Here's your AB COVID # analysis for Tues Feb 8th. 1)
CAses/d (I know y'all know this fact, but for those who don't (@jkenney) this is a pretty useless metric now that testing is restricted) 1773. Positivity 36.43% (last Mon 40.53%). 2/
Hospitalization: Inpt: Last Tues +22 to 1568 (new pandemic record) (revised from 1566 yest 1554 Fri 1542 Thurs and 1492 Wed) Wed -35 to 1533 (revised from 1530 yest 1515 Fri and 1472 Thurs) Thurs -21 to 1512(revised from 1507 yest and 1466 Fri). 3/
Fri -14 to 1498 (revised from 1492 yest), Sat -48 to 1450 (revised from 1437 yest), Sun +26 to 1476 (Revised from 1424 yest). yest +18 to 1494 (subj to revision) ICU: Sun +2 to 119 (revised from 118 yest) Yest +10 to 128 (new #weararespiratorwave record) (subj to revision). 5/
Paeds admits 11, incl one baby in the ICU. Deaths 13 (we've been bouncing around 13-15 deaths/day for quite a while). 6/
Finishing up with some rural wastewater monitoring graphs. It may be dropping in urban areas, but rural areas are another thing altogether. Source: covid-tracker.chi-csm.ca fin/
thanks to @ArynToombs and AB Health for the graphics.
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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.