Category: General

2021-10-29 General

Vaccines This article says that NACI recommended boosters for a few more groups: People who got two doses of AZ or one of J&J, on the grounds that those seem to wane over time. People over 70 who could become severely ill from the disease. People from First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities. Front-line health-care… Continue reading 2021-10-29 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

2021-10-26 General

Pathology/Treatment A really puzzling and important question has been: why do some people get really really sick from COVID-19 while others breeze through? This preprint reports on measuring the hell out of three groups of people — healthy, hospitalized, and ICE — to figure out what was different between them. They found: At least 10%… Continue reading 2021-10-26 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

2021-10-20 General

Variants As this article says, they are starting to see a new variant in England called AY.4.2 or “Delta plus”. It is gaining ground on Delta, although slowly. It might be a little bit more contagious than Delta, but not hugely. It’s not like the huge advantage over Alpha that Delta had. Recommended Reading This… Continue reading 2021-10-20 General

2021-10-19 General

Vaccines This preprint is yet another study showing that infection+vaccination gives a stronger and more durable response that vaccination alone or infection alone. There have been so many studies showing that result that I am getting tired and bored with them, and probably will not post any more. This preprint about vaccines and pregnancy found:… Continue reading 2021-10-19 General