Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Canada officially loses its measles elimination status

Published November 10, 2025

Published by: The Globe and Mail
Published on: November 10, 2025
By Alanna Smith, Kristy Kirkup

Canada has been stripped of its measles elimination status after failing to interrupt transmission within one year of an outbreak that continues to spread in parts of the country.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said Monday it was notified by The Pan American Health Organization, a regional arm of the World Health Organization, that Canada lost its designation – an accomplishment it held for 27 years.

“While transmission has slowed recently, the outbreak has persisted for over 12 months, primarily within under-vaccinated communities,” the statement said.

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Risk of rare heart complications in children higher after COVID-19 infection than after vaccination

Published November 4, 2025

Published by: University of Cambridge
Published on: November 4, 2025

Children and young people faced long-lasting and higher risks of rare heart and inflammatory complications after COVID-19 infection, compared to before or without an infection, according to new research. Meanwhile COVID-19 vaccination was only linked to a short-term higher risk of myocarditis and pericarditis.

The study is the largest of its kind in this population, and is published today in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. It was led by scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, and University College London, with support from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK.

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Ontario School Safety Calls on Province for an Immediate Vaccine-PLUS Strategy to Tackle Current Measles Outbreak

What we must confront: Living with Long COVID

Published November 3, 2025

Published by: The Peak
Published on: November 3, 2025
By Ashima Shukla

The first winter of the pandemic, I was in Shanghai visiting my family when the first news reports began circulating — something about a new pneumonia, a city in lockdown. Within days, my family and I had boarded a flight to India, seeking temporary refuge. Three days before our flight back, India closed its borders. Airports emptied. Around the world, our lives shrank to the size of our homes. For millions around the world, it meant grieving in isolation, watching suffering multiply. It meant exposure to the deep inequities of our world, where access to safety, care, and health depended on privilege, geography, and luck.

Over time, things seemed to return to normal. However, the virus, though silenced, persisted, reshaping bodies and altering lives long after the headlines moved elsewhere.

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cardiovascular disease

Covid and Flu Can Triple Your Risk of Heart Attack

Published October 29, 2025

Published by: The New York Times
Published on: October 29, 2025
By Nina Agrawal

The risk of a heart attack triples within the first few weeks after a Covid-19 infection, the study suggested, and quadruples in the month after a flu infection. The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, was a large review and analysis of existing research.

“It endorses a general idea that we’ve been thinking about and talking about for the past several years — that infections are generally not benign,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a senior clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study.

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research

A surprise bonus from COVID-19 vaccines: bolstering cancer treatment

Published October 20, 2025

Published by: Science
Published on: October 20, 2025
By Phie Jacobs

The innovative messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines that thwarted the ravages of COVID-19 may also help fight tumors in cancer patients, according to a new analysis of medical records and studies in mice.

People with cancer who coincidentally received the mRNA shots before starting drugs designed to unleash the immune system against tumors lived significantly longer than those who didn’t get vaccinated, a research team announced yesterday at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin. Laboratory experiments by the group suggest the vaccines rev up the immune system, making even stubborn tumors more susceptible to treatment.

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PEI

P.E.I. hospitals bring back mask mandates as experts warn of viral surge across Canada

Published October 16, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: October 16, 2025
By Maria Sarrouh

Mandatory masking is back at health facilities across Prince Edward Island as public health officials work to reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses.

The newest numbers from Canada’s respiratory virus surveillance report show that during the week ending Oct. 4, COVID-19 activity was increasing on the Island, with about 20 per cent of tests coming back positive. Nationally, the average was under 10 per cent.

