Press "Enter" to skip to content

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

High-risk Albertans urged to get another vaccine dose as COVID-19 cases ticking upElectron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. Photo by: NIAID. Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.
Featured
Topic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta

High-risk Albertans urged to get another vaccine dose as COVID-19 cases ticking up

Published May 7, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News
Published on:
By Jennifer Lee

After trending downward for several months, COVID-19 is on the upswing in Alberta once again.

The province’s respiratory virus dashboard shows a number of key indicators, including case counts, hospitalization numbers and positivity rates, are ticking up.

“Many jurisdictions in Canada have seen a slight bump in late April in the number of COVID cases, the positivity rate and also in their wastewater monitoring,” said Dr. Dan Gregson, an infectious diseases specialist in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

Continue readingHigh-risk Albertans urged to get another vaccine dose as COVID-19 cases ticking up
Comments closed
Ontario: Consultation on infection prevention and control (IPAC)Image description: Photo of a healthcare worker with long brown hair, who is wearing a white respirator and glasses. To the right, there is some black text reading: Rx Prescription for healthcare settings: Wear an N95, FFP3 or elastomeric respirator. Use HEPA filters. It’s airborne. StillCOVIDing.ca
Featured
Topic: take actionView all posts for the topic: take action

Ontario: Consultation on infection prevention and control (IPAC)

Published May 2, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

📣 The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has initiated a consultation on infection prevention and control (IPAC). Do you want healthcare workers to wear N95 respirators? Would it be safer with HEPA filters in healthcare settings? Let them know!

Continue readingOntario: Consultation on infection prevention and control (IPAC)
Comments closed
BC health advocates call on government to reinstate healthcare mask requirementsA white N95 mask with yellow head straps against an orange gradient background. White text reads, Vulnerability isn’t seasonal. #KeepMasksInHealthcare. Let’s get loud! www.DoNoHarmBC.ca
Featured
Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

BC health advocates call on government to reinstate healthcare mask requirements

Published April 25, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: DoNoHarm BC
Published on:

Protect Our Province BC, DoNoHarm BC, and Masks4EastVan highlight harms and human rights violations from loss of healthcare safety

Wednesday, April 17, 2024 (British Columbia) – Independent public health groups Protect Our Province BC, DoNoHarm BC, and Masks4EastVan are calling on the BC government to restore healthcare mask requirements. They are urging British Columbians to call for airborne pathogen protections in clinical settings by joining DoNoHarm BC’s campaign.

Continue readingBC health advocates call on government to reinstate healthcare mask requirements
Comments closed
Alberta’s Secret Pandemic Study Is Led by COVID Restrictions’ CriticAlberta Premier Danielle Smith on April 10, 2024. Photo by Chris Schwarz / Government of Alberta. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/.
Featured
Topic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta

Alberta’s Secret Pandemic Study Is Led by COVID Restrictions’ Critic

Published April 24, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The Tyee
Published on:
By David Climenhaga

When Alberta Premier Danielle Smith mused in the midst of the debate over her government’s new funding turf war with Ottawa that “we could also establish our own research programs” to ensure ideological balance in academic research, many Albertans suspected they understood precisely what she had in mind.

They thought the United Conservative Party’s Bill 18 is about more than just keeping the Trudeau government from getting credit for helping Alberta municipalities, starved for cash by her government’s policies, and Alberta students and researchers who qualify for federal grants. The so-called Provincial Priorities Act, many also thought, was intended to ensure that what research gets done in Alberta reinforces the UCP’s ideological preferences for unbridled markets and climate change denialism and against vaccines and effective public health measures.

Continue readingAlberta’s Secret Pandemic Study Is Led by COVID Restrictions’ Critic
Comments closed
We ignored AIDS. Let’s not repeat the mistake on long COVID | EditorialActivists disrupt a Senate committee hearing on January 18, 2024. Copyright © Joshua Boaz Pribanic for Public Herald. Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED license.
Featured
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

We ignored AIDS. Let’s not repeat the mistake on long COVID | Editorial

Published March 10, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Star-Ledger
Published on:
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board

In the earliest days of the AIDS crisis, America ignored the problem, even though people were dropping dead by the thousands.

We’re repeating the mistake now with long COVID. Millions are suffering, but the government has largely turned its back, as new cases emerge with each passing wave.

So people are coming from all over the country this week to Washington D.C., in the footsteps of AIDS activists, to protest at the Lincoln Memorial on March 15th. They’re desperate for their stories to be heard.

Continue readingWe ignored AIDS. Let’s not repeat the mistake on long COVID | Editorial
Comments closed
Study of 1 million US kids shows vaccines tied to lower risk of long COVIDA young child receives a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccine clinic in Baltimore County, Maryland. Public domain photo from Baltimore County Government / Flickr.
Featured
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Study of 1 million US kids shows vaccines tied to lower risk of long COVID

Published March 8, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on:
By Stephanie Soucheray

A study of 1,037,936 US children seen in 17 healthcare systems across the country shows that COVID-19 vaccines are moderately protective against long COVID: 35% to 45%, with higher rates in adolescents. The study was published today in Pediatrics.

