Dawn Fallik

University of Delaware professor. Medical and science writer.

[Spela Salamon, MD, Ph.D. @SalamonSMD]

@SpeakOutNow16 @PaulaYScanlan https://t.co/MsDVqAk2T1

[Renuka Dhinakaran @renudhinakaran]

We knew this 5 years ago, Goddammit! #LongCovid

My husband did not call scientists from different countries, run around like a crazy man trying to find a dye, take my blood & test it personally to find microclots in the year of our Lord 2021 for you people to call it breaking news in 2026!

@resiapretorius has been on this case for more than half a decade now!

[Alice X. Zhang @alicexz]

Heard it’s the 4-year anniversary of Tom Holland’s most iconic screen role so here are my academic drawings 😇

[Louise Matsakis @lmatsakis]

I feel furious and utterly devastated. I've looked up to Nitasha my whole career and have been jealous of her scoops for as long as I can remember

[Annalisa Quinn @Annalisa_Quinn]

The Boston Globe has some truly great jobs open, including a sports investigative reporter and a food editor. If anyone affected by Post layoffs wants to talk about working here or freelancing for the Sunday magazine, reach out.

[Zak Jason @zakjason]

anyone looking to freelance after today's Washington Post layoffs: I'm the editor of Discourse, the magazine arm of Business Insider. I'd love to talk: [email protected].

[Katherine Krueger @kath_krueger]

for any Washington Post people left dangling: I'm always looking for pitches for the Voices section of @theintercept. Op-eds, reporting with a viewpoint, more. feel free to reach out any time: [email protected]

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

@K3LLYB33N here in philly

[Silvia Killingsworth @silviakillings]

For those of you looking for freelance work in the wake of WaPo layoffs: I'm an editor at large overseeing Ideas & Culture at Bloomberg, including our Books coverage. Find me at [email protected]

[Andre Pagliarini @apagliar]

a first: in rejecting an article I submitted to a journal, reviewer 2 noted I failed to engage the work of one Andre Pagliarini

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

@Meta is shutting down Supernatural - one of the few exercise games that allows options for people who are disabled.

I played in a leg brace. I played when I hurt a shoulder. It was one of the few games I could play safely after surgery. This sucks.
@GenePark

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

@lucky9luciano99 @1goodtern It literally says that most of the patients in the study were not vaccinated.

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

@skrichev13 @hollypret The same thing happened to me. Repeated studies show that women have a sharper sense of smell. Believe us. https://t.co/viVrLJwVtd

[David It Up! @Dave_it_up]

Six Years and Six Winters Without Getting Sick

I haven’t been sick since 2018.

No flu. No colds. No COVID. Nothing.

Same for my wife. Same for my son. Six winters. Six holiday seasons. While people around us got hammered by one infection after another, we stayed healthy.

There’s no fucking secret.

We wore masks, everywhere.

Not those useless blue surgical masks that leave gaps the size of freight trains around your cheeks. Not the limp cloth things that might as well be made of tissue paper. Real respirators. N95s and KN95s that actually seal to your face and filter the goddamn air you breathe.

Here’s what they don’t tell most: There’s a significant difference between a mask and a respirator. A surgical mask is just fancy fabric that catches, well, spit. An N95 has an electrostatic charge that grabs particles and holds them. Think about rubbing a balloon on your head and watching your hair stick to it. That’s the science working to keep viruses out of your lungs when you breath, instead of letting them waltz right in.

I know a nurse. Seventy-three years old. She worked in a busy family practice through the worst of the pandemic. Small exam rooms. Sick patients all day long. She wore an N95 every single shift until she retired last year.

Guess what? She never caught COVID.

People want this to be complicated. They want it to be about genetics or expensive supplements or some elaborate wellness routine they can sell you. Most of the time, it’s not complicated at all. If a virus spreads through the air, the air you breathe is where the battle happens. A properly fitted respirator changes everything. Can’t take vaccines? Mask up. Immune system issues, well now you have an option, for many viruses.

Once I found masks that actually fit my face (Dräger X-plore 1950 for me
), the discomfort I’d imagined just wasn’t there. I can talk, walk, shop, and travel without constantly fiddling with straps. Half the time I forget I’m wearing one until I catch my reflection somewhere.

But here’s the real reason I keep doing it.

Millions of people are living with Long COVID right now. They’re carrying damage to their hearts, blood vessels, brains, and immune systems. For them, another infection isn’t just a shitty week in bed. It’s another step toward disability. More pain. Another organ system pushed past its breaking point.

They can’t afford to get hit again.

When I put on a mask, I’m not just protecting my family. I’m breaking transmission chains that could lead straight to someone whose body is already hanging by a thread. The cashier at the grocery store. My neighbor. The person standing behind me in line whose immune system can’t take another round.

We’ve normalized getting sick. People shrug and say everyone’s down with something this month. Everyone caught the latest bug going around. That’s one way to live, I guess.

Another way is to admit we have tools that work. Simple tools. Effective tools. Tools that can cut your risk of infection dramatically.

My family chose the second way.

It’s not heroic. It’s not perfect. It’s just looking at what repeated infections do to people and deciding that wearing a piece of filtered material over my face in crowded spaces is worth it.

You want to know how we’ve gone six winters without getting sick?

That’s the answer. We wore real masks for ourselves and for all the people who can’t survive another hit.

The science works. The question is whether you’re going to use it.

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

@wowzaship @Miazolam Yassss!! Mazel tov!!

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

@musings_blonde @Ev_deGallery Email your dr directly

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

@GeauxGabrielle You're right. Luke is also shitty.

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

Honestly, so many people are having such a hard time that the posts about living a worry-free life filled with love etc. come across as tone-deaf.

People who are lucky enough to have that life right now.. just be grateful.

[Cora Harrington @CoraCHarrington]

Because that one lady posted about drinking coffee with her husband and people lost their minds.

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

@GeauxGabrielle The only good people in the whole series are Luke and Lane.

[Dawn Fallik @dfallik]

@savedbyjesus24 @iafaipp @moniza_hossain I tend to look at actual data. The truth is that indoor cats live longer healthier lives. I live in a city. I don’t want my cat hit by a car or eating something poisonous. She’s not in a cage all day

https://t.co/gN5irYEx17