There’s been quite a bit of Covid-related news lately. Here’s a run-down. It’s a lot on how we can’t use standard methods for finding the markers of disease, but new methods are being created. But there’s virtually nothing on preventing this continuing brain-invasive disease! That’s no longer on people’s radar, although I still meet up with fellow maskers here and there. Numbers are very low right now, but just starting to rise, so if you’re generally caution but really want to hit a restaurant or bar, and you think it’s worth the risk, this might be the time!

One article discusses a study discussion from July 2026 that found evidence of injury to the dopamine system in the brain of Long Covid patients: 

“What cannot be seen is too often considered uncertain. Long Covid illustrates this difficulty. Many patients report disabling fatigue, brain fog, cognitive inefficiency, apathy and psychomotor slowing; yet conventional investigations, including structural MRI, often fail to capture the biology underlying these symptoms. Absence of a conventional MRI signature, however, does not imply absence of brain pathology. Parkinson’s disease, for example, has no reliable individual diagnostic signature on routine MRI; yet is recognised as a neurochemical disorder.”

The study concludes, 

“Loss of dopamine nerve terminals may be contributing to symptom correlates of apathy, motor slowing and memory decline, suggsting improved function of dopaminergic synapses as a new therapeutic dirction to treat Long Covid.”

A July 2026 study in Nature found long-term ocular symptoms following Covid are linked to immune dysregulation. An article about it in CIDRAP says,

“Ocular symptoms like pain, light sensitivity, blurred vision, and difficulty reading affect up to 31% to 35% of people with the condition. But this abnormal eye behaviour can’t be detected by standard methods, making it difficult for patients to get a diagnosis or treatment.”

An article in The Conversation discussed changing the “all in your head” narrative: 

“Too many people have been dismissed, disbelieved or told to exercise their way out of illness. … The nervous system is part of the body. It can be injured, sensitized, overloaded and, in some cases, supported to change. Persistent symptoms are real, biological and often disabling.” 

It calls for education on how the nervous system works, but nothing about education around how N95s work.  

One recent article reports on the sharp rise in memory and thinking problems among adults, with the steepest increase among adults under 40, which almost doubled. The study was actually from September 2025, so I’m not sure why it’s just being reported now. There are implications that Covid is playing a role in the increase. 

Another study from May 2025 in the Journal of Neurology looked at autopsy studies and found “diverse changes in the brain … irrespective of the severity of Covid-19. … healthcare systems should be aware of, and be prepared for a potential increase in the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases in the upcoming years.”

Novavax (aka Nuvaxovid) will be available in the fall, 2026. It’s the better vaccination for Covid that people have. Sanofi will be producing it in Ontario, BUT it will be up to the provinces and then pharmacies to order it. If you’re hoping to get it near you, call your MPP and then call around to see if any pharmacy is willing to get some. Often they have to buy in a batch, so they’ll want to know they can use all ten.