Vaccines Yet another paper which finds that, surprisingly, antibodies against COVID Classic work much better against P.1 than against B.1.351. A paper says that AstraZeneca is 70% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID from B.1.1.7 and only 29% effective against asymptomatic COVID from B.1.1.7, ouch. The paper says that it is 82% effective against symptomatic illness… Continue reading 2021-03-30 General
Author: Ducky
2021-03-29 General
Vaccines Good news! The US CDC has released a report which says that the mRNA vaccines prevent infection well, not just symptoms. In other words, if you get a vaccination, you’re unlikely to be a carrier and get other people sick. Not only that, but the mRNA is 80% effective after just one dose, yay!… Continue reading 2021-03-29 General
2021-03-29 BC
Press Briefing We have seen a big surge in COVID cases in the past week, and pub health decided that warranted stricter measures. In particular, Whistler has been a trouble spot. Not only have people gotten COVID there, they have taken it back home with them to various locations (because they were not respecting the… Continue reading 2021-03-29 BC
2021-03-27/8 BC
Case counts The case counts have spiked recently, and I’m seeing a lot of anxiety on social media. This bulletin from Island Health, warning parents and staff to expect more cases in the schools, didn’t help. VOCs The number of P.1 cases is even higher than was reported on Friday. This is not a big… Continue reading 2021-03-27/8 BC
2021-03-26 BC
Things are not looking good in BC right now. You have my permission to panic. Statistics Today: +908 cases, +3 deaths, +27,185 first doses, +21 second doses, +3294 AZ shots. VOCs ID’d: +117 of B.1.1.7, +0 of B.1.351, +23 of P.1. Currently 294 in hospital / 81 in ICU, 6,245 active cases, 9,996 under monitoring,… Continue reading 2021-03-26 BC
2021-03-26 General
Vaccines It’s a little bit confusing, but I think the UK said that they can’t ship AZ from Britain to the EU (like the EU says they should) because the UK AZ supply chain includes a subcontractor’s plant which the EU has not given regulatory approval to. (They didn’t give regulatory approval because AZ did… Continue reading 2021-03-26 General
2021-03-25 General
Vaccines Pfizer is starting trials of really young children. VOCs This article remarks that SARS-CoV-2 actually is not mutating that much, and that the different VOCs seem to be coming up with the same mutations over and over again in convergent evolution. This suggests that there might not be that much more that the viruses… Continue reading 2021-03-25 General
2021-03-25 BC
Press briefing Today’s press briefing was slightly odd, as it did not include the daily stats. (Those came out in written form a few hours later.) Mostly Dr. Henry answered questions which have been coming into her office. This is a very loose rendering of the questions she addressed: Q: Is the increase in young… Continue reading 2021-03-25 BC
2021-03-23/4 BC
You get a special two-for-one issue today because I uh was working on my taxes yesterday. Statistics Yesterday (Tuesday): +682 cases, +1 death, +18,093 first doses, +7 second doses, VOCs ID’d: +135 of B.1.1.7, 2 of B.1.351, 25 of P.1. Today: +716 cases, +3 deaths, +25,126 first doses, +12 second doses, +22 of B.1.1.7, +1… Continue reading 2021-03-23/4 BC
2021-03-23/4 General
Special double-issue today, and I spent all day yesterday doing my taxes. Vaccines Canada might be facing another vaccine drought. First, the European Union said yesterday they would embargo all vaccines from leaving the EU. Note that the EU is mad at AstraZeneca Inc. — the EU says that AZ has been sending vax to… Continue reading 2021-03-23/4 General