Karma This article says that Mak Parhar, a literal flat-earther and COVID-denier has died. While the official cause of death has not been determined blah blah, he had recently complained of symptoms which sure looked similar to COVID-19 symptoms. Press Briefing Today there was a briefing on modelling (slides, video). Briefly, because I am bored… Continue reading 2021-11-04 BC
Author: Ducky
2021-11-04 General
Genetics This preprint talks about using virus-like particles to study viruses. It looks enough like SARS-CoV-2 that it can get into cells, but then it can’t replicate. Essentially, it’s shooting blanks. This study identified a specific gene variant (which comes from Neanderthals!) which gives a 2x risk of respiratory failure. About 60% of people of… Continue reading 2021-11-04 General
2021-11-03 BC
Pathology This article reports that there were a record-breaking 55 double-lung transplants in 2020, nine of them because of lung damage from COVID-19. So far this year, there have been 52. Statistics +430 cases, +5 deaths, +7,789 first doses, +3,188 second doses, +4,646 other doses. Currently X* in hospital / 137 in ICU, 4,373 active… Continue reading 2021-11-03 BC
2021-11-03 General
Deaths/Demographics In addition to just “numbers of deaths”, you can also estimate “years of life lost” to describe how bad an epidemic is. For example, HIV had a huuuuge number of years of life lost because the people who died from it were unusually young. This article looked at years of life lost to COVID-19… Continue reading 2021-11-03 General
2021-11-02 BC
Mitigation Measures This article does some calculations to say that not wearing a mask is like driving drunk five times. Yes, yes, it depends on all kinds of factors (how drunk? how far do you drive? what is the case rate in your city?), but the point is that not wearing a mask is the… Continue reading 2021-11-02 BC
2021-11-02 General
Vaccines This article says that vaccine effectiveness in England was only about 50-60% against infection in the June/July 2021 period. There’s a stat called the number needed to vaccinate (NNV), which is a measure of how many people you would need to vaccinate to prevent some outcome. The NNV for 80 year olds to prevent… Continue reading 2021-11-02 General
2021-11-01 BC
Mitigation Measures This article says that 3,325 health-care workers across the province haven’t been vaxxed and have been put on leave without pay, leading to reductions in services at hospitals in the Interior and Fraser health authorities, plus some surgery postponements. I’m sure Minister Dix will give us incredibly detailed statistics on everything at tomorrow’s… Continue reading 2021-11-01 BC
2021-10-30 to 11-01 General
Vaccines This preprint from Israel says that the vaccine effectiveness of a third dose of Pfizer vs. two doses of Pfizer at least five months ago was: 93% against hospitalization, 92% against severe disease (which I think is equivalent to “ICU” here), 81% against death. This article says that Novavax has finished its rolling review… Continue reading 2021-10-30 to 11-01 General
2021-10-29 BC
Mitigation Measures The province announced that the indoors mask mandate was being extended indefinitely. This article reports that BCers can now get the federal vax passport. Statistics +584 cases, +9 deaths. I’m unsure of the vaccinations, but something like +6,797 first doses, +3,787 second doses, +8,731 other doses. Currently 436 in hospital / 156 in… Continue reading 2021-10-29 BC
2021-10-29 General
Vaccines This article says that NACI recommended boosters for a few more groups: People who got two doses of AZ or one of J&J, on the grounds that those seem to wane over time. People over 70 who could become severely ill from the disease. People from First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities. Front-line health-care… Continue reading 2021-10-29 General