This article reports that BC’s Ministry of Health will switch to monthly COVID reports after the May 2 update. I will obviously cut back on BC posts in the summer; I haven’t decided how much I will cut back on the General posts. H5N1 H5N1 is starting to hit the news, and I will post… Continue reading 2024-04-26 General
Category: COVID-Related Excess Death and Sickness
2024-03-29 General
Treatments This article from USA (2024-03-25) says that the FDA has approved Pemgarda, a monocolonal antibody, for use as a pre-exposure preventative for immunocompromised people. It will be used sort of like a vaccine. (Evusheld used to be effective for that, but SARS-CoV-2 mutated enough that Evusheld stopped being effective.) This is big news for… Continue reading 2024-03-29 General
2024-03-08 General
Long COVID This paper from UK (2024-03-01) found that the blood of people who just had a COVID-19 infection was measurably different between those that developed/did not develop Long COVID later. Specifically, the ones who later developed Long COVID showed lower levels of blood iron and more inflammation. It’s not that they weren’t eating enough… Continue reading 2024-03-08 General
2024-03-01 General
Pathology This paper from USA (2024-02-07) found that vapes with propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin — with or without nicotine — increased the risk of COVID-19. However, vapes with benzoic acid added didn’t give any higher risk than not vaping. This preprint from China (2024-02-23) found SARS-CoV-2 virus in fluid in the middle ear. (Fluid… Continue reading 2024-03-01 General
2024-02-09 General
Long COVID This paper from UK (2024-02-07) found that the REGAIN intervention — an eight-week rehab program — helped people with Long COVID more than the usual care (one 30 min session). The REGAIN intervention had roughly one hour per week of light physical exercise and one hour per week most (six) weeks of psychotherapy,… Continue reading 2024-02-09 General
2024-01-12 General
In my little corner of the COVID-cautious world, there’s a real sense of bafflement as to why the whole world stopped caring. There’s a faction which is very bitter and angry at the government for deliberately misleading people in order to get us to be good little automatons and go back to economy-boosting (i.e. stock… Continue reading 2024-01-12 General
2023-12-15 General
Long COVID This (long) report from StatCan says that people who reported two COVID-19 infections were 1.7 times more likely to have Long COVID than people who only had one infection; people who had more than two were 2.6 times more likely to have Long COVID than those who had one infection. COVID-19 is not… Continue reading 2023-12-15 General
2023-11-25 General
Pathology This paper from USA says that 48.5% of people hospitalized with COVID-related fungal infections died, while only 12.3% of people hospitalized with non-COVID-associated fungal infections died. This paper from Taiwan found that people who got COVID-19 infections were 59% more likely to get shingles in the following year than controls. This report from Korea… Continue reading 2023-11-25 General
2023-11-10 General
Long COVID This paper from Italy found that people continue to recover taste and smell for at least three years after losing it due to COVID-19 infection. This paper from USA said that children under 5 years old who had been infected with COVID-19 were 40% more likely to get RSV than controls. Vaccines Intranasal… Continue reading 2023-11-10 General
2023-10-27 General
Long COVID This preprint from USA says they used PET scans to look at inflammation in the brains of long haulers, and found more inflammation in long haulers than in controls. This preprint from many places says that they found evidence of reactivation of herpesvirus type 6 in long haulers (mostly a childhood disease, where… Continue reading 2023-10-27 General