2021-09-29 General

Testing/Diagnostics

In this study, they put a wristwatch-like thing on the wrists of people who willingly allowed themselves to be infected with either rhinovirus, flu, or placebo. The wristwatch thingie was able to predict illness about a day before symptoms showed up. This could be really useful for diagnosing other respiratory infections (like ahem COVID-19).

Treatments

This preprint says that REGEN-COV, the Regeneron monoclonal antibody, drops death rates by about 70%.

Transmission

In this study, they simulated aerosol dispersion in an Boeing 777. My takeaways: don’t sit in the MID-AFT section, leave your mask on; and especially don’t take your mask off to eat (and yeah, that means “don’t eat”).

Recommended Reading

This article talks about the deep structural issues that led to the US blowing their COVID-19 response. Canada does not have all of them (yay socialized medicine), but it does have some of them.