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Jim Vanderwal

@jimvanderwal.bsky.social
328 followers 401 following 215 posts

Climate change ~ Clean air ~ Clean water Surviving year 6 of the equivalent to a boil water advisory for the air Unceded MST territory He/him

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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Both are available starting on the 13th. However many pharmacies don’t seem to be set up in the system yet, it’s shocking that they will only be available after infection levels for both have already risen. Covid levels already *high* according to wastewater levels 🫠
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Epi week Sept 20-26 - the trend for Covid rates increasing is consistent. Makes sense when you hear about people getting sick all around! Flu A is starting to move up but will need another week or two to see the trend.
Two graphs titled Vancouver Coastal Health. Iona Island and Lulu Island   
Graph from Sept 2025 to Sept 2026 showing SARS-CoV-2 wastewater levels going up in Sept 2026Two graphs titled Vancouver Coastal Health. Iona Island and Lulu Island   
Graph from Sept 2025 to Sept 2026 showing Influenza-A wastewater levels starting to go up in Sept 2026
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Looks like around Oct 13? Some places are booking but other pharmacies aren’t on there yet, you can log in with your personal health number: www.getvaccinated.gov.bc.ca/s/bookavaccine
getvaccinated.gov.bc.ca
BC Vaccine Registration
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Kayli Jamieson @wanderingkayli.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Help shape how we teach those in healthcare about Long COVID in BC! Our interdisciplinary team at SFU, UBC, and PHSA are recruiting people living with Long COVID as well as healthcare providers working in ED/UPCC settings to participate in 75-minute focus groups. #LongCOVID #BChealthcare #BCCOVID
White poster with teal text. Study Participation. Red text: Long COVID: Emergency and Urgent Care. Are you a healthcare provider within an emergency department or urgent care centre? Would you like to learn more about providing care for Long COVID patients? Join a 75-minute focus group over Zoom to share your experiences as a care provider and medical education preferences. Honorarium provided. Photo of patient holding hand of care provider, with masked care providers in the background. Requirements: Based in British Columbia, provide direct patient care within an ED/UPCC. No prior knowledge of Long COVID required.To participate, email: sfu-longcovid@sfu.ca Logos for SFU Faculty of Health Sciences, University of British Columbia, and PHSA’s Post-COVID-19 Interdisciplinary Clinical Care Network. REB number H26-01796.
White poster with teal text. Study Participation. Red text: Long COVID: Emergency and Urgent Care. Do you have experiences visiting the emergency department or urgent care centre as someone living with Long COVID? Join a 75-minute focus group over Zoom to share recommendations for educational tools in these settings. Honorarium provided. Stock image of masked patients sitting in waiting-room. Requirements: Based in British Columbia, self-identify as having Long COVID (having persisting symptoms for 3+ months following a COVID-19 infection, in accordance with the NASEM definition), and at least 16 years of age. To participate, email: sfu-longcovid@sfu.ca Logos for SFU Faculty of Health Sciences, University of British Columbia, and PHSA’s Post-COVID-19 Interdisciplinary Clinical Care Network. REB number H26-01796.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Sounds like a great project. I don’t have an experience to share with ED / UPCC but if there is ever a project involving family doctors I’m in!
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Dr Elisa Perego @elisaperego78.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My new research is out. "Long Covid perspectives" addresses the recognition of #LongCovid as disease entity and patient-led advocacy movement, the paradigm shifts driven by LC advocacy-research, and challenges ahead (Perego 2026, preprint 2023) www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Cover of book Covid studies Title of chapter by Elisa Perego
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The Weather Network @weathernetwork.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A new report is forecasting a warmer and wetter future for northeastern B.C., as well as more extreme weather emergencies for communities battered by some of the province's biggest natural disasters over the past decade. ow.ly/nEUa50ZRRLz
ow.ly
Northeast B.C. faces warmer future, more extreme weather threats: Researchers - The Weather Network
New federally-funded report says local communities could see average temperatures rise by 3 C by the 2050s
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
New Covid wastewater data from Sep 24, ⬆️ trend consistent. Epi week Sept 13-19 (a bit closer to current). If someone has the “flu” or “bad virus” this is the likely culprit. Similar trends in the other monitored sites in BC. Flu/RSV still low Say safe 😷 up Clean air Get your vax when you can
Title Vancouver Coastal Health
2 Graphs with Iona Island and Lulu Island as title showing increased COVID viral measurements 
Sept 2025 to Sept 2026 on x axis
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Don’t share AI slop videos even if it’s for lols like a cringy Pierre Poilievre video It’s all creating more eyeballs on this crap which is exactly the point
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Alan Richardson @alanrichardson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Wake up, Vancouver, Nardwuar is currently losing!!!
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🎯
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Robert Jago @rjjago.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Here's something I've been working on for a while, that I'll be getting into a lot more soon. This is where Land Acknowledgements come from, this is what they mean, and this is how you've all been doing them wrong.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
💯
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
These programs always depend on a few shining examples of recovery for their promotion. It’s classic survivorship bias en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivo...
en.wikipedia.org
Survivorship bias - Wikipedia
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Simon Spichak @spichaksimon.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
For @thesicktimes.org, I covered a petition that over 1,700 people have signed calling for a pause to a trial that's applying for ethical approval to test a psuedoscientific program for #LongCOVID called The Lightning Process. thesicktimes.org/2026/09/22/p... 1/n
Screenshot of Sick Times article. Title: "People with Long COVID demand pause of McMaster University clinical trial"

