NB: I hurt a tendon in my hand, so took a few days off from typing. It will probably take me a few days to catch up on all that has happened. Treatments A big study in the UK found that giving people in hospital convalescent plasma (i.e. a source of antibodies) did absolutely no… Continue reading 2021-05-13/17 General
2021-05-12 BC
Vaccination Clinics BC has officially passed 50% of the eligible population vaccinated with at least one dose! Yay!! They are pausing giving AZ as first doses today, ostensibly to save the remaining doses for second doses. Later today, people under 30 will be able to book appointments. We are FLYING through the cohorts now! Someone… Continue reading 2021-05-12 BC
2021-05-12 General
Variants There is a somewhat worrying report from Qatar saying that the efficacy of only one dose of Pfizer is only 29.5% against infection from B.1.1.7 and 54% against hospitalization. If you only have one dose, maybe don’t go licking doorknobs just yet. However, this report, also out today, from the UK from December to… Continue reading 2021-05-12 General
2021-05-11 BC
Vaccine Clinics 36 year-olds are booking now!! We are going through birth years really fast now; yesterday’s record 60K shots in arms certainly helped! Sick leave The BC government has adopted a sick leave policy that mandates three days to people with COVID-19 while isolating and waiting for test results. Businesses will be partially reimbursed.… Continue reading 2021-05-11 BC
2021-05-11 General
Secondary Effects A study in the UK says that diabetes diagnosis, management, and mortality have been impacted pretty badly during the pandemic. 🙁 Vaccinations Today, Canada passed the 40% mark in what percentage of its population has gotten at least one dose, and it doesn’t look like the vaccination rate is slowing down at all!… Continue reading 2021-05-11 General
2021-05-10 BC
Vaccine Clinics I missed it on 6 May, but restaurant workers over 18 can now get immunized on the occupation track. Everyone over 18 who lives in a hotspot can now get a vax! Press Briefing In addition to the stats (see below), Dr. Henry said: Regarding the data leak, the primary primary most important… Continue reading 2021-05-10 BC
2021-05-10 General
Vaccines This preprint says that scientists have seen good results of a multi-coronavirus vaccine, working against SARS-CoV-1, COVID Classic, B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and bat coronaviruses! Disease From this preprint, 2% of the people with COVID-19 carry 90% of the virions! This preprint is from August, but I just noticed it. It says that COVID-19 cases go… Continue reading 2021-05-10 General
2021-05-08 BC
Alberta Alberta is in a world of hurt. They have 25,155 active cases, meaning about 1 out of every 173 people in Alberta has COVID-19 right now. Yow! This means that Alberta is a pretty significant potential source of infections. Outbreaks There has been an outbreak in a poultry processing plant in Surrey. (Didn’t BC… Continue reading 2021-05-08 BC
2021-05-08 General
Immunity A huuuge study in Denmark looked for reinfections and from that, figured out the efficacy of getting sick in preventing later infections and found that it was 80·5%, 47·1% for those aged 65 years and older. And yes, mRNA vaccines are like 95% efficient, so yes, the mRNA vaccines are higher efficacy than actually… Continue reading 2021-05-08 General
2021-05-07 General
Drug interactions Apparently some people were worried that Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) would make a COVID infection worse. Not so, says this study. Variants Remember yesterday when I said that B.1.617.2 was not of concern? I was too fast. While it does not seem to have unusually good immunity/vaccine evasion, it does seem to be… Continue reading 2021-05-07 General