2021-11-18 General

Treatments

This article talks about the good long-term results of AstraZeneca’s polyclonal antibody (brand name Evusheld). The article says it’s a two shot therapy like a vaccine, and given pre-exposure gives 83% protection over six months, sort of like a vaccine. Unlike a vaccine, however, it should work just as well in people who are immunosuppressed. Unlike a vaccine, it cuts the risk of worse symptoms by 88% in COVID-19 patients when given within three days of symptoms appearing. Unlike a vaccine, it will probably cost on the order of $1000.

Note that an older press release said that in a different study, Evusheld was 77% effective at preventing symptomatic infection, so I’m not sure how this new study is different.

Transmission

This opinion piece says that we should humidify to 40 to 60% to reduce the spread of viruses.

Recommended Reading

This article talks about SARS-CoV-2 infections in non-human animal reservoirs, including which ones are more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2, like water buffalo. (I wonder how the virus is jumping species, as presumably a lot of the species are outdoors, where transmission ought to be less common.)