DEK: The trial, run by researchers at McMaster University in Canada, is testing the Lightning Process, a pseudoscientific mind-body program that outside experts have heavily criticized.

Image: A college buildingey points you should know:

A petition signed by 1,700 people asks for a pause and independent review of a trial run by McMaster University researchers who want to test the Lightning Process.
 
The Lightning Process is a pseudoscientific mind-body program to try to treat Long COVID that has been accused of exploiting people with Long COVID and related diseases.
 
The trial is designed in part by a Lightning Process practitioner and prescreens participants for motivation using a questionnaire that isn’t validated for Long COVID.
 
There are very few trials and little funding in Canada for Long COVID research, and advocates believe that studying the Lightning Process instead of pathobiological pathways is a waste of funding.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Anyone know if 4 days is the shortest term for a political party leader in BC?
Wikipedia page with picture of Peter Milobar MLA
Leader of CentreBC
In Office
September 18, 2026 - September 22, 2026
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
My moment of joy - I heard this little guy across the street. Lots of them on the North Shore and further afield but not so much in the city.
Screen capture from Merlin bird app September 20 Vancouver showing a picture of the Spotted Towhee
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Good for you, it’s so important!
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
static.klipy.com
The Plot Thickens
Alt: Gif of Angela Lansbury eating popcorn Title at bottom: The Plot Thickens
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I’m about to write a health and safety message to our staff about being prepared for COVID-19, flu and other infectious diseases. Perfect messaging, thank you.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
No. But “beep boop, please charge Roomba” at 2am makes we wonder if it’s possessed
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Matthew Cortland (they) @matthewcort.land · 11/09/2026
Everyone should get the 2026-2027 flu vaccine and the 2026-2027 covid vaccine, unless a competent medical professional has advised against it based on individual medical circumstances (e.g. a history of GBS). shouldntneedtobealawyer.com/posts/what-i...
shouldntneedtobealawyer.com
What Is Public Health? Which Vaccines Should You Get? | Shouldn't Need to Be a Lawyer by Matthew Cortland
Health care in the United States operates on a foundational assumption: our public health systems work. Health care assumes that there is a
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Not as high as Aug / Sep 2025, but wastewater Covid levels up in Metro Vancouver. 6 years in, stay safe people 😷
Graphs of Covid wastewater levels in Metro Vancouver at Iona and Lulu Island treatment plants, showing increase in August/September 2026.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
We can talk about the broader reasons why (society is ableist, want to forget “the pandemic” etc). However! Primary care providers could play a key role - and many aren’t aware and think that Long Covid is “over” or psychosomatic. Lots of tools exist eg bc-clmf.org/primary-care...
bc-clmf.org
Essential Primary Care Toolkit for Patient Assessment | BC Centre for Long COVID, ME/CFS, & Fibromyalgia (BC-CLMF)
Discover our comprehensive primary care toolkit designed for effective patient assessment. It includes a patient symptom inventory, medication treatment handouts, and valuable resources like webinars ...
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
