Cases are going up fast. Omicron is here! Testing This article says that testing sites are getting backed up. Statistics +753 cases, +3 deaths, +5,350 first doses, +2,678 second doses, +26,963 other doses. Currently 184 in hospital / 70 in ICU, 3,878 active cases, 218,616 recovered. There have been 135 cases of Omicron to date.… Continue reading 2021-12-16 BC
Month: December 2021
2021-12-15 BC
Assholes This article describes how somebody phoned the Lynn Valley Care Home early in the pandemic, pretended to be a health inspector, and told them that essentially everyone was infected and that nobody could go in or out. He pled guilty today to “conveying a false message with intent to alarm”. Side Effects This article… Continue reading 2021-12-15 BC
2021-12-15 General
Mitigation Measures This article says that the federal government is advising against international travel. (If you go to the travel advisory page, for every country, it says you shouldn’t go there.) This article says that the Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland committed a whole bunch of money to fight COVID-19 . Variants There were a ton… Continue reading 2021-12-15 General
2021-12-14 BC
Sports This article reports that three Canucks are “in the COVID-19 protocol”, meaning they are sick or have been exposed. But wait! This article says that a fourth went into protocol IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME! Vaccines The Province reminds us that the first COVID-19 vaccine in the province was given one year ago.… Continue reading 2021-12-14 BC
2021-12-14 General
Variants According to this Twitter thread, which reported on a press conference in South Africa, Omicron now accounts for 90% of the cases in South Africa. (Note: it might not be displacing Delta, there might still be just as many Delta cases as before — I don’t now — but a huge number of Omicron… Continue reading 2021-12-14 General
2021-12-11/12/13 BC
Mitigation Measures This article reports that UVic has cancelled its in-person exams due to COVID-19. This press release says that there were 124 cases and at least four were Omicron. Statistics Fri/Sat: +415 cases Sat/Sun: +365 cases Sun/Mon: +349 cases Over the weekend, +5 deaths, and an average of +7,437 first doses, +1,752 second doses,… Continue reading 2021-12-11/12/13 BC
2021-12-11/12/13 General
Testing This report says that rapid tests are really inaccurate (they compared to PCR). This Twitter thread summarizes, but the brand I just picked up in the US misses half of symptomatic cases and a quarter of asymptomatic cases. (They say you should test multiple times, which if the failures are randomly distributed, should drop… Continue reading 2021-12-11/12/13 General
2021-12-08/09/10 BC
Cases have been kind of flat for a while, and today they went up. I’ve heard speculation that there have been a fair number of holiday parties. Even if the attendees are fully vaccinated, that can’t be good for transmission. Mitigation Measures This article reports that worship services are being allowed again in Northern Health,… Continue reading 2021-12-08/09/10 BC
2021-12-08/09/10 General
I was out of town for a few days. I think this mostly catches up. Variants This press release from Pfizer says that three doses of Pfizer will give reasonable protection against infection with Omicron, but two doses isn’t enough. Two doses should still protect against severe disease. This Twitter thread on a report from… Continue reading 2021-12-08/09/10 General
2021-12-07 General
A lot of highly technical material dropped today, on a day when I was kind of busy, so I have not had enough time to really understand everything. AND information about Omicron is still in flux. So if you don’ t understand something here, it’s not just you. Also, there will probably not be postings… Continue reading 2021-12-07 General