Here's your AB COVID # analysis for Wed Dec 29th. I'll focus on the last 24 hours, and throw in a whole bunch of caveats, because some of this data is not as useful as it used to be. 1/
Cases/d yest 2800, a new pandemic record, and a % incr over last Tues's 1359. Except this data point is nowhere close as useful to a similar cases/d at any previous time of the pandemic, as evidenced by the record positivity of 29.88% (last Tues 11.89%). 2/
Hospitalizations: inpts.From a low of 261 on Sat, up +5 to 266 on Sun, +14 to 280 on Mon, and +12 to 292 yest. Not sure how useful this is, b/c it is unclear if all these new admits are pts admitted because of covid, or other reasons and just testing +ve incidentally. 3/
ICU: 57 xmas day, 57 boxing day, 60 Mon, 57 yest. This is a better data point to watch, b/c much less likely for a pt to "incidentally" catch covid in the ICU (although not impossible). 8 new paeds admits. see table from @ArynToombs for details. 4/
Deaths 11. Including 2 under the age of 50, one under the age of 40. Deaths are the other important data point to watch. Impossible to misunderstand that one. 5/
Demographics: skyrocketing cases in the 20-59 age groups. relatively sheltered are the 60-79 and 80+ age groups, protecting the most vulnerable. Let's hope this holds. And it remains very much an urban wave (so far). 6/
Feeling pretty down about the inevitability of this wave. I'm committed to doing my best to not get it... wearing a respirator when indoors, avoiding avoidable engagements, and the like. Avoiding longCOVID is my end goal. 7/
I'll end with this tweet thread I wrote this am about schools. I guess tomorrow we find out. fin/
I think we need to talk about the Infection Prevention and Control- Canada organization (IPAC-Canada). @IPACCanada, who has their annual conference starting Sunday. 1/
I was lucky enough to present at last year's convention at the invite of @BarryHunt008, on environmental impact of masking policies, with a focus on airborne protection.
You can see my presentation here: 3/
It's out! The @WHO's new wordsmithing report on airborne transmission. I'm going to do a little dissection on the good and the bad, who wins and who loses. 1/ cdn.who.int/media/docs/defβ¦
the TLDR is: "through the air" is the old "droplet" and "airborne" transmission modalities combined. "inhalation" is the new "airborne". "direct deposition" is the new "droplet" 2/
The great: finally an acknowledgment that short-range airborne transmission is an integral component of all (not just COVID) airborne transmission. This is huge. It means that workers esp. HCWs need respirator masks (FFP2/3, N95) when interacting with concerning patients. 3/
Apparently many in the Canadian ID community on this platform are weighing in that paxlovid should no longer be recommended to high-risk (elderly, immunocompromised) outpatients with confirmed covid.
I think we should take a look at the evidence they've presented.
(a thread) 1/
So far there has been no evidence presented, none, except for the blogpost posted in the first tweet.
No peer reviewed science. At all.
And a reminder that there are still >500 inpts in Alberta with covid, and 10-20 patients dying each week (all likely high risk patients).
2/
Another reminder is I reviewed the paxlovid evidence in a thread a few weeks ago, in response to a paxlovid-minimizing news story by @LaurenPelley of @CBCNews.
You can check out the thread here: 3/
At least @ChrisVarcoe mentioned the climate crisis concerns this time.
"The oil and gas industry is the largest emitting sector in Canada. The Liberal government has introduced a series of policies as concerns around climate change mount" 2/
But this is sloppy and "news release" journalism:
"CAPP noted emissions from the conventional oil and gas sector fell by 24 per cent, while production grew by 21 per cent between 2012 and 2021."
How many ways does this article anger me?
Let me count the ways...
#debunktionjunktion
(although, honestly, fighting @calgaryherald on climate issues is rather pointless, in the past @ChrisVarcoe has often been better than this)
Thread calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnβ¦
1) I realize I'm like a broken record. But having an article, on a climate issue, without mentioning the word "climate" once, is not cool. Of course people don't want to do hard things, unless they know why they need to do it. (see search in upper left corner)
2) Zero interviews from anyone, aside from the federal government, as to why this cap is necessary. All industry or industry-adjacent voices.