It seems like there's a new round of "stochastic parrots has been proven wrong" discourse going on, so I'm going to re-up this: medium.com/@emilymenonb... >>
medium.com
Stochastic Parrots 🦜: Frequently Unasked Questions
It’s been a bit over five years since the Stochastic Parrots paper (Bender, Gebru et al 2021) was published (and somewhat longer since…
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Yes exactly. Very apt to describe as equivalent to a boil-water advisory … meant to be temporary until permanent measures are taken.
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 03/09/2026
At a certain point I have to ask myself if I got all this pedigree and spent decades doing research and building things to then spend the rest of my life attempting to come up with good arguments as to why the Cookie Monster isn't real.
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betsy ladyzhets 😷 @betsyladyzhets.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Today @thesicktimes.org: Lots of details from me on the Department of Defense grant funding a new Long COVID clinical trials program. The story includes context on past DOD medical research funding, comments & slides from Michael Peluso (PI of the new program), and more:
thesicktimes.org
Department of Defense funds $8 million grant for Long COVID trials - The Sick Times
A new U.S. clinical trials program called PROBE-PASC was announced on Friday at a Long COVID conference in Amsterdam. The program received initial funding of $8 million from a Department of Defense (D...
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
If you want to understand the indirect economic impacts of wildfire, imagine losing *7 weeks* of business during the busiest part of the summer season. Not just the area affected by fire, but the entire area from Cache Creek to Hope The economic impacts of climate change playing out in real time.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
A lot of youth I know are very anti-AI … maybe the secret will be to keep your kid away from AI until they are old enough to have opinions on it. Unfortunately it is not easy with Gen AI being shoved in every software product imaginable.
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Alaina Wood @thegarbagequeen.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Please be mindful about what you say online right now about climate change — especially if you are a scientist. Young people on TikTok, Instgram, and Reddit are giving up on their activism and future education/careers because they are interpreting our posts as saying that things are truly hopeless.
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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
There are many uses for AI in science - modeling, data analysis, certain diagnostics - none of those are LLMs and frankly not even really “AI” as we’ve come to know it at all and TBH we need a different name for this kind of “AI” so the science stuff can stop getting dragged into this argument.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Justin has succeeded in creating some BC community drama, just the tonic we needed to take our minds off all the stupid things going on in BC and around the word. Thank you for your service 🫡
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Justin McElroy 🇨🇦 @jmcelroy.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
🏰🏰🏰 ENCHANTED FOREST 🍑🍑🍑 KEREMEOS FRUIT STANDS INTERIOR ROADSIDE ATTRACTION FINAL IS HERE
cbc.ca
Search for B.C.'s best roadside attraction: Interior final | CBC News
Voters will determine whether the Enchanted Forest or Keremeos fruit stands will represent B.C.’s Interior as the search for best roadside attraction heads towards the semifinals
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Excellent government messaging on AI 🎯
Screenshot of BC Wildfire Service Facebook post

