Here's your AB COVID # analysis for Fri Jan 14th. 1/
Cases/d yest 6326, a 0.2% drop from last Thurs's 6341. 7d ave now 5997 a 44.9% incr wk over wk from 4138. Positivity 37.88% compared to last Thurs 38.42% (essentially flat). Don't let the slight drop wk over wk lull you, changing test criteria make everything inaccurate. 2/
Hospitalizations: inpts. Last Fri +62 to 585 (revised from 681 yest 579 Wed 570 Tues 558 Mon) Sat +16 to 601 (revised from 595 yest 593 Wed 585 Tues and 555 Mon). Sun +41 to 642 (revised from 637 Yest 633 Wed 617 and Mon 563). 3/
Mon +46 to 688 (revised from 680 yest 633 Wed and 628 Tues) Tues +29 to 717 (revised from 700 yest and 666 Wed) Wed +32 to 749(revised from 707 yest). Yest -8 to 741. (subject to revision). 7d rise to Tues of 51.9% (yest 61.1% Wed 55.7% Tues 53.4% Mon 53%). 4/
I think it is really important to point out the massive revisions to the numbers of inpts. Mon for example was inititally reported at 628. today 688. These massive revisions hide rapid growth of patients. Looks like the curve is bending down, dunnit? Nope.
ICU: Wed -4 to 80 (revised from 79 yest). Yest +1 to 81. Four days of flat ICU cases is a relief. Paeds admits 6, including 2 to ICU, a 10-19year old and a baby. Total deaths 5. 6/
Demographics:Age graph:increasingly useless. See that rapid rise among the 80+? That's just b/c they meet the PCR test criteria for being vulnerable. Others don't so relatively dropping. They likely are all going straight up. Geography similarly not usefu, except relatively. 7/
Everyone I know who cares is scared and frayed. I know I am. Be kind. Forgive. We are not doing our best. Emotions are up. Love one another. We need it now more than ever. 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/def…
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/column…
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.