The researchers estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) against long COVID in children aged 5 to 17 years. Though severe COVID-19 cases are less common in children than in adults, persistent symptoms in children do occur.

“It is difficult to establish how much this results from differential reporting of symptoms at different ages, greater difficulty distinguishing long COVID from other childhood illnesses or effects of the pandemic (eg, disruption of seasonal viral patterns, or of school progress,” the authors wrote.

Continue readingStudy of 1 million US kids shows vaccines tied to lower risk of long COVID
Comments closed
Ottawa: Don’t trash the COVID-19 dashboardPhoto of Ottawa City Hall, accompanied by some graphs and the text: Don’t trash the COVID-19 dashboard!
Featured
Topic: take actionView all posts for the topic: take action

Ottawa: Don’t trash the COVID-19 dashboard

Published February 1, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

📣 Let Ottawa Public Health, Ottawa’s mayor, and city councillors know you want continued access to the city’s COVID-19 dashboard.

✉️ Send letters to let them know you want continued access to updated data in the COVID-19 dashboard, and elsewhere on the City of Ottawa’s website. You can use your own email software to send the letters.

Continue readingOttawa: Don’t trash the COVID-19 dashboard
Comments closed
Study: Infection-control measures stemmed COVID spread in hospitals from 2020 to 2022Lieutenant (junior grade) Kayla Marthy, from Long Island, New York (left), and Lieutenant (junior grade) Brianna Garcia, from St. Petersburg, Florida, treat a patient in the intensive care unit aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), on April 13, 2020. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan M. Breeden.
Featured
Topic: N95 respiratorsView all posts for the topic: N95 respirators

Study: Infection-control measures stemmed COVID spread in hospitals from 2020 to 2022

Published January 17, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on:
By Mary Van Beusekom

Implementation of ventilation standards of at least five clean-air changes per hour, COVID-19 testing, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and universal wearing of respirators prevented most SARS-CoV-2 transmissions in a California healthcare system from 2020 to 2022, suggests a study published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

For the study, University of California (UC) researchers used electronic health records and movement data of patients and staff to conduct viral genomic and social network analyses to estimate COVID-19 spread in the UC–San Diego Health system. The team analyzed 12,933 viral genomes from 35,666 infected patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) (out of 1,303,622 tests [2.7%]) from November 2020 to January 2022.

Continue readingStudy: Infection-control measures stemmed COVID spread in hospitals from 2020 to 2022
Comments closed
“They’re Taking Away Your Right To Be Healthy.”Image of a plague doctor wearing a plague mask and black clothes. The setting appears to be a smoky, dimly-lit room, with a bright light near the centre. Art by нυвιѕ тανєяη on Unsplash.
Featured
Topic: activismView all posts for the topic: activism

“They’re Taking Away Your Right To Be Healthy.”

Published January 12, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: OK Doomer
Published on:
By Jessica Wildfire

The tide is turning. Thanks to all the people making noise on social media and bugging their families, while continuing to wear masks and build air purifiers no matter what anyone says, there’s a trace of hope.

—Jessica Wildfire
Continue reading“They’re Taking Away Your Right To Be Healthy.”
Comments closed
WHO designates JN.1 as separate COVID-19 variant of interestA healthcare worker conducts genomic sequencing of the SARS-COV-2 virus at the National Virology Laboratory in Honduras, on March 29, 2023. The healthcare worker is wearing a light blue translucent protective gown and cap, teal blue gloves, and a white respirator. Photo by: Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) / World Health Organization (WHO).
Featured
Topic: variantsView all posts for the topic: variants

WHO designates JN.1 as separate COVID-19 variant of interest

Published December 19, 2023

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on:
By Lisa Schnirring

Due to its rapid growth and potential to add to the respiratory virus burden in Northern Hemisphere countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) today designated JN.1, part of the BA.2.86 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, as its own variant of interest.

The announcement came following an assessment from the WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 evolution.

Continue readingWHO designates JN.1 as separate COVID-19 variant of interest
Comments closed
First-person stories from British ColumbiansAn oversized postcard affixed to the window of Adrian Dix’s MLA office. The postcard reads, “Dear Minister Dix: Restore Masks in Healthcare! Covid is Airborne! DoNoHarm BC.” In place of a postage stamp is a headshot of Health Minister Adrian Dix wearing a respirator mask. Photo from DoNoHarm BC.
Featured
Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

First-person stories from British Columbians

Published August 28, 2023

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: DoNoHarm BC
Published on:

CW: cancer, surgery, medical negligence, denial of care, disability grief

As part of DoNoHarm BC’s #Postcards4PublicHealth campaign, we’ve invited British Columbians to share their stories about the lack of Covid safety in BC – particularly the loss of mask protections in healthcare. Many wrote directly to policy makers. Some generously gave us permission to share their stories with the public and the press.

