NB: Data is reduced today because of Truth and Reconciliation Day. Tomorrow should have full data again. Mitigation Measures This article says that a BC judge threw out the case where the owner of three Stanley Park restaurants tried to reverse changing a car road into a bike road. Statistics +749 cases, +9 deaths, +5,675… Continue reading 2021-09-30 BC
Month: September 2021
2021-09-30 General
Pathology This preprint made a model which predicts positive PCR tests based on seven symptoms: loss or change of sense of smell, loss or change of sense of taste, fever, new persistent cough, chills, appetite loss, and muscle aches. This can possibly replace tests in places where tests either are not available or when someone… Continue reading 2021-09-30 General
2021-09-29 BC
Data Summary A new BC CDC Data Summary was released yesterday. Our death rates are surprisingly high, and I wondered who was dying. It’s vaccinated really old people: Note that there aren’t very many unvaccinated old people. Case counts in young children are going up: They say that the cases started rising before school opened,… Continue reading 2021-09-29 BC
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).… Continue reading 2021-09-29 General
2021-09-28 General
Treatments It’s been observed often that obesity raises the risk of COVID-19. This preprint looked into it more closely, and found that the anti-obesity drug orlistat blocks COVID-19 in mice. Mitigation Measures This report from England looked how behaviour correlated with risk of getting COVID-19. People who reported that never wore masks were slightly over… Continue reading 2021-09-28 General
2021-09-28 BC
Mitigation Methods This article says that TransLink is going to put copper — which is an anti-microbial — on a lot of high-touch surfaces as part of a pilot program. This article says that the province has announced restrictions for the eastern Fraser Valley in response to surging cases there. The province also said that… Continue reading 2021-09-28 BC
2021-09-25/26/27 BC
Mitigation Measures Apparently there has been a cap, instituted because COVID-19, on the fees that delivery services are allowed to charge restaurants: 15% on deliveries and 5% on related administration (like web sites, credit card processing, etc.) The province has now extended that cap until 31 Dec. The dude who got busted for setting up… Continue reading 2021-09-25/26/27 BC
2021-09-25/26/27 General
Pathology A paper last week said that the risk of heart inflammation in young men was one in a thousand. As this article reports, they were waaaaaay off in their count of the total number of vaccinations in Ontario; the correct figure turns out to be one in 1 in 25,000. I can’t for the… Continue reading 2021-09-25/26/27 General
2021-09-24 General
Mitigation Measures This US CDC report says that counties with school mask mandates had lower absolute pediatric case rates (16.32 per 100K/day vs. 34.85 per 100K/day) and a lower increase in cases after school started. This (different) US CDC report says that counties without a mask mandate in schools had a 3.5x higher chance of… Continue reading 2021-09-24 General
2021-09-24 BC
Hospitalizations There was been disgruntled chatter in the previous few days about how the province is not reporting people in hospital in the COVID-19 briefings if the person is no longer COVID-19 positive. Something I realized is that it would be tricky to give the number. What if someone goes to the hospital for a… Continue reading 2021-09-24 BC