Pathology This article says that people with mental illnesses are at much higher risk of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death. I gather that it’s not the mental illness per se, but the consequences of mental illness that put them at risk. Mitigation Measures This article reports that the Government of Canada has ended its COVID-era… Continue reading 2021-11-20/21/22 General
Category: Long COVID
2021-11-16 General
Long COVID This preprint says that they found a chemical signature (elevated IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α) associated with Long COVID. This is good for two reasons: it can help “prove” to doctors that the patients really have Long COVID and aren’t just lazy and it can suggest what the problem is and hence how to… Continue reading 2021-11-16 General
2021-11-04 General
Genetics This preprint talks about using virus-like particles to study viruses. It looks enough like SARS-CoV-2 that it can get into cells, but then it can’t replicate. Essentially, it’s shooting blanks. This study identified a specific gene variant (which comes from Neanderthals!) which gives a 2x risk of respiratory failure. About 60% of people of… Continue reading 2021-11-04 General
2021-10-30 to 11-01 General
Vaccines This preprint from Israel says that the vaccine effectiveness of a third dose of Pfizer vs. two doses of Pfizer at least five months ago was: 93% against hospitalization, 92% against severe disease (which I think is equivalent to “ICU” here), 81% against death. This article says that Novavax has finished its rolling review… Continue reading 2021-10-30 to 11-01 General
2021-10-28 General
Treatment This paper says that a single infusion of a new-to-me polyclonal antibody — sotrovimab — is 85% effective at preventing hospitalization when given early to high-risk COVID-19 patients. The FDA already gave an EUA to sotrovimab on 26 May; Canada gave interim approval on 30 July (and bought 10,000 doses on 4 October), so… Continue reading 2021-10-28 General
2021-10-27 General
Treatments Yay! This article says that Merck has licensed molnupiravir such that ~100 developing countries can manufacture it at low cost! This is awesome. (It hasn’t been approved by any countries yet, but it will be soon, I’m sure.) Yay yay! This article reports that a cheap mature drug for depression — fluvoxamine — reduces… Continue reading 2021-10-27 General
2021-10-23/24/25 General
Transmission In this small study of Italian health-care workers who were tested regularly, all of the people who tested positive but were asymptomatic tested negative the very next day. The mean time for the symptomatic patients to test negative was 11 days. Pathology This preprint says they found SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid of… Continue reading 2021-10-23/24/25 General
2021-10-22 General
Vaccines This article reports that pediatric Pfizer is 90.7% effective against infection in children. Long COVID This preprint says that various forms of cognitive impairment are pretty common several months after “getting over” COVID-19. People who went the ER are more likely to have cognitive impairment than people who were treated as outpatients. Recommended Reading… Continue reading 2021-10-22 General
2021-10-21 General
Mitigation Measures This article talks about $7.4B in relief spending that the Government of Canada has announced. All three of these programs will go until 7 May 2022. Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) will be replaced by the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit and will provide $300 a week to eligible people. The Tourism and Hospitality Recovery… Continue reading 2021-10-21 General
2021-10-13 General
Diagnosis / Equity This Twitter thread suggests that the reason darker-skinned people have higher fatality rates from COVID-19 is because, well, they have darker skin: pulse oximeters, which are used to judge how serious a case is, don’t work on dark-skinned people. Economic effects This video from January 2021 makes the economic case — not… Continue reading 2021-10-13 General