Wildfire response involves a lot of planning, training, experience and decision-making.
Or we could just ask Al what to do next.
Just kidding.
We don't ask Al summaries or chatbots how to respond to wildfires because when you're responding to emergencies, the quality of your information matters. The same goes for the public.
Al may be useful for making your grocery list, but it isn't a source of real-time emergency information.
It can miss context, simplify complex situations or rely on information that's already out of date.
When you need to know what's happening, go straight to the source.
• Active wildfire information: BC Wildfire Service dashboard or mobile app
Road conditions and closures: www.drivebc.ca
Evacuation alerts and orders: Your local authority or First Nation and EmergencylnfoBC
Smoke conditions: BC Wildfire Service app or
www.firesmoke.ca
During an emergency, don't trust a summary. Trust the source.
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Tyler Olsen @tyolsen.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
STORY: After my 93-year-old grandmother was evacuated from a Summerland seniors home, no one could tell us where she was. My family wasn't alone. I went hunting for answers for how this happened.
thetyee.ca
‘They Lost Granny’ | The Tyee
My grandmother was evacuated from Summerland. We spent days trying to find her.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It’s true, Facebook really does have the critical mass for local information. Also disinformation.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I have no words
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
If Mike Flannigan is scared about potential for new fire starts, pay attention ⬇️
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I believe it. You can see it from historical photos in the southern interior showing grassland vs the trees today. So we’re not aiming for the 1950’s, but rather many and small fires (or equivalent treatment) like the 20s and 30s.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
**BC has experienced more area burned during 2017-2026 (red) as compared to 1950-2026 (green)**
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Jen St. Denis @jenstden.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
British Columbia's premier David Eby is about to do a press conference on the wildfire situation, including Summerland. Officials from BC Wildfire Service, Ministry of Emergency Management & Climate readiness, etc., will also be in attendance. #bcpoli
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I mourn for the Okanagan that once was. As a kid in the 70s and 80s, fire was always a part of the landscape, but now it rapidly engulfs and consumes. Sending strength to those who have been evacuated, and comfort to those who have lost homes and places they love.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 07/08/2026
You can find a whole set of pre-order links on my webpage, here: www.astrokatie.com/book-htbau And I can also now share this VERY DRAMATIC cover reveal video, made for me by the awesome folks at Scribner!
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Tyler Olsen @tyolsen.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Last day of the Riley Creek Fire near Lillooet
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Joel Wood 🇨🇦 @joelwwood.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Pretty crazy how much of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District has burned in the past 10 years. Kamloops is in the middle of the TNRD (Source: Michael Grenier on Facebook)
Map showing area burned (in red and orange) in past 10 years. These areas are about 1/4 to 1/3 of the area
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Victoria Rose Richards @aerialembroidery.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)
An embroidery hoop containing a sewn landscape from above. It shows a forest on the right, a line of fire and charred ground with smoke on the left. The smoke is felted wool.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Bradley Creek fire is now well north and east of Hwy 97 into Spallumcheen. Fire is moving quickly … areas previously under alert have switched to evac orders over the day. Throughts and 🙏 with friends & family in Vernon area who have evacuated, heartbreaking to see my hometown in this state💔 ❤️‍🩹
Satellite image of the North Okanagan with FIRMS data showing heat from Bradley Creek wildfire
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Castanet.net @castanet.net · 02/08/2026
Wildfire jumps Highway 97 at north end of Okanagan Lake, entire OKIB reserve evacuated #VernonBC
castanet.net
Wildfire jumps Highway 97 at north end of Okanagan Lake, entire OKIB reserve evacuated - Vernon News
UPDATE 10:20 p.m. The Bradley Creek wildfire has now jumped Highway 97 at the north end of Okanagan Lake, forcing the highway's closure.
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Jim Vanderwal @jimvanderwal.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Seems like there are more delays this year? The evac alerts from the Bradley Creek fire from OKIB and RDNO took about 1/2 day to be posted today. Why? As usual OKIB Facebook is one of the best emergency communication channels around www.facebook.com/share/1Hka9A...
facebook.com
Facebook
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