COVID-19 Long COVID 👧 There has been a lot of hand-wringing about high absentee rates among children, with very little mention of the fact that maybe, y’know, children are sick more than were before everybody started collecting COVID-19 infections like they were baseball cards. Finally, a paper from USA (2026-01-16) does something that starts to… Continue reading 2026-01-23 General
Category: Influenza (non-bird)
2026-01-16 General
COVID-Related Excess Death and Sickness There have been a fair number of articles and post on teh socials wringing hands about how cancer rates in young people were risking — with the implication that it was because of COVID-19 infections or vaccines. However, the data for that hand-wringing had been pre-pancemic. Good news! We just… Continue reading 2026-01-16 General
2026-01-09 BC
COVID-19 COVID-19 is going up slightly, but from a very low base. Influenza is still a much bigger deal right now. Charts From the Viral Pathogen Characterization page: As I suspected, the slight drop in various respiratory illness levels in the last provincial report was in fact an artifact of the holidays. Flu has not… Continue reading 2026-01-09 BC
2026-01-09 General
COVID-19 COVID-Related Excess Death and Sickness 🤰 This paper from USA (2025-01-01) reports babies who were exposed to COVID-19 while in the womb had neurological developmental issues compared to babies who were not exposed. Compared to controls, exposed children: 🤰 This paper from China (2025-12-23) reports that eggs for IVF which are taken while the… Continue reading 2026-01-09 General
2026-01-02 General
This is a short posting because there wasn’t much news over the holidays. The province didn’t release any data this week, so there’s no BC-specific posting. (The province says they will release data next Thursday.) COVID-19 COVID-Related Excess Sickness and Death This paper from USA (2025-12-23) reports that people hospitalized for COVID-19 had a 2.11… Continue reading 2026-01-02 General
2025-12-26 General
Influenza Transmission 🤧 I just had influenza, so spent some time looking up information about incubation periods and contagiousness to figure out how to keep Spouse from getting sick. O. My. Word. There is so much information that is just plain wrong out there! Almost every web page I visited said that influenza was passed… Continue reading 2025-12-26 General
2025-11-28 BC
If you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, now would be a good time. It looks to me like flu cases are about to shoot up. There are now more flu cases than COVID-19 cases. COVID-19 is clearly declining. COVID-19 Charts From the Viral Pathogen Characterization page: Last week’s numbers were adjusted up quite a… Continue reading 2025-11-28 BC
2025-11-28 General
COVID-19 COVID-Related Excess Death and Sickness 🫀 This paper from Sweden (2025-11-18) reports that getting COVID-19 increases your risk of cardiovascular diseases. Compared to people who did not catch COVID-19, people who did get COVID-19 infections had: People who were hospitalized for COVID-19 had a 10.77 times risk of all-cause mortality compared to never-COVIDers (AKA… Continue reading 2025-11-28 General
2025-11-14 General
I want to remind people again to get a flu shot this year. There’s a new substrain — H3N2 subclade K — which apparently is more contagious and nastier if you catch it. The flu shot isn’t hugely effective against infection but it has some effectiveness (especially for children!), and even if it doesn’t stop… Continue reading 2025-11-14 General
2025-11-07 General
COVID-19 Long COVID 💉 This paper from USA (2025-11-01) reports that vaccination cuts the risk of Long COVID in adolescents by 36%. This paper from Alberta (2025-11-07) (and this press release on the paper) reports on differences between men with Long COVID and women with Long COVID. The study notes that testosterone normally helps keep… Continue reading 2025-11-07 General