Testing This article says that yesterday was a record-breaking testing day, especially in Abbotsford. 45% of today’s cases were in Fraser. Reporting For some reason, the fact that the province only counts people who are currently contagious with COVID-19 in their hospitalization numbers is getting attention right now. The policy means that we don’t know… Continue reading 2021-09-23 BC
Month: September 2021
2021-09-23 General
Vaccines This long and highly technical preprint also says that the MMR vaccine gives some protection against and that the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccine does. The authors did two things: They took T cells from blood which had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (either from infection or vaccination) and added either MMR or Tdap vaccines, and… Continue reading 2021-09-23 General
2021-09-22 General
Vaccines In this study, the authors made pseudoviruses — things which have SARS-CoV-2 spikes on them but which can’t infect people, and “mutated” the spikes. They were able to find a mutant spike that were almost completely resistant to antibodies from either people who had had COVID-19 and had not been vaccinated or who had… Continue reading 2021-09-22 General
2021-09-22 BC
Schools This article says that according to a parent-run Facebook page called BC School COVID Tracker, there have been at least 183 exposures at 117 B.C. schools and child-care facilities over the last three weeks. This article says an elementary school in Chiliwack has suspended in-person classes and gone to virtual because of rising case… Continue reading 2021-09-22 BC
2021-09-21 BC
Press Briefing I did not watch the press briefing, but I got information from other sources about what they said. This article says they said things are pretty dire in Northern Health Authority. There are only 5 nurses filling 20 positions in Fort St. John, for example. They have already flown 12 patients out of… Continue reading 2021-09-21 BC
2021-09-21 General
Mitigation Measures The land border into the USA from Canada will remain closed to non-essential non-Americans until at least 21 October. Vaccines This preprint says that the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine has a vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 infection of 48% and 76% effectiveness against severe disease. I think this is huge news,… Continue reading 2021-09-21 General
2021-09-20 BC
There might have been lots of interesting news today, but I’ve been busy all day and haven’t seen any of it. More later. Statistics Fri/Sat: +644 casesSat/Sun: +613 casesSun/Mon: +435 cases 11 deaths over the weekend, average of +5,433 first doses, +6,571 second doses. Currently 307 in hospital / 156 in ICU, 5,608 active cases,… Continue reading 2021-09-20 BC
2021-09-18/19/20 General
It was a busy weekend, it’s going to be a very busy day for me. I wasn’t going to post today, but there’s great news! Vaccines Pfizer/BioNTech announced that their trial in kids from 5-11 years old has finished, and the results look good!
2021-09-17 BC
Schools Parents entered a school in the Interior and caused a lockdown. This tweet says that schools starting didn’t seem to cause a big spike in cases in children, but there is chatter on Twitter that parents are having trouble getting their kids tested. There’s also chatter that a rhinovirus is going around. Projections The… Continue reading 2021-09-17 BC
2021-09-17 General
COVID-19 Origins This preprint says they have found a bat coronavirus which looks really close to SARS-CoV-2. It looks to me like that’s the origin! Does this mean an end to speculation about SARS-CoV-2 coming from a Chinese lab? Oh hell no, because they have too much fun with conspiracy theories and because it’s not… Continue reading 2021-09-17 General