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
Category: 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
2025-04-18 BC
All of the tracked respiratory illnesses are on the decline or stable at low levels, including COVID-19. Charts From the BC CDC Situation Report: Comparison vs. Other Influenza-Like-Illnesses, from the Viral Pathogen Characterization page: In the most recent data (ending 12 April) as reported on 17 April 2025, among influenza-like illness (i.e upper respiratory diseases)… Continue reading 2025-04-18 BC
2025-04-11 BC
Influenza is still here but keeps dropping; COVID-19 levels are pretty much static. Mpox This article (2025-04-08) says that mpox cases are ticking up, and the province is urging people in high-risk groups to get an mpox vaccination.. Most of the cases have been men who have sex with men, mostly in Vancouver Health. Charts… Continue reading 2025-04-11 BC
2025-04-04 BC
I have been trying to understand why COVID-19 levels have been so low in BC for so long. Levels were r-e-l-a-t-i-v-e-l-y stable for since late October 2023, moving between ~270 cases/week (in April 2024) and ~630 cases/week (in October 2024) for all that time. But starting in October 2024, cases went down steadily, until last… Continue reading 2025-04-04 BC