January 27, 2021 Biomedical Engineering After 10 months of daily pandemic segments, @billcarrolltalk and I changed gears and talked about Israeli defibrillator drones with nary a “C” word mentioned.
January 26, 2021 Geriatrics Vaccine shortage has led to Ontario’s plan to delay health care provider’s second dose for some and redirect them to long-term care residents so that by Feb. 5 all will have had at least one dose.
January 25, 2021 Biomedical Engineering Two positive steps forward for treatment and testing of coronavirus.
January 22, 2021 Epidemiology Ontario’s provincial case rate has started to decline for the first time since November. Ontario’s Associate Medical Officer of Health says it is still too early to determine if this represents a true trend.
January 21, 2021 Clinical Research Israeli real-world Pfizer vaccine study reports infection rates dropped by 33% in treatment group of 200K people >60 y.o vs 200K controls after 21 days, less than predicted by proponents of delaying 2nd dose. Stay on schedule until proven otherwise.
January 20, 2021 Allergy/Immunology California investigating why less than 10 people at one specific vaccination site (but not anywhere else) developed possible allergic reactions from specific lot of Moderna vaccine. Was it the vaccine or some other source?
January 19, 2021 Health Policy Too many assumptions and unknowns about about post-infection immunity duration combined with circulating and more virulent strain makes it risky to not vaccinate people who have had COVID-19.
January 18, 2021 Apps and diagnosis Study reports that Apple watches require further evaluation to determine their ability to predict COVID-19 infection due to small study size, self-reported data, and a small number of infections within the group.
January 15, 2021 Epidemiology Understandable frustration expressed by Ontario MPP citing selective evidence to end lockdowns and ‘go back to normal life’. The outcome of his ‘exit strategy’ is what happened in Sweden. Instead, do what other successful countries have done.
January 14, 2021 Epidemiology WHO states 2021 “could even be tougher”. All one has to do is look at the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 monitoring site or read what many who understand and interpret the data and public health policies to understand their conclusion.