Continue readingFirst-person stories from British Columbians
Comments closed
Featured
Topic: pandemic mythsView all posts for the topic: pandemic myths

Ten COVID Facts Health Officials Dangerously Downplay

Published December 21, 2022

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The Tyee
Published on:
By Andrew Nikiforuk

Do not listen to powers that be who pretend that getting infected with COVID multiple times is now no big deal. They’re asking you to lower your guard for a nasty virus that can invade the brain, disregulate the immune system and damage the vascular system.

This strategy has led to predictable results — more direct deaths, more excess deaths, more disease and some 1.4 million Canadians reporting some form of long COVID over the last two years.

Continue readingTen COVID Facts Health Officials Dangerously Downplay
Comments closed
Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Radio | Ontario Today with Amanda Pfeffer

Published May 8, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC Radio One / Ontario Today
Published on:

What questions do you have about COVID-19?

Dr. Fahad Razak joins Ontario Today and takes your calls. Razak is an internal Medicine Physician at St. Michael’s Hospital. He’s also the former scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.

Continue readingRadio | Ontario Today with Amanda Pfeffer
Comments closed
Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

Ottawa will stop providing COVID-19 rapid tests to regions

Published May 7, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News
Published on:
By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon

The Canadian government plans to stop supplying provinces and territories with free COVID-19 rapid tests, which has an infection control epidemiologist worried about two-tiered health care, increased spread and increased health-care costs.

“The federal government continues to support Canada’s rapid testing needs while the federal inventory remains,” Health Canada spokesperson Nicholas Janveau told CBC News.

Continue readingOttawa will stop providing COVID-19 rapid tests to regions
Comments closed
Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

What are the most reliable rapid antigen tests?

Published May 6, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: newsGP
Published on:
By Michelle Wisbey

A new study has analysed 26 RATs from Australia and Canada, finding only six could effectively detect the lowest concentrations of COVID-19.

Patients across the globe have come to rely on rapid antigen tests (RATs) to confirm a COVID-19 diagnosis, but a new Australian study has revealed most are not producing accurate results.

Researchers from James Cook University (JCU) say they were left ‘shocked’ after an analysis of 26 RATs from Australia and Canada found just six were effective at detecting the lowest concentration of COVID-19.

One Canadian test failed to detect the COVID-19 protein entirely at any level of concentration.

Continue readingWhat are the most reliable rapid antigen tests?
Comments closed
Topic: pandemic responseView all posts for the topic: pandemic response

The unlearned lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic

Published May 4, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The Globe and Mail
Published on:
By The Editorial Board

Four years ago this week, there was only one subject on Canadians’ minds: the incipient COVID-19 pandemic. Schools and businesses were locked down in most of the country. The death count was appalling: close to 1,900 in the first full week of the month. In all, about 4,300 Canadians would die that May – with far more brutal waves of infection and death to come.

The story is much different today. Thanks to the rapid development, approval and delivery of vaccines – an amazing human accomplishment that isn’t celebrated enough – COVID-19 has been brought to heel and is now largely seen as just one more viral disease, like the flu or common cold. The availability of home testing kits means most people who become infected by the latest variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus can manage the disease at home, and never trouble the health care system.

That’s good, but it hides the troubling fact that it is difficult to discern coherent policies at any level of government for continuing the fight against COVID-19, for dealing with its long-term effects, or for preparing for another pandemic.

Continue readingThe unlearned lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic
Comments closed
Topic: metforminView all posts for the topic: metformin

Common diabetes drug lowers SARS-CoV-2 levels, clinical trial finds

Published May 3, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on:
By Stephanie Soucheray

Today, researchers from the University of Minnesota published evidence that the common diabetes drug metformin decreases the amount of SARS-CoV-2 in the body and helps reduce the risk of rebound symptoms if given early in the course of non-severe illness.

The study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, suggests metformin may also help prevent long COVID.

The researchers tested metformin against a placebo in 999 adults infected with COVID-19. More than 50% of the study enrollees were vaccinated, and treatment took place when the Omicron variant was the most dominant strain in the United States.

Continue readingCommon diabetes drug lowers SARS-CoV-2 levels, clinical trial finds
Comments closed
Topic: New BrunswickView all posts for the topic: New Brunswick

N.B. decides against updates to Clean Air Act to improve indoor air quality

Published May 3, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News
Published on:
By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon

Nearly a year after the legislature unanimously passed an Opposition motion to update the New Brunswick Clean Air Act and improve air quality in public buildings to reduce the spread of airborne illnesses, such as COVID-19, the government says it won’t update the act after all.

