Treatment This paper says that a single infusion of a new-to-me polyclonal antibody — sotrovimab — is 85% effective at preventing hospitalization when given early to high-risk COVID-19 patients. The FDA already gave an EUA to sotrovimab on 26 May; Canada gave interim approval on 30 July (and bought 10,000 doses on 4 October), so… Continue reading 2021-10-28 General
2021-10-27 BC
Note: the province’s dashboard‘s numbers don’t agree with the press release‘s numbers. Furthermore, the dashboard’s vaccination numbers don’t make any sense (+40 first doses, +0 second doses, +0 other doses???). So today, there will be no vaccination stats or charts. Crime This article says that random stranger attacks are up in Vancouver, and speculates that… Continue reading 2021-10-27 BC
2021-10-27 General
Treatments Yay! This article says that Merck has licensed molnupiravir such that ~100 developing countries can manufacture it at low cost! This is awesome. (It hasn’t been approved by any countries yet, but it will be soon, I’m sure.) Yay yay! This article reports that a cheap mature drug for depression — fluvoxamine — reduces… Continue reading 2021-10-27 General
2021-10-26 General
Pathology/Treatment A really puzzling and important question has been: why do some people get really really sick from COVID-19 while others breeze through? This preprint reports on measuring the hell out of three groups of people — healthy, hospitalized, and ICE — to figure out what was different between them. They found: At least 10%… Continue reading 2021-10-26 General
2021-10-26 BC
Vaccines / Boosters I got to the briefing late, but other sources say that BC will offer booster to the general population starting in January. There’s no need to register again — you’ll get contacted (just like you were for your first and second doses) between six and eight months after your second dose. They… Continue reading 2021-10-26 BC
2021-10-23/24/25 BC
Transmission This article reports that out of about 68 people at a live music show in Kamloops, all (allegedly) fully vaccinated, at least 18 people have tested positive for COVID-19. (And only 24 have been tested so far.) It sounds like the bar owner was very conscientious, and even so they had wicked spread. Assholes… Continue reading 2021-10-23/24/25 BC
2021-10-23/24/25 General
Transmission In this small study of Italian health-care workers who were tested regularly, all of the people who tested positive but were asymptomatic tested negative the very next day. The mean time for the symptomatic patients to test negative was 11 days. Pathology This preprint says they found SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid of… Continue reading 2021-10-23/24/25 General
2021-10-22 BC
Statistics +649 cases, +13 deaths, +3,596 first doses, +7,481 second doses, +5,521 other doses. Currently 365 in hospital / 142 in ICU, 5,106 active cases, 193,325 recovered. first doses second doses of adults 89.9% 84.6% of over-12s 89.4% 83.9% of all BCers 81.4% 76.3% Charts
2021-10-22 General
Vaccines This article reports that pediatric Pfizer is 90.7% effective against infection in children. Long COVID This preprint says that various forms of cognitive impairment are pretty common several months after “getting over” COVID-19. People who went the ER are more likely to have cognitive impairment than people who were treated as outpatients. Recommended Reading… Continue reading 2021-10-22 General
2021-10-21 BC
Assholes This article reports that a court granted an injunction to close a restaurant in Hope that was defying vax card rules. This article says that the city of Vancouver pulled a different restaurant’s business license. Mitigation Measures This article seems to say that we will need two different vax passports, a BC one and… Continue reading 2021-10-21 BC