The number of cases of COVID-19 reported to the province looks like it is rising. Reported cases are up,but it’s hard to tell because some of the data they usually publish is missing, the number of people with COVID-19 in the hospital is up quite a bit, and while wastewater is noisy, I can convince… Continue reading 2025-09-05 BC
Category: BC
2025-08-11 BC
Note: the weather has been awesome this week, so I have been spending it outdoors instead of reading research papers indoors. Thus the General post will be delayed by a few days. Meanwhile, COVID-19 appears to be holding pretty steady. About half of upper respiratory cases are COVID-19; about a quarter are entero or rhinoviruses;… Continue reading 2025-08-11 BC
2025-07-04 BC
COVID-19 levels keep rising steadily, but more slowly than I had expected, given how NB.1.8.1 hammered Asia. This chart from the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 page shows that the rise in COVID positivity is much shallower this year (blue) than in previous years. Wastewater from Fraser and Richmond are actually coming down. Maybe. (Maybe it’s… Continue reading 2025-07-04 BC
2025-06-06 BC
A number of COVID-19 indicators show the levels going up: wastewater (especially in Fraser), % positivity, # of patients in hospital, and # of hospital admissions. I don’t feel comfortable saying “cases are low” any more. I would like to remind people that: Go get your COVID-19 vaccination! Charts From the BC Viral Respiratory Outcomes… Continue reading 2025-06-06 BC
2025-06-01 General
COVID-19 Variants 🦠🧬 NB.1.8.1 is still causing a lot of cases in Asia and Australia. It has acquired two nicknames: “NimBus” (from the two letters in its designation) and “Razor Blade Throat” because it apparently feels like you’ve been swallowing razor blades. Long COVID 🩸‼️ This preprint using UK participants (2025-05-26) has a potential explanation… Continue reading 2025-06-01 General
2025-05-24 General
COVID-19 Variants Other people are starting to notice all the cases in Asia. This article from USA (2025-05-23) says that CDC has discovered a bunch of cases of NB.1.8.1 — the variant which is causing havoc in Asia — in wastewater arriving in planes from abroad. I know, I know, the US is not Canada,… Continue reading 2025-05-24 General
2025-05-18 General
COVID-19 COVID cases are still low in BC, but rising slightly. As a heads up, Taiwan (2025-05-13), Singapore (2025-05-13), Hong Kong (2025-05-15) Vietnam (2025-05-14), Thailand (2025-05-10) and Iran (2025-05-12) are noting an increase in cases. Long COVID 🎉🎉🎉 This paper from Italy (2025-04-27) reports that people with Long COVID have more abnormalities (microhemorrhages, dilations, and… Continue reading 2025-05-18 General
2025-05-10 General
COVID-19 Long COVID 👃 This paper from Belgium (2025-05-03) reports that people with COVID-related olfactory disorders had a 17% higher risk of depression and a 22% higher risk of anxiety than asymptomatic people. The severity of the depression or anxiety correlated with the severity of the olfactory disorder and nasal symptoms, and was worse in… Continue reading 2025-05-10 General
2025-05-03 BC
It’s been hard recently to distinguish “line going up” on the charts from random noise, but this week it looks pretty clear that COVID-19 levels are going up. Cases are up slightly, wastewater is definitely going up in Fraser. It was too good to last, I guess. 🙁 Vaccine Clinics If you want a COVID-19… Continue reading 2025-05-03 BC
2025-04-27 BC
COVID-19 is still unusually low, but from the wastewater especially, it looks like it is starting to creep up. Entero/rhinovirus is also creeping up. All the other common respiratory viruses are now also low and stable and low or getting lower, except for Data Update The BC Respiratory Outcomes page has this notice on it… Continue reading 2025-04-27 BC