Herewith three items of pandemic news: the UK variant seems to spread faster in the young; what’s next in vaccines (by new contributor Doug Pardee); and the import of the PCR test cycle threshold. Plus the accustomed frippery. Cycle threshold … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: How wearable computers could predict Covid-19; the complicated situation with autoantibodies; and the late-stage trial of German company CureVac’s vaccine candidate. Plus the accustomed frippery. CureVac’s candidate enters Phase … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: Covid tests you should not use; all about dry ice; and the imminence of shots going into arms. Plus a frippery. Vaccinations should start soon In England, regulators are … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: mental health associations with Covid-19; an anti-depressant possibly protective against worsening disease; and using testing to shorten the time of quarantine. Plus the usual frippery. OCD drug fluvoxamine may … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: testing a thyroid hormone for Covid-ARDS; grocery store clerks at high risk; and a simulator for rapid testing scenarios. Plus a frippery. A dashboard for exploring rapid testing Perhaps … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: Using artificial intelligence to diagnose asymptomatic Covid-19; Medicare will pay for an EUA’ed vaccine; and how obesity may complicate vaccination. Plus a pair of fripperies. Cough twice into the … Continue reading →
Today we offer four items of Covid-19 news: a county-level dashboard of dangerousness; new discoveries on how the virus spreads so effectively and why it inhibits long-term immunity; and at-home saliva testing. Plus the accustomed frippery. Why illness may not … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of Covid-19 news you may have missed this week: viral loads are falling; glasses might help; and dogs sniff for Covid. Plus the accustomed frippery. Viral loads are falling ICU admissions and death rates from Covid-19 have … Continue reading →
Last week the FDA granted Abbott Labs an Emergency Use Authorization for their BinaxNOW antigen test. The test costs $5 (materials only) and reads out in 15 minutes, with a 1.5% false positive rate and 2.9% false negative. The BinaxNOW … Continue reading →
Minnesota is the first state to have made a deal with the maker of a saliva test for SARS-CoV-2. When the simplified testing gets ramped up it will more than double the state’s daily testing capacity. Some of us don’t … Continue reading →
Picture the widespread availability of a simple, cheap, at-home Covid test that produces quick results. Perhaps a strip of paper like a pregnancy test. Everyone in the country takes it daily. It would stop this virus in its tracks. On … Continue reading →
The conclusion is early and tentative, but it is good news indeed: Of the thousands of people who were tested for Covid-19 after attending protest rallies in the Cities, only 1% or 2% have tested positive. Public health officials say … Continue reading →
Two things I didn’t know until today: The best test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the RT-PCR test, has a false negative problem; and you can be sick from Covid-19 for months (though the average case clears or worsens in … Continue reading →
