Vaccines It’s here! This preprint from India has the first data for nasal vaccines in humans that we’ve seen. It compares of the same inactivated adenovirus delivered nasally (BBV154) and intramuscularly (Covaxin), both from Bharat Biotech: Levels of antibodies and good things range from about 1.5x to almost 2x higher when delivered nasally. There were… Continue reading 2023-02-02 General
Author: Ducky
2023-01-30 BC tiny
Wastewater From Jeff’s spreadsheet, using Metro Vancouver data: Vancouver and Richmond are definitely on downward trends. The others are less clear, but it looks like generally going down.
2023-01-26 BC
The statistics show really good news! While I wouldn’t say that the situation is good right now, it is better than it has been in a long time. (Assuming that the province hasn’t f’ed with the data.) Entertainment A friend alerted me that Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre has amazing ventilation. This pre-pandemic article and this post-pandemic… Continue reading 2023-01-26 BC
2023-01-26 General
Vaccines People ask me which vaccine they should get. I tell them it’s really between the Pfizer BA.4/5 bivalent and the Novavax, that I don’t have enough information to distinguish between those two. This paper from Novavax with data from South Africa says that three doses of Novavax works about as well as — not… Continue reading 2023-01-26 General
2023-01-20 BC tiny
Wastewater Jeff’s spreadsheet of Metro Van COVID-19 levels in wastewater shows stable or falling slightly COVID-19 levels for all areas except for North Shore, which historically has been low and variable.
2023-01-19 BC
Statistics As of today, the BC CDC weekly report said that in the week ending on 14 Jan there were: +560 confirmed cases, +142 hospital admissions, +24 ICU admissions, +27 all-cause deaths. As of today, the weekly report said that the previous week (data through 7 Jan) there were: +661 confirmed cases, +195 hospital admissions, +37 ICU… Continue reading 2023-01-19 BC
2023-01-19 General
Long COVID This paper from the UK says that people who have had COVID-19 infections are five times as likely to die in the 18 months post-infection than controls. This paper says that people who were unvaccinated were more likely to have lingering illness for at 28 to 89 days than the vaccinated, and that… Continue reading 2023-01-19 General
2023-01-13 BC small
Wastewater From Jeff’s spreadsheet: Jeff also just made individual charts, with nine-day rolling averages. (Why nine-day? It worked better.) From those charts, you can see that there was a definite rising trend for a while in Vancouver and the north shore, but levels now falling. He suspects that we’re seeing the end of a post-holiday… Continue reading 2023-01-13 BC small
2023-01-12 BC
Provincial Guidance Last week I said that the public health guidance on masks changed briefly, then changed back. This article says that was a mistake, that an old stale version accidentally got pushed. (Sounds like they need a better publishing workflow.) Hospitals This article says that Pub Health was going to open twenty surge centres… Continue reading 2023-01-12 BC
2023-01-12 General
Mitigation Measures This article says that the US has put in a new rule that air travellers must be fully vaccinated before getting on a plane to the US. (Confirmed at this US CDC page.) This paper from Ontario (from August) found that parents, in addition to everything else they were dealing with, had a… Continue reading 2023-01-12 General