Devon McDonald
@mcdevonmd.bsky.social
Lucky husband and dad. Internist/ICU. Views are my own. Not medical advice.
April 3, 2025 at 3:37 PM
It’s also worth making explicit, since I believe their seasonality is frequently conflated, that COVID (in this figure SARS-CoV-2) *does not conform to a respiratory virus season* in the same way that influenza or RSV do.
One of these things is not like the others:
One of these things is not like the others:
March 29, 2025 at 8:16 PM
It’s also worth making explicit, since I believe their seasonality is frequently conflated, that COVID (in this figure SARS-CoV-2) *does not conform to a respiratory virus season* in the same way that influenza or RSV do.
One of these things is not like the others:
One of these things is not like the others:
BC was at 15.5% test positivity for the most recent week presented, ending March 22.
March 29, 2025 at 8:16 PM
BC was at 15.5% test positivity for the most recent week presented, ending March 22.
If the epidemic threshold for influenza is 5% test positivity, would it not make sense for that to also be the threshold below which the epidemic could be declared over? Right now Canada is at 18.6%.
March 29, 2025 at 8:16 PM
If the epidemic threshold for influenza is 5% test positivity, would it not make sense for that to also be the threshold below which the epidemic could be declared over? Right now Canada is at 18.6%.
The majority of Canadian provinces give second doses at 18mo, and longstanding advice for travel outside Canada for those >=12mo is to receive two doses (minimum interval between doses is 4 weeks for MMR).
I’ve been hoping to see proactive discussion of this issue for a while.
I’ve been hoping to see proactive discussion of this issue for a while.
February 14, 2025 at 6:31 PM
The majority of Canadian provinces give second doses at 18mo, and longstanding advice for travel outside Canada for those >=12mo is to receive two doses (minimum interval between doses is 4 weeks for MMR).
I’ve been hoping to see proactive discussion of this issue for a while.
I’ve been hoping to see proactive discussion of this issue for a while.
In exactly the same situation right now. This is our first COVID illness in the family, most likely acquired during lunch at school.
January 26, 2025 at 11:23 PM
In exactly the same situation right now. This is our first COVID illness in the family, most likely acquired during lunch at school.
I’m not aware of culture or plaque assay work to confirm/quantify replication competent infectious virus… but this would potentially be like drinking a nice tall glass of someone else’s snot in the first few days of their influenza illness.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
November 28, 2024 at 3:07 PM
I’m not aware of culture or plaque assay work to confirm/quantify replication competent infectious virus… but this would potentially be like drinking a nice tall glass of someone else’s snot in the first few days of their influenza illness.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
It's been four long years now, and school boards are still seating kids three to a seat on school buses breathing air like this, at a time when an estimated 1 in 13 Canadians is currently infected with SARS-CoV-2.
At 4408ppm, the equivalent of 1 in 10 breaths were recently in someone else's lungs.
At 4408ppm, the equivalent of 1 in 10 breaths were recently in someone else's lungs.
January 22, 2024 at 8:19 PM
It's been four long years now, and school boards are still seating kids three to a seat on school buses breathing air like this, at a time when an estimated 1 in 13 Canadians is currently infected with SARS-CoV-2.
At 4408ppm, the equivalent of 1 in 10 breaths were recently in someone else's lungs.
At 4408ppm, the equivalent of 1 in 10 breaths were recently in someone else's lungs.
Masks required at Peterborough Public Health Vaccine clinics.
Not so at some other health units, incredibly.
👏👏👏Dr. Piggott & PPH🙏🙏🙏
Not so at some other health units, incredibly.
👏👏👏Dr. Piggott & PPH🙏🙏🙏
October 3, 2023 at 9:46 PM
Masks required at Peterborough Public Health Vaccine clinics.
Not so at some other health units, incredibly.
👏👏👏Dr. Piggott & PPH🙏🙏🙏
Not so at some other health units, incredibly.
👏👏👏Dr. Piggott & PPH🙏🙏🙏
For context, this was an accounting of student absences due to illness at DDSB in Fall 2019 vs. Fall 2022, presented by board staff at a board meeting last year.
Elementary students absent due to illness at ~2-fold to >3.6-fold the pre-pandemic rate.
h/t @sueinnovates.bsky.social
Elementary students absent due to illness at ~2-fold to >3.6-fold the pre-pandemic rate.
h/t @sueinnovates.bsky.social
September 15, 2023 at 7:07 PM
For context, this was an accounting of student absences due to illness at DDSB in Fall 2019 vs. Fall 2022, presented by board staff at a board meeting last year.
Elementary students absent due to illness at ~2-fold to >3.6-fold the pre-pandemic rate.
h/t @sueinnovates.bsky.social
Elementary students absent due to illness at ~2-fold to >3.6-fold the pre-pandemic rate.
h/t @sueinnovates.bsky.social
DDSB was the only school board in Ontario that provided transparent absence reporting last year. This is % absent due to illness:
September 15, 2023 at 7:05 PM
DDSB was the only school board in Ontario that provided transparent absence reporting last year. This is % absent due to illness:
Moderna's bivalent BA.4/5 vaccine for 6mo-5yo has been available in the US since around the new year, under review in Canada since April a little over 4 months ago, and still hasn't been approved as of today's date.
www.canada.ca/en/health-ca...
www.canada.ca/en/health-ca...
August 30, 2023 at 4:57 PM
Moderna's bivalent BA.4/5 vaccine for 6mo-5yo has been available in the US since around the new year, under review in Canada since April a little over 4 months ago, and still hasn't been approved as of today's date.
www.canada.ca/en/health-ca...
www.canada.ca/en/health-ca...