A lot of highly technical material dropped today, on a day when I was kind of busy, so I have not had enough time to really understand everything. AND information about Omicron is still in flux. So if you don’ t understand something here, it’s not just you. Also, there will probably not be postings… Continue reading 2021-12-07 General
Category: Mitigation Measures
2021-11-30 General
Mitigation Measures This article describes tightened border controls in Canada in response to the threat of Omicron: Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt have been added to the list of restricted countries (South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini were already on the list). Those who have been to any of their home countries in… Continue reading 2021-11-30 General
2021-11-26 General
Variants This article talks about the race to contain B.1.1.529, now formally named Omicron (not Nu). This article reports that Pfizer/BioNTech say that they will know in under two weeks how effective their vax is against Omicron, and that they can have a revamped shot done in 100 days. Moderna says they’ve been working on… Continue reading 2021-11-26 General
2021-11-24 General
I spent a lot of time on my “when will it end” section, immediately below, so I ignored almost all other news. I’ll catch up tomorrow. Mitigation Measures/Vaccines/Opinion/Analysis Everybody wants to know when the pandemic will end — when we can stop masking in grocery stores, when we can go to the Whatsit Expo without… Continue reading 2021-11-24 General
2021-11-23 General
Mitigation Measures I have heard that it is critically important for masks to fit well to be useful, yet most of the people I see wearing masks have big obvious gaps in them. How could these possibly work? And yet, clearly they do. In addition to multiple studies showing mask-wearing reduces cases, pretty much every… Continue reading 2021-11-23 General
2021-11-19 General
Vaccines This article reports that Health Canada and NACI have approved the pediatric Pfizer vaccine for 5-11 year olds! Interestingly, NACI says that kids should space the influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations, not because they shots are less effective, but because if there is an adverse effect, they want to be able to tell which shot… Continue reading 2021-11-19 General
2021-11-17 General
Vaccines This study (in the US) found that for counties with vaccination rates above 40%, for each percentage increase in vaccination rate, the COVID-19 case incidence dropped by 1.5% and the death incidence dropped by 2.7%. Go vaccines! I prefer to wait until things are done-done before publishing about them, but this is important: anonymous… Continue reading 2021-11-17 General
2021-11-12 General
Vaccines This article reports that Health Canada has approved half-dose Moderna as a booster for people over 18. Mitigation Measures This article says that organized crime stole relief funds in various ways. Recommended Reading In the Before Times, there were a fair number of international medical personnel stationed in Uganda. This article says that when… Continue reading 2021-11-12 General
2021-11-06/7/8 General
Disease As I mentioned back in May 2020, they discovered a new coronavirus in Malaysia in samples from 2017 and 2018 which appears to have jumped directly from dogs to humans. They found this coronavirus because someone decided to go looking for unknown coronaviruses, and whaddayaknow, there one is! There wasn’t a big fuss because… Continue reading 2021-11-06/7/8 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