In the News…
A couple unnerving things happened recently that I’m just catching up with. First, the CDC quietly added an update for guidance around certifying death from Covid last February. The controversial…
covid-19
National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommends spring COVID boosters for groups at risk of severe illness
A new guidance on COVID-19 boosters issued yesterday by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommends that an additional booster dose be offered to people at increased risk of severe…
Understanding Long Covid
A couple days ago, Martin Kulldorff, a Swedish biostatistician, was at a White House roundtable discussing Covid when he said, “We knew about since 430 BC, since the Athenian plague…
COVID-19 Pandemic Reflections and The Next Pandemic
Well the pandemic is over, at least according to most governments, science and medicine not so much. So now it is time to look back, and to look forward. Perhaps…
AG on AB continuing care COVID response: lack of preparation, not enough staff, outdated infrastructure
It’s not exactly news that Alberta needs a staffing strategy for continuing care homes to prevent worker burnout and the kind of deaths seen the early days of the COVID-19…
Marooned in Anomie
Jon Mooallem wrote a poignant piece in the New York Times yesterday about a project that’s been recording people’s experience with the pandemic since March 2020 over individual Zoom calls.…
COVID-19 haunts us still, but if your vaccinations and boosters are fully up to date, AHS won’t let you have another one
COVID is still killing people in Alberta, but if you’ve been careful about keeping vaccinated and think it might be time for another booster, chances are you’re out of luck.…
World Health Network’s Safe Schools Initiative
The World Health Network has a 30 minute video out about Safe Schools with a small panel of people looking at how to make schools DavosSafe! Michael Bailey, co-founder of…
Former premier, CMOH – both battered by the winds of COVID controversy – find soft post-pandemic landings
Surely it was mere coincidence that two of the principal actors in Alberta’s COVID-19 drama had soft post-pandemic landings announced yesterday. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Former…
What Went Wrong? Hubris.
Mario Possamai, senior advisor for the SARS commission, was interviewed in an hour-long video from ISPR Respiratory Protection back in July 2022. Here’s a summary of his talk with some…
It’s a Social Problem, not a Medical Problem
Carol Dumaine wrote about the Davos safety measures, and how the rest of us are playing Covid roulette. It’s a solid read, but I got totally sidetracked by one of…
OPSBA Conference in the Time of Covid
I’m missing my first trustee conference this weekend because there are no Covid mitigations in effect. I called to ask about it, and they’re following the Ontario protocol, which is…
Let’s Talk About ‘Political Discrimination’
A few months ago, MP Garnett Genuis tabled a bill which would add protections to Canada’s human right legislation for “Political Belief”. Then, as the Ontario College of Psychologists moved…
Leading by Example or What’s Good for the Goose…
This is about the Davos World Economic Forum, ending tomorrow. Social media is all atwitter with the incredible precautions they pulled off. Check out their rules here. It’s three pages…
Texas businessman, world traveller, decides not to seek re-election in rural Alberta riding
A United Conservative Party backbencher caught up in the Alohagate pandemic travel scandal in the first hours of 2021 and seldom seen in his own riding has acknowledged reality and…
Unmasked People, Unmasked in Their Own Way
I think masks separate us like the families in Tolstoy’s famous opening line of Anna Karenina. You know the one: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy…
We Need to Talk about Kraken (XBB.1.5)
I watched this livestream tonight: an interview and Q&A with Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding (EFD), an U.S. epidemiologist who broke the news that the CDC knew XBB.1.5. was a variant of…
The Kraken Wakes: We Need to Stop Hosting Monsters!!
I don’t read much fiction, but I loved John Wyndham as a teen, and I realize I didn’t love English class because there was almost never any sci-fi on offer…
Year in Review
I don’t normally do a year in review, but his was my most tumultuous year in decades. It’s right up there with the year I dropped out of high school…
It’s Time to Clear the Air
A recent New Yorker article warns about a “ragtag coalition of public-health activists” who want us to wear masks forever! And then the New York Times published an article about…