It looks like levels are flat or maybe going down a little bit, which I find surprising because the USA is going bonkers with COVID-19 right now. Hospitals This article (2024-08-02) reports that BC hospitals’ Emergency Departments — including some in Metro Van — have continued to have trouble staying open due to physician shortages.… Continue reading 2024-08-03 BC
2024-08-03 General
COVID-19 Pathology This paper from France (2024-08-02) reported that they found SARS-CoV-2 in semen. They got positive tests from 11% of subjects who’d had mild COVID-19 infections. In one man’s semen, they were able to find replication-competent virus (i.e. it wasn’t just virus RNA fragments) after 90 days! Transmission This preprint from USA (2024-07-31) (also… Continue reading 2024-08-03 General
2024-07-30 BC
Hospitals This article (2024-07-23) reports that patients were turned away from Mission Memorial Hospital on Tuesday 20 July due to lack of staff. Patients were directed to go to different hospitals. This article (2024-07-26) says that Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater closed for the night of 25 July due to lack of staff. Mitigation… Continue reading 2024-07-30 BC
2024-07-30 General
COVID-19 Long COVID This paper from Italy (2024-07-15) reports that children with Long COVID have elevated levels of P-selectin compared to controls. P-selectin is a protein in cells which call other players in the immune system to help counter an infection. This preprint from USA (2024-07-25) reports that they can tell Irritable Bowel Syndrome from… Continue reading 2024-07-30 General
2024-07-19 General
COVID-19 This is going to be really short because I am travelling today. Long COVID This paper using Quebecois electronic records data (2022-10-21) found that patients who got dehydrated during hospitalization were more likely to get physical Long COVID. They were no more likely to get mental Long COVID, though. This paper from USA (2024-07-17)… Continue reading 2024-07-19 General
2024-07-14 General/BC
COVID-19 Personal Recommendation Y’know how I sung the praises of the Readimask a few weeks ago? I need to admit that I’ve had some trouble with a gap forming under my chin, especially in hot (i.e. sweaty) weather. I still like the Readimasks, and have fixed the problem for me with a piece of medical… Continue reading 2024-07-14 General/BC
2024-07-07 BC
Cases are going up, hospitalizations are up, positivity is up, wastewater is… being strange. COVID-19 Statistics Edit: when I published this, I erroneously gave statistics for the previous month. I updated the numbers on 1 August when I discovered it. As of um some date? probably 4 July, the BC CDC situation report says that in the… Continue reading 2024-07-07 BC
2024-07-07 General
Long COVID This paper from USA (2024-07-03) reports that they find SARS-CoV-2 hangs out in the bodies of people who had COVID-19. They’ve got a technique where they do PET scans with a tracer that can show where in the body T cells are active. They see a lot of activation in Long COVID patients… Continue reading 2024-07-07 General
2024-06-29 General/BC
I only had two pieces of BC-specific news, so I folded them in to the General post. COVID-19 Pathology IMPORTANT! This paper from USA (2024-06-21) reports using that cannabis raises your risk of severe COVID! The study found that people who used cannabis had a 28% higher risk hospitalization and 78% higher risk of ICU… Continue reading 2024-06-29 General/BC
2024-06-19 General
Unsolicited Product Recommendation I realized that I forgot to gush about the Readimasks fully in the last General post. They are a little expensive. HOWEVER, they gave a great seal (though see below) and were EXTREMELY comfortable. I do not have dangerously sensitive skin — I don’t go into anaphylactic shock when I touch latex… Continue reading 2024-06-19 General