BA.2.12.1 is on the rise in New York…
A recently named sub-strain represents the latest twist in the ongoing evolution of SARS-CoV-2. It’s currently active in the United States and looks to be very capable of spreading, outpacing Read More …
Category: COVID-19
Lockdowns had a role: they saved lives
There are threats and lists and all manner of abuse aimed at those who promoted or supported measures that saved lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. I just want to make Read More …
Thank goodness we did all the work
Thank goodness we didn’t hold off on opening up to see what Omicron was capable of. We had to have Christmas. And there were national cabinet agreements. Anyway, how could Read More …
Ireland and the vaccinated hospitalised-it ain’t what it looks like
The media have again become fixated on the higher number of COVID-19 fully-vaccinated people in Irish hospitals and ICUs – but when you apply a little mathematics, it’s clear that Read More …
WHO to new PCR users: read the damned manual!
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published (14th Dec 2020, then updated 20th Jan 2021) a piece of advice for laboratories testing for SARS-CoV-2 using PCR. The advice boils down: Read More …
The Swiss cheese infographic that went viral
A visual representation of how to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 struck a chord with many in 2020. I won’t rehash all that has already been written about the Swiss cheese Read More …
The “false-positive PCR” problem is not a problem
If you haven’t seen all the chatter that states PCRs using more than thirty-something (someone even suggested 25 to me!) cycles will suffer from false positives and so is useless, Read More …
More testing shows more iceberg
COVID-19 case numbers are rising quickly in many parts of the northern hemisphere. Already some totals have outstripped the peaks seen in the first wave of the pandemic. Europe and Read More …
Sigh, yes, the ‘COVID virus’ is real
There has been talk out thar in the wildlands of Twitter from people who don’t believe the evidence that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is real. Has Read More …
And another thing…on false positives
Sometimes the full story can’t fit into a media article. A lot of words can be said during an interview with a journalist but sometimes it’s just really hard to Read More …
Rhinovirus rampant or testing triumphant?
Turns out, this physical distancing thing actually works as advertised. Who would have thought that keeping the things viruses need for their survival – hosts full of cells – far Read More …
We don’t yet know the origin story for SARS-CoV-2
By Katherine E Arden, PhD & Ian M Mackay, PhD The existence of a coronavirus related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was first hinted at by a researcher Read More …
Kits and reagents and viruses
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven the use of the words “kit” and “reagent”. I completely feel for you if you still have no real idea of what is meant by Read More …
COVID-19 is not a virus, but SARS-CoV-2 is
For about two weeks we lived with, published using, and talked about, a disease-causing virus called the “novel coronavirus”. That name was always going to create problems like, what do Read More …
Why does soap work so well on SARS-CoV-2?
This is a guest post from Prof Palli Thordarson of the Uni of New South Wales. It was previously posted in a Twitter thread and on Facebook and has been Read More …