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Colourized transmission electron micrograph of a measles virus particle (red), with a blue background. Photo: CDC and NIAID. Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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Ontario

Ontario School Safety Calls on Province for an Immediate Vaccine-PLUS Strategy to Tackle Current Measles Outbreak

Published April 24, 2025

Published by: Ontario School Safety
Published on: April 24, 2025

Toronto, Ontario – [April 24, 2025] – In an urgent appeal to protect the health and safety of Ontario’s students, education workers, and families, Ontario School Safety (OSS) has issued an open letter asking the Ontario Provincial Government and Public Health Ontario for an immediate vaccine-PLUS strategy, which includes the essential role of healthy indoor air, to curtail the spread of measles. This critical request comes in the wake of concerning measles infection rates – as of April 17th, 2025, Public Health Ontario is reporting 925 measles cases in the province, more than five times the number of cases than the total number of cases over the last 12 years. Encouraging a vaccine-only strategy is insufficient due to barriers to access, and because measles spreads not only through direct contact with secretions or contaminated surfaces, but through the air we breathe.

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Volunteers needed to test no-needle COVID vaccine made in Hamilton

Photo of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The building features a glass-walled atrium. In the foreground, there are some trees with green leaves. Photo by Captain108 / Wikimedia Commons.

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Volunteers needed to test no-needle COVID vaccine made in Hamilton

Published April 21, 2025

Published by: Hamilton Spectator
Published on: April 21, 2025
By Joanna Frketich

A made-in-Hamilton COVID vaccine that requires no needles is moving to the next stage of testing and researchers are looking for volunteers to take part.

The vaccine that is inhaled instead of injected will be studied by McMaster University researchers with $8 million in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

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Federal cuts threaten to close Pennsylvania lab that certifies N95s and other respirators in June

Illustration of a white N95 respirator torn into two pieces, with violet background. Based on image by Rossie C S from Pixabay.

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N95 respirators

Federal cuts threaten to close Pennsylvania lab that certifies N95s and other respirators in June

Published April 17, 2025

Published by: Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Published on: April 17, 2025
By Ian Karbal

The Pennsylvania laboratory that certifies all of the country’s NIOSH-approved respirators is on the chopping block. HHS is stonewalling employees who raise questions.

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BC patients, health advocates slam removal of healthcare mask protections

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I traded my U.S. medical career for life in Canada. Here’s how the two health systems stack up.

BC patients, health advocates slam removal of healthcare mask protections

Published March 31, 2025

Published by: DoNoHarm BC
Published on: March 31, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DoNoHarm BC, Protect Our Province BC and the Canadian Covid Society warn the province’s decision endangers patients, healthcare workers, and the healthcare system

March 31, 2025 (British Columbia) – BC patients and health advocates are speaking out against the provincial government’s decision to drop healthcare mask requirements, at a time when there are multiple illness outbreaks in medical settings. Public health groups DoNoHarm BC, Protect Our Province BC, and the Canadian Covid Society warn that the move endangers vulnerable patients and frontline workers, while harming the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of BC’s healthcare system.

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A red emergency sign at a hospital. Photo: Pixabey.

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I traded my U.S. medical career for life in Canada. Here’s how the two health systems stack up.

Published March 25, 2025

Published by: Canada Healthwatch
Published on: March 25, 2025
By Code Black

After more than a decade practicing emergency medicine in the United States, I very recently began working shifts in Canada. The differences hit me immediately, and are profound.

What follows are a series of working hypotheses — early impressions shaped by firsthand experience and years of health policy work in the U.S. I expect they will evolve with time, but they already point to important contrasts in how both countries approach medicine, physician autonomy, and the doctor-patient relationship.

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Smartwatch Data: Study Finds Early Health Differences in Long COVID Patients

A man with glasses, black shorts, and a grey long-sleeved top looks at his smartwatch as he runs alone on a road at sunset. In the background: green fields and trees. Photo: Benoît Deschasaux / Unsplash.

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BC’s Measles Vaccination Rate Is Lower Than in Gaines County, Texas

Smartwatch Data: Study Finds Early Health Differences in Long COVID Patients

Published March 20, 2025

Published by: Complexity Science Hub
Published on: March 20, 2025

People who later experienced persistent shortness of breath or fatigue after a COVID infection were already taking significantly fewer steps per day and had a higher resting heart rate before contracting the virus, according to a CSH study published in npj Digital Medicine. This may indicate lower fitness levels or pre-existing conditions as potential risk factors

Between April 2020 and December 2022, over 535,000 people in Germany downloaded and activated the Corona Data Donation App (CDA). Of these, more than 120,000 voluntarily shared daily data from their smartwatches and fitness trackers with researchers, providing insights into vital functions such as resting heart rate and step count.

