🌊 This article from Singapore (2025-06-14) says that their wave is now peaking, about five or six weeks after their wave started in late April. That feels a bit fast to me — we usually see two months from the start to the peak here. I’m also a bit surprised that COVID-19 growth here has… Continue reading 2025-06-20 General
Category: Transmission
2025-06-06 General
There might not be a post next week because I will be travelling (with a mask on!). COVID-19 Long COVID This paper from USA (2025-05-15) reports that 3.89% of people over 65 in a ginormous cohort (3.5 million!) had Long COVID. People who had four vaccine doses had a 39% lower adjusted rate of Long… Continue reading 2025-06-06 General
2025-06-01 General
COVID-19 Variants 🦠🧬 NB.1.8.1 is still causing a lot of cases in Asia and Australia. It has acquired two nicknames: “NimBus” (from the two letters in its designation) and “Razor Blade Throat” because it apparently feels like you’ve been swallowing razor blades. Long COVID 🩸‼️ This preprint using UK participants (2025-05-26) has a potential explanation… Continue reading 2025-06-01 General
2025-05-24 General
COVID-19 Variants Other people are starting to notice all the cases in Asia. This article from USA (2025-05-23) says that CDC has discovered a bunch of cases of NB.1.8.1 — the variant which is causing havoc in Asia — in wastewater arriving in planes from abroad. I know, I know, the US is not Canada,… Continue reading 2025-05-24 General
2025-05-18 General
COVID-19 COVID cases are still low in BC, but rising slightly. As a heads up, Taiwan (2025-05-13), Singapore (2025-05-13), Hong Kong (2025-05-15) Vietnam (2025-05-14), Thailand (2025-05-10) and Iran (2025-05-12) are noting an increase in cases. Long COVID 🎉🎉🎉 This paper from Italy (2025-04-27) reports that people with Long COVID have more abnormalities (microhemorrhages, dilations, and… Continue reading 2025-05-18 General
2025-05-10 General
COVID-19 Long COVID 👃 This paper from Belgium (2025-05-03) reports that people with COVID-related olfactory disorders had a 17% higher risk of depression and a 22% higher risk of anxiety than asymptomatic people. The severity of the depression or anxiety correlated with the severity of the olfactory disorder and nasal symptoms, and was worse in… Continue reading 2025-05-10 General
2025-04-27 General
COVID-19 Transmission In the 2024-04-04 BC post, I said that I had figured out why the COVID-19 levels were so low right now: because influenza inhibits COVID-19! Aha! Well, that’s bullshit. I don’t have good data going back a long time for flu in BC, but this chart of flu, COVID-19, and RSV levels from… Continue reading 2025-04-27 General
2025-04-18 General
Omni-Testing 😮🩸‼️🎉 This paper (2025-02-21) reports on a method of sequencing the genomes of T-cells and B-cells from a patient’s blood sample which allows them to diagnose with great accuracy what pathogens the patient has been exposed to. Apparently B cells and T cells don’t have the genome of the rest of the body, but… Continue reading 2025-04-18 General
2025-04-11 General
Measles A reader pointed out that you can get a blood test to tell you how good your measles immunity is, so you know if you need another shot. The someone said that it might be useful for people who got a (possibly ineffective) vaccine in the 1960s. This is absolutely true, however, the cost/hassle… Continue reading 2025-04-11 General
2025-04-04 General
COVID-19 Random 👵🏻 Some people have noted that after COVID-19 infections, people get all kinds of diseases at rates comparable to older people. I also feel like I’m “younger” than my grandparents were at my age. (I absolutely cannot imagine my grandmother going on a 45km bike ride at my age, for example.) Knowing what… Continue reading 2025-04-04 General