Vaccinations On a COVID Slack channel that I frequent, the question has come up: “Why are we sitting on 127,917 AstraZeneca doses? If we are saving them for second doses, why not use them as second doses?” I think that’s an excellent question, and we’ve come up with the following possible reasons: They are scared… Continue reading 2021-05-26 BC
Category: BC
2021-05-25 BC
Vaccinations BC is changing the interval between first and second doses from 112 days/16 weeks to 50 days/~7 weeks for Pfizer. That means almost all 70+ will be eligible right away. Unfortunately, a lot of the 70+ yos are not in the system right now. Age Cohort size Registrations (by last week) % registered 70-79… Continue reading 2021-05-25 BC
2021-05-22/23/24 BC
It was kind of slow over the weekend, so I’m doing three days at once. Mitigation Measures The police cleared out a crowd at English Bay beach on Friday at 10p when the beaches officially closed. Police turned back about 100 cars and fined two at travel-denying checkpoints. Those two just… didn’t stop. Vaccination I… Continue reading 2021-05-22/23/24 BC
2021-05-21 BC
Vaccination clinics A milestone day: 50% of the total population of BC and 62% of adults have gotten at least one dose of vax! Here’s the breakdown by age: Statistics +420 cases, +6 deaths, +53,160 first doses, +3,500 second doses. Currently 319 in hospital / 107 in ICU, 4,507 active cases, 135,068 recovered. NB: I’m… Continue reading 2021-05-21 BC
2021-05-20 BC
Vaccines There is a vaccine mix&match study that you can participate in, here, in BC! The clinical trial details are: 1 or 4 months between doses BNT-Pfizer, Moderna, AZ Matched vax for each schedule change (but AZ will only be 4 months) Alternating for each combo (except AZ will only ever be dose 1) Press… Continue reading 2021-05-20 BC
2021-05-19 BC
Vaccinations It looks likely that the 12-16 year-olds will be vaccinated at the mass vaccination clinics — apparently it is now technically possible to now register them online. However, we won’t really know what’s up until tomorrow’s press briefing at 2pm tomorrow. The BCCDC Weekly Data Summary has a nice graph of the vaccination progress:… Continue reading 2021-05-19 BC
2021-05-18 BC
Testing Some North Shore school districts are going to use home gargle tests for schoolkids. You’ll still have to drop them off at a LifeLabs, so they aren’t quite rapid tests, but they are still relatively speedy. (Plus you don’t have to get the back of your sinuses assaulted.) Statistics +411 cases, +2 deaths, +38,538… Continue reading 2021-05-18 BC
2021-05-13/17 BC
NB: I hurt a tendon in my hand, so took a few days off from typing. It will probably take me a few days to catch up on all that has happened, and I will be less detailed. Vaccination Clinics Over the weekend, vaccine bookings have opened up to ALL yes all adults! This is… Continue reading 2021-05-13/17 BC
2021-05-13 BC
Testing A pilot project at UBC where they used rapid testing in the dorms found several clusters, and was deemed a success. Some are asking why we are not doing more rapid testing. Opinion: I worry because we have seen over and over again that people treat a negative rapid test as license to drop… Continue reading 2021-05-13 BC
2021-05-12 BC
Vaccination Clinics BC has officially passed 50% of the eligible population vaccinated with at least one dose! Yay!! They are pausing giving AZ as first doses today, ostensibly to save the remaining doses for second doses. Later today, people under 30 will be able to book appointments. We are FLYING through the cohorts now! Someone… Continue reading 2021-05-12 BC