2021-10-26 General

Pathology/Treatment A really puzzling and important question has been: why do some people get really really sick from COVID-19 while others breeze through? This preprint reports on measuring the hell out of three groups of people — healthy, hospitalized, and ICE — to figure out what was different between them. They found: At least 10%… Continue reading 2021-10-26 General

2021-10-26 BC

Vaccines / Boosters I got to the briefing late, but other sources say that BC will offer booster to the general population starting in January. There’s no need to register again — you’ll get contacted (just like you were for your first and second doses) between six and eight months after your second dose. They… Continue reading 2021-10-26 BC

2021-10-23/24/25 BC

Transmission This article reports that out of about 68 people at a live music show in Kamloops, all (allegedly) fully vaccinated, at least 18 people have tested positive for COVID-19. (And only 24 have been tested so far.) It sounds like the bar owner was very conscientious, and even so they had wicked spread. Assholes… Continue reading 2021-10-23/24/25 BC

2021-10-23/24/25 General

Transmission In this small study of Italian health-care workers who were tested regularly, all of the people who tested positive but were asymptomatic tested negative the very next day. The mean time for the symptomatic patients to test negative was 11 days. Pathology This preprint says they found SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid of… Continue reading 2021-10-23/24/25 General

2021-10-22 BC

Statistics +649 cases, +13 deaths, +3,596 first doses, +7,481 second doses, +5,521 other doses. Currently 365 in hospital / 142 in ICU, 5,106 active cases, 193,325 recovered. first doses second doses of adults 89.9% 84.6% of over-12s 89.4% 83.9% of all BCers 81.4% 76.3% Charts

2021-10-22 General

Vaccines This article reports that pediatric Pfizer is 90.7% effective against infection in children. Long COVID This preprint says that various forms of cognitive impairment are pretty common several months after “getting over” COVID-19. People who went the ER are more likely to have cognitive impairment than people who were treated as outpatients. Recommended Reading… Continue reading 2021-10-22 General

2021-10-21 BC

Assholes This article reports that a court granted an injunction to close a restaurant in Hope that was defying vax card rules. This article says that the city of Vancouver pulled a different restaurant’s business license. Mitigation Measures This article seems to say that we will need two different vax passports, a BC one and… Continue reading 2021-10-21 BC

2021-10-21 General

Mitigation Measures This article talks about $7.4B in relief spending that the Government of Canada has announced. All three of these programs will go until 7 May 2022. Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) will be replaced by the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit and will provide $300 a week to eligible people. The Tourism and Hospitality Recovery… Continue reading 2021-10-21 General

2021-10-20 General

Variants As this article says, they are starting to see a new variant in England called AY.4.2 or “Delta plus”. It is gaining ground on Delta, although slowly. It might be a little bit more contagious than Delta, but not hugely. It’s not like the huge advantage over Alpha that Delta had. Recommended Reading This… Continue reading 2021-10-20 General

2021-10-20 BC

Labour This article says that LifeLabs is going to strike. This tweet says that Minister Dix says that LifeLab is probably going to be declared an essential service, so won’t be significantly disrupted. Coverage This article says that BC had been denying COVID-19 coverage to people who had just moved to the province, but has… Continue reading 2021-10-20 BC