Charts DAMMIT. The province is not going to give us the number of people with COVID-19 in hospital any more. 😠 From the Viral Pathogen Characterization page: I would like to point out that for the past three years, the peaks of COVID-19 cases (as measured by the province) have all been in early October… Continue reading 2025-11-14 BC
2025-11-14 General
I want to remind people again to get a flu shot this year. There’s a new substrain — H3N2 subclade K — which apparently is more contagious and nastier if you catch it. The flu shot isn’t hugely effective against infection but it has some effectiveness (especially for children!), and even if it doesn’t stop… Continue reading 2025-11-14 General
2025-11-07 BC
COVID-19 appears to be holding pretty steady. Flu actually went down according to the province, but that is probably noise. Charts From the Viral Pathogen Characterization page: In the most recent data (ending 1 Nov) as reported on 6 Nov 2025, among influenza-like illness (i.e upper respiratory diseases) cases the province has test data for:… Continue reading 2025-11-07 BC
2025-11-07 General
COVID-19 Long COVID 💉 This paper from USA (2025-11-01) reports that vaccination cuts the risk of Long COVID in adolescents by 36%. This paper from Alberta (2025-11-07) (and this press release on the paper) reports on differences between men with Long COVID and women with Long COVID. The study notes that testosterone normally helps keep… Continue reading 2025-11-07 General
2025-10-31 BC
COVID-19 looks like it is either plateuing or going down slowly. Influenza is clearly thinking about making its move, but hasn’t yet. If you are trying to time your flu vaccination for maximum effect, it might be time to start thinking about doing do in the next few weeks. H5N1 Transmission 🐦⬛🤧 This article (2025-10-27)… Continue reading 2025-10-31 BC
2025-10-31 General
COVID-19 Long COVID 🎉 This paper from USA (2025-10-21) reports that 74.3% of Long COVID patients in a Phase 1 study of rapamycin showed significant improvements in fatigue, post-exertional malaise, and orthostatic intolerance. COVID-Related Excess Death and Sickness 🫄 This article about this paper from USA (2025-10-30) reports that babies who were exposed to SARS-CoV-2… Continue reading 2025-10-31 General
2025-10-24 BC
COVID-19 seems pretty stable at a middling level. Flu has started to make an appearance, but it’s still at quite a low level. COVID-19 Vaccines 💉 Both Spouse and I got invitations this week to get COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, so it isn’t just for people over 65! A friend of mine told me he… Continue reading 2025-10-24 BC
2025-10-24 General
COVID-19 Vaccines 🎉 This isn’t about a vaccine exactly, but something that acts like a vaccine — i.e. it prevents you from getting sick. This paper from USA (2025-10-21) describes a small Phase 1 study in healthy adults of a plasmid DNA which, when injected, made the study participants’ cells make tixagevimab and cilgavimab —… Continue reading 2025-10-24 General
2025-10-18 BC
Charts From the Viral Pathogen Characterization page: In the most recent data (ending 11 Oct) as reported on 16 Oct 2025, among influenza-like illness (i.e upper respiratory diseases) cases the province has test data for: Wastewater 💩💧 Jeff’s wastewater spreadsheet has not been updated, through no fault of Jeff: the province did not release the… Continue reading 2025-10-18 BC
2025-10-18 General
COVID-19 Really really long COVID 🍆 This paper (2025-10-11) says that COVID-19 won’t just f you up, it’ll f your children up if you are male. They infected male mice with COVID-19 and then looked at their offspring. All of their children were exhibited more anxious behaviours than children of uninfected daddy mice. (Fortunately, the… Continue reading 2025-10-18 General