Tagged: coronavirus

Featured image: A new study suggests coronavirus antibodies fade over time – but how concerned should we be?

A new study suggests coronavirus antibodies fade over time – but how concerned should we be? - COVID-19

Guest Author • Oct 28, 2020 •

Sheena Cruickshank, University of Manchester Newly released research suggests that levels of antibodies against the coronavirus have declined across the UK population since testing began. Having randomly sampled 365,000 people across the country, the React2 study – which is yet to be peer-reviewed – estimates that 6% of the UK population had antibodies against the virus … Read More

Featured image: Don’t fall for the Covid contrarians

Don’t fall for the Covid contrarians - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Oct 20, 2020 •

As life in Aotearoa gets back to some kind of normal after our latest Covid-19 outbreak, cases in the northern hemisphere are on the rise again and that puts us all at risk. Because no one is safe until we are all safe. This is a tricky virus. We now know that it spreads well through droplets and aerosols and … Read More

Featured image: Terrible luck: lockdowns on learning and youth job prospects

Terrible luck: lockdowns on learning and youth job prospects - COVID-19

Guest Author • Sep 23, 2020 •

What is bad luck? Bad luck is spilling spaghetti sauce down your shirt right before an important meeting. When the person in front of you gets the last seat on the bus, that’s bad luck. Bad luck is when it’s sunny outside, so you leave the house without a coat, and it hails almost immediately (unless you live in Wellington, … Read More

Featured image: How to strengthen the post-isolation Covid rules

How to strengthen the post-isolation Covid rules - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Sep 21, 2020 •

Over the weekend, the Ministry of Health reported a case of Covid-19 in Auckland that is not related to the current Auckland cluster. Before we start to panic, here’s how I think the case happened and how we can strengthen our current border controls. The new Covid-19 case is someone who returned to New Zealand from India on August 27. Read More

Featured image: How the PCR test works and why it’s such a critical weapon against Covid-19

How the PCR test works and why it’s such a critical weapon against Covid-19 - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Sep 21, 2020 •

I’ve been asked by several people in recent days whether there is any truth to a video about the Covid-19 PCR test that is currently doing the rounds on social media. I’m not linking to it, because it is chock full of false information; the fewer people who see it the better. It is by a medical doctor who talks … Read More

Featured image: From adenoviruses to RNA: the pros and cons of different COVID vaccine technologies

From adenoviruses to RNA: the pros and cons of different COVID vaccine technologies - COVID-19

Guest Author • Sep 18, 2020 •

Suresh Mahalingam, Griffith University and Adam Taylor, Griffith University The World Health Organisation lists about 180 COVID-19 vaccines being developed around the world. Each vaccine aims to use a slightly different approach to prepare your immune system to recognise and fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. However, we can group these technologies into five main types. Some technology … Read More

Featured image: Things that grow fast, and things that surprise us

Things that grow fast, and things that surprise us - Tuhia ki te rangi

Guest Author • Sep 17, 2020 •

Marie Becdelievre January 2020. The number of news article mentioning coronavirus exploded and anxious voices whispered about a global pandemic. Whisper? To me, it was only a whisper. I tend to learn about the world through non-fiction books, conferences, and academic research rather than news and social media, so I did not see the crisis coming. But as whispers … Read More

Featured image: Now everyone’s a statistician. Here’s what armchair COVID experts are getting wrong

Now everyone’s a statistician. Here’s what armchair COVID experts are getting wrong - COVID-19

Guest Author • Sep 14, 2020 •

Jacques Raubenheimer, University of Sydney If we don’t analyse statistics for a living, it’s easy to be taken in by misinformation about COVID-19 statistics on social media, especially if we don’t have the right context. For instance, we may cherry pick statistics supporting our viewpoint and ignore statistics showing we are wrong. We also still need to correctly interpret these … Read More

Featured image: Shifting all Isolation/Quarantine Facilities to a Single Air Force Base: The Need for a Critical Analysis

Shifting all Isolation/Quarantine Facilities to a Single Air Force Base: The Need for a Critical Analysis - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Sep 14, 2020 •

Prof Nick Wilson*, Prof Michael Baker In this blog the arguments for and against shifting all COVID-19 related isolation/quarantine facilities to a single air force base at Ōhakea are considered. The main advantage would be a reduction in the risk of border control failures, which can potentially involve outbreaks in NZ’s largest cities with large health and economic … Read More

Featured image: Five things we know about COVID-19, and five we don’t

Five things we know about COVID-19, and five we don’t - COVID-19

Robert Hickson • Sep 11, 2020 •

Five things we’ve learnt 1. We know where the virus ultimately came from We know that the virus originally came from bats, and most probably a species of horseshoe bat in South East Asia. However, the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2, which allows the virus to attach to cells and infect them, is more different than those from horseshoe bat … Read More