparing imaging data from 30 patients with Long COVID to 80 healthy individuals, the researchers found a notable and widespread increase in the density of AMPARs across the brains of patients. This elevated receptor density was directly correlated with the severity of their cognitive impairment, suggesting a clear link between these molecular changes and the symptoms." Source:

SciTechDaily

Scientists Finally Reveal Biological Basis of Long COVID Brain Fog

Researchers employed a specialized brain imaging technique to identify a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for Long COVID. More than four ...