Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:
This interview with scientist Eric Topol gives some reason for optimism about how the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic, including how the spread of the Delta variant will play out. But I did utter an “Uh oh” when I read this part: “The only question is, is there something lurking that’s worse than Delta? There’s no sign of it yet, but there’s too much of this virus circulating to be confident too much lately.” – New York
Interesting look at the dilemma facing False Creek South residents, as the clock ticks down on long-term leases set to expire in 2025, with no word from the city as to whether it will renegotiate. – Georgia Straight
https://www.straight.com/news/tim-louis-uncertain-future-of-false-creek-south
Among the economic winners during the COVID-19 pandemic have been barbecue manufacturers, with stay-at-home cooking turning grills into status symbols. Now some of the biggest grill-makers are cooking up IPOs. – Bloomberg
Glen Korstrom, reporter:
With the news last week of someone in Vancouver jumping, or toppling, to his death from a burning apartment, and with Eric Clapton in the news recently for saying he would not perform in any venue that banned unvaccinated people from attending, I thought about Clapton’s son Conor.
The story that spawned the song Tears in Heaven is so tragic. Four-year-old Conor accidentally fell out a window of Clapton’s 53-storey Manhattan residence. The window was said to be inadvertently left open following janitorial work. – Biography
https://www.biography.com/news/eric-clapton-tears-in-heaven-son
While AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 drug dominates the discussion around the company, a much greater influence on AstraZeneca’s business will be its $39 billion deal to buy Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and the performance of drugs such as its blockbuster lung cancer treatment Tagrisso.
In fact, the company just lost money on its COVID-19 vaccine for the second consecutive quarter, and has pledged not to profit from the vaccine during the pandemic. – Barron’s
