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
Author: Ducky
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
2021-12-07 BC
Note: There probably will not be posts on Wednesday and Thursday. Press Conference Today is kind of a busy day today, so this discussion will be somewhat abbreviated. They have now identified five Omicron cases in BC and expect there to be more. The feds had identified 204 people originally who had recently travelled to… Continue reading 2021-12-07 BC
2021-12-04/05/06 General
Variants I referenced a preprint on Friday which said that Omicron’s doubling time was 1.2 days, but everybody else seems to be saying more like 2.5 days. This makes a difference: ten doublings (which is about 1000x) is either 12 days away or 25, which means before Christmas or after Christmas. Either way, don’t plan… Continue reading 2021-12-04/05/06 General
2021-12-04/05/06 BC
Transmission This article says that there was a big cluster to a religious gathering on Vancouver Island. Mitigation Measures This article says that several BC hospitals have been getting big HVAC upgrades. According to this article, the City of Vancouver appears to have caved in the face of the police, and is letting them do… Continue reading 2021-12-04/05/06 BC