“These high-resolution data served as the starting point for our study,” explains CSH researcher Katharina Ledebur. “We were able to compare vital signs in 15-minute intervals before, during, and after a SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

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Colourized transmission electron micrograph of a measles virus particle (red), with a yellow background. Photo: CDC and NIAID. Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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International Long COVID Awareness Day 2025

BC’s Measles Vaccination Rate Is Lower Than in Gaines County, Texas

Published March 14, 2025

Published by: The Tyee
Published on: March 14, 2025
By Michelle Gamage

In Gaines County, Texas, where a measles outbreak has killed one six-year-old and one adult, the measles vaccination rate among kindergarteners is just 82 per cent, according to reporting by The Atlantic.

That’s a higher measles vaccination rate than children have here in B.C.

Just under 82 per cent of two-year-olds have gotten one dose of the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine, and around 72 per cent of seven-year-olds have gotten both doses, according to the B.C. Childhood Immunization Coverage Dashboard’s 2023 data, which is the most recent data year available.

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Image of Ottawa sign with teal-coloured letters, with text in white reading: International Long COVID Awareness Day. Teal, grey and black symbol of International Long COVID Awareness Day.

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Ottawa-Gatineau

International Long COVID Awareness Day 2025

Published March 12, 2025

International Long COVID Awareness Day – COVID-cautious walk

Date: Saturday, March 15, 2025

Time: 7 pm – 8 pm

Where: Ottawa City Hall (meet at the entrance, Laurier Avenue side)

Join us for a walk on International Long COVID Awareness Day, Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 7 pm. The route is wheelchair-accessible.

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Advocates Urge BC to Reinstate Healthcare Mask Protections Amid Rising Risks

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Everything Wrong with Canada’s Proposed Long COVID Recommendations

Advocates Urge BC to Reinstate Healthcare Mask Protections Amid Rising Risks

Published December 10, 2024

Published by: DoNoHarm BC
Published on: December 10, 2024

DoNoHarm BC, Protect Our Province BC and the Canadian Covid Society warn of infection risks in healthcare

December 10, 2024 (British Columbia, Canada) – Advocacy groups in BC are calling on policy-makers to immediately reinstate healthcare mask requirements. The call comes as BC faces severe risks from COVID-19, a rise in “walking pneumonia,” local measles warnings, and Canada’s first human case of H5N1 avian influenza – which health officials warn could potentially turn into another pandemic.

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Photo of a doctor. She is wearing an obsolete blue medical mask, a blue cap and a white gown. Photo: Bermix Studio / Unsplash.

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Novavax now! We need access to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine!

Everything Wrong with Canada’s Proposed Long COVID Recommendations

Published November 25, 2024

Published by: Canadian Health Sentinel
Published on: November 25, 2024
By Simon Spichak

Researchers involved in the organizations Cochrane Canada and the McMaster GRADE Centre at McMaster University are developing guidelines to prevent and treat Long COVID in Canada. Their effort is supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada and their recommendations would likely have major sway in the way Long COVID is treated if adopted.

Every month, they release new recommendations and provide an opportunity for public comment. On November 20th, the group released a new set of Canadian Post-COVID Condition (CAN-PCC) recommendations which propose harmful and ineffective treatments: Exercise to prevent Long COVID and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat post-exertional malaise (PEM).

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Photo of two vials of a vaccine and a syringe, accompanied by white and gold text on a blue background reading: Novavax now! We need access to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine. StillCoviding.ca #NovavaxNow Photo: oasisamuel / Adobe.

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Novavax now! We need access to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine!

Published August 25, 2024

📣 Let PHAC and health ministers know you want timely access to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine this fall

✉️ Send letters to PHAC and health ministers to voice your support for access to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine this fall. Use our online tool to send emails.

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Local groups join forces for Vancouver’s second annual Clean Air Festival

Light blue illustrated image