The Department of Environment and Local Government reviewed the act, which dates back to 1997, and “determined updating was not necessary because protections already exist under other legislation,” such as the Occupational Health and Safety Act, said spokesperson Clarissa Andersen.

Continue readingN.B. decides against updates to Clean Air Act to improve indoor air quality
Comments closed
Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Fall COVID-19 vaccine guidelines are out. Here’s what NACI recommends

Published May 3, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Global News
Published on:
By Katie Dangerfield

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) released its updated guidelines on Friday on the use of COVID-19 vaccines during the upcoming fall season.

Although COVID-19 rates are currently low across the country, NACI said it anticipates a surge in activity during the fall and winter months, aligning with patterns seen in previous years and consistent with the behaviour of other respiratory viruses.

“As COVID-19 activity is expected during the upcoming fall and winter months, and COVID-19 disease can compound the impact on the health system of other fall and winter respiratory viruses, NACI continues to provide early guidance on the use of COVID-19 vaccines to facilitate planning by provinces and territories,” the guidelines state.

Continue readingFall COVID-19 vaccine guidelines are out. Here’s what NACI recommends
Comments closed
Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

International study highlights best RATs

Published May 2, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: James Cook University
Published on:

A ground-breaking study by James Cook University researchers has produced damning findings on several COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) available in Australia and overseas.

The new joint study by JCU and National Research Council Canada analysed 16 RATs approved by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and 10 by Health Canada, using a JCU-developed COVID-19 protein and its Canadian counterpart as reference materials.

Out of the total 26 RATs compared, only six were found to be effective at detecting the lowest concentration of the COVID-19 reference proteins in the dilution series used for benchmarking.

Continue readingInternational study highlights best RATs
Comments closed
Topic: pro-virus policiesView all posts for the topic: pro-virus policies

Trump Threatens to Shut Down Pandemic Preparedness Office Launched by Biden

Published April 30, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Time
Published on:
By Brian Bennett

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign criticized Donald Trump on Tuesday for saying that, if elected, he would close an office in the White House tasked with making sure the country is better prepared for the next pandemic.

In an interview with TIME published Tuesday, Trump said he would disband the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR), which opened last summer after Congress approved a bill in 2022 with bipartisan support to mandate its creation. The office most recently responded to an outbreak of bird flu in dairy farms, coordinating with the Food and Drug Administration to ensure milk remains safe to drink, and working with farmers to contain the virus.

Continue readingTrump Threatens to Shut Down Pandemic Preparedness Office Launched by Biden
Comments closed
Topic: New BrunswickView all posts for the topic: New Brunswick

Two more COVID deaths in New Brunswick

Published April 30, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Telegraph-Journal
Published on:
By Andrew Waugh

Two New Brunswickers aged 65 or older died from COVID-19 between April 14-20, according to new data from the province.

The news was included in its weekly update on COVID and influenza.

Seventeen people required hospital treatment for COVID between April 14-20, and one patient needed intensive care. There were two lab-confirmed COVID outbreaks in undisclosed facilities.

Continue readingTwo more COVID deaths in New Brunswick
Comments closed
Topic: New BrunswickView all posts for the topic: New Brunswick

New Brunswick mulls future of COVID-19 rapid tests, as virus kills 2, hospitalizes child under 4

Published April 30, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News
Published on:
By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon

New Brunswick is mulling the future of its COVID-19 rapid point-of-care testing program, as the virus claimed two more lives and hospitalized 17 people, including a child under four.

“Demand for rapid tests has been steadily declining since last fall, and the province is currently determining its next steps with regards to the COVID-19 tests,” said Department of Health spokesperson Sean Hatchard.

He made the comment in response to questions from CBC News about how much longer the province will continue to offer free rapid test kits and whether it’s considering phasing them out.

Continue readingNew Brunswick mulls future of COVID-19 rapid tests, as virus kills 2, hospitalizes child under 4
Comments closed
Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

What we’re starting to learn about H5N1 in cows, and the risk to people

Published April 30, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: STAT
Published on:
By Helen Branswell, Megan Molteni

The H5N1 bird flu virus has been around for decades, and the damage it wreaks on chickens and other poultry is well documented. But the recent discovery that the virus has jumped into dairy cattle — whose udders seem to be where the virus either infects or migrates to — has dumbfounded scientists and agricultural authorities.

Questions for which there are pretty clear answers when it comes to birds are suddenly unsettled science in cows. How are they getting infected? Are they transmitting the virus cow to cow, or are human actions — activities that are part of the day-to-day of farming — serving as an unrecognized amplifier of viral transmission? In the interface between infected cows and humans, how might people be at risk? Does consuming milk laced with live H5 virus pose a hazard?

Continue readingWhat we’re starting to learn about H5N1 in cows, and the risk to people
Comments closed