Variants The US CDC changed its advice about masks, advising people to wear them more, because of what they’ve found about Delta. They were particularly shook by info from a big outbreak (~900 people) in Providencetown, MA. The study looked at 469 cases in more detail. (Here is the US CDC’s report on it, if… Continue reading 2021-07-30 General
Category: Vaccines
2021-07-29 General
Transmission This article says that, starting today, COVID-positive people (basically) in Alberta will need to stay in their home, but the household members will not be required to quarantine as well. Contact tracers also will not notify the contacts of the positive people: the infect are now responsible for telling them. Starting on 16 August,… Continue reading 2021-07-29 General
2021-07-28 General
Vaccines On 21 July’s General blog post, I reported a study which suggested that vaccine effectiveness waned over time. This tweet thread (by one of the original authors) says they don’t think that’s accurate: that they got the denominator wrong. The vaccines still work well. Pfizer has released six-month data. Tl;dr: the vaccine works really… Continue reading 2021-07-28 General
2021-07-27 General
Mitigation Measures This article says that the Canadian border guards are close to striking. Supply This article says that Canada now has enough vaccine for two doses for every person over 12. Vaccines This study found way more of a certain kind of impurities in AZ than in J&J, and those impurities sure look like… Continue reading 2021-07-27 General
2021-07-24/25/26 General
Vaccines If someone you know says that mRNA vaccines are too new and/or got rushed into production, point them at this article from 2018 which shows that there were five mRNA vaccines which had already completed trials, with five more in progress: — This is a really nice graphic showing the value of vaccinations (from… Continue reading 2021-07-24/25/26 General
2021-07-23 General
Vaccines This article says that data from Israel shows that the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against infection (not against severe disease!) might be waning. Take that with a big grain of salt, however. There are a number of reasons why this should not be scary to you, even if you got the Pfizer vax.… Continue reading 2021-07-23 General
2021-07-22 General
Variants This article suggests that one reason why Quebec is seeing so few Delta cases compared to other provinces is because they’ve got more of something else: A.2.5, first seen in Central America. It’s not a VOC yet, but they are keeping their eye on it. Vaccines This study of Pfizer found that neutralizing antibodies… Continue reading 2021-07-22 General
2021-07-21 General
Mitigation Measures This article reports that the land borders to the US will stay closed to non-essential travel until at least 21 August. American tourists will be able to come here, but Canadian tourists won’t be able to go there by land. (Canadians can still fly to the US with a negative test. The US… Continue reading 2021-07-21 General
2021-07-20 General
Vaccines This article had this stunning graphic of the difference in mortality in the UK due to vaccines: This article reports that vaccines might re-activate dormant chickenpox, leading to shingles. If you are over 50, get a shingles shot! Mitigation Measures This article says that some restrictions in long-term care homes have been lifted. Visits… Continue reading 2021-07-20 General
2021-07-17/18 General
Vaccines Canada has passed the USA in percentage of population that is fully vaxxed. This is bittersweet. I mean, yay us, but also it is so sad that hesitancy is so high in the US. Transmission This study found that hospitalized patients caught COVID-19 from infected roommates 39% of the time. However, they also found… Continue reading 2021-07-17/18 General