week ending 2022-05-05 General

Mitigation Measures This site has links to a boatload of studies on masking. 21 of 24 studies found masks to be effective; one was inconclusive and one found that masks were not effective. Ten of the studies date from Dec 2021 or more recently. Long COVID There were three studies I found last week which… Continue reading week ending 2022-05-05 General

week ending 2022-04-28 General

Vaccines This article says that Moderna has formally filed a request that the US FDA approve their vax for children between 6 months and 5 years, yay! Moderna says the two-dose regime is 51% effective against infection. That doesn’t sound like much, but it is compared to kids without vax (who don’t get sick as… Continue reading week ending 2022-04-28 General

Week ending 2022-04-21 General

Variants This paper shows the increase in average transmission for different SARS-CoV-2 variants relative to COVID Classic: Long COVID This paper says that people can shed COVID-19 RNA in their poo for like seven months after they got infected. They also saw a correlation between the amount of COVID-19 RNA is their poo and gastrointestinal… Continue reading Week ending 2022-04-21 General

2022-03-31 and 2022-04-01 General

Mitigation Measures This article reports that, as advertised, the Government of Canada has dropped its requirement for a COVID test to enter the country for fully vaccinated travelers. Note that you do still need to fill out the ArriveCan app’s survey before you cross. Pathology Wow, this paper says that pregnancy increases your risk of… Continue reading 2022-03-31 and 2022-04-01 General

2022-03-23 General

Testing This article says that COVID-19 in wastewater is going up in many places across Canada. Mitigation Measures This article reports on an Italian study which found that better ventilation reduced COVID-19 cases dramatically in schools. Replacing classroom air 2.4 times an hour gave a 40 percent reduction in infections; 4 times an hour gave… Continue reading 2022-03-23 General

2022-03-17/18 General

Mitigation Measures Yep, they did it. On Wednesday I said that the government planned to drop the testing requirement to enter Canada. This article reports that it happened. This article says that as more restrictions are being lifted, a hospital in Montreal reports seeing an increase in “normal” child trauma: broken legs, scrapes, stomach flu,… Continue reading 2022-03-17/18 General

2022-03-15/16 General

Mitigation Measures This article says that the federal government is going to drop the COVID-19 test for travellers entering Canada, for both land and air crossings, for fully vaxxed travellers. Rumour has it that the requirement will be dropped on 1 April. Vaccines Remember J&J? The lame-ass one-shot vax that nobody wants? This article says… Continue reading 2022-03-15/16 General

2022-03-10 General

Mitigation Measures This paper reports on a big study in the US which compared school districts which had mask mandates with those that did not. For every 100 community-acquired cases, districts with universal mask mandates had 7.3 infections, while districts with optionally masks had 26.4. Don’t let anybody tell you that masks don’t work Testing… Continue reading 2022-03-10 General