Long COVID This preprint says that people with Type O blood are 4.2x as likely to get Long COVID as non-O people. From this Twitter thread: Treatments This preprint looked at effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies against BA.1 and BA.2. It is striking to me how well a monoclonal antibody works against one of the strains… Continue reading 2022-03-12/13/14 General
2022-03-11 BC
Note: I am going to reduce how often I post. I already don’t post on weekends; I plan to drop to Mondays and Fridays and maybe Wednesdays. Mitigation Measures Yesterday I said I didn’t know if businesses could still make masks mandatory, This press release from the province says yes, they can still require customers… Continue reading 2022-03-11 BC
2022-03-11 General
Note: I am going to reduce how often I post. I already don’t post on weekends; I plan to drop to Mondays and Fridays and maybe Wednesdays. Today was a light news day. I guess partly people are distracted with Ukraine, partly they are bored with COVID-19? Mitigation Measures This article reports that two federal… Continue reading 2022-03-11 General
2022-03-10 BC
Mitigation Measures This article says that TransLink and BC Ferries will be dropping their mask mandates. Press Conference Uh, I ended up being to busy today to summarize. I’ll do that tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s an article which does a brief summary. The highlights are: By the time you read this, the province will… Continue reading 2022-03-10 BC
2022-03-10 General
Mitigation Measures This paper reports on a big study in the US which compared school districts which had mask mandates with those that did not. For every 100 community-acquired cases, districts with universal mask mandates had 7.3 infections, while districts with optionally masks had 26.4. Don’t let anybody tell you that masks don’t work Testing… Continue reading 2022-03-10 General
2022-03-09 BC
Statistics +274 cases, +14 deaths, +646 first doses, +2,372 second doses, +3,023 other doses. Currently 405 in hospital / 58 in ICU. first doses second doses third doses of adults 93.7% 91.3% 58.2% of over-12s 93.3% 90.8% 56.3% of over-5s 90.7% 86.6% * of all BCians 89.8% 85.7% 52.2% Charts
2022-03-09 General
Vaccines This letter to the editor reports on the effectiveness of mRNA vaccines against various things for various variants: against variant # doses VE hospitalization alpha 2 85% hospitalization delta 2 85% hospitalization delta 3 94% hospitalization omicron 2 65% hospitalization omicron 3 86% ventilation alpha 2 or 3 76% ventilation delta 2 or 3… Continue reading 2022-03-09 General
2022-03-08 BC
Mitigation Measures This article reports that cruise ships are going to be allowed again starting in April (which apparently is the normal cruise ship season). Passengers will have to take a test before disembarking. This press release reports on an Order which requires health professionals to disclose their vaccination status to their College. I’ve seen… Continue reading 2022-03-08 BC
2022-03-08 General
Pathology Yesterday, I posted this preprint which talked about how pre- and post-COVID brain scans showed changes in the brain. Yesterday I saw a Twitter thread talking about that study. The author said that a loss of brain matter is normal when you lose your sense of smell, due to the circuits not being exercised.… Continue reading 2022-03-08 General
2022-03-07 BC
Testing This Ministry of Health press release says that people over 60 can now pick up one box of five rapid tests each at local pharmacies. (For reference, the over-seventies were able to pick up starting on 23 February 2022.) Statistics Fri/Sat: +385 casesSat/Sun: +327 casesSun/Mon: +285 cases Note that the case counts reported today… Continue reading 2022-03-07 BC