Category: Vaccines

2021-12-03 General

Variants I had been hearing that Omicron had a doubling rate of something like 5 days. I finally went and scraped the data for Guateng province — which is only like two-thirds Omicron right now — and calculated a doubling time of 3.1 days. Then this preprint came out (which probably has information about just… Continue reading 2021-12-03 General

20211202 General

Variants I’m seeing a lot of news stories saying things along the lines of “don’t panic, Omicron might not be as 1) lethal, 2) immune-evasive, 3) contagious as you think!” #1: For the stories about the severity of the disease, note that South Africa’s population is a LOT younger than most of the developed world… Continue reading 20211202 General

2021-12-01 General

Transmission This article has some really cool pictures of some really really cool science. The study authors made a chemical/mechanical computer model of a virion inside an aerosol with water, lung fluid, mucous, and other crap that somebody might breathe out — 1.3 BILLION atoms worth — and then simulated it every millionth of a… Continue reading 2021-12-01 General

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

2021-11-27/28/29 General

Variants The news has been almost “all Omicron all the time”, crowding out almost all other COVID-19 stories. (Spoiler: the answer is “they don’t know yet”.) Omicron has been found in lots of countries now, including Canada, Israel, Netherland, Australia, and 12 other countries. This article quotes a South African doctor as saying that the… Continue reading 2021-11-27/28/29 General

2021-11-25 General

Variants Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Remember how yesterday I wrote this totally depressing analysis of how hard it was going to be to vaccinate our way out of this mess with our current vaccines? It just got harder. There’s a new variant under investigation — B.1.1.529 — with thirty fucking two mutations. People who I follow and respect… Continue reading 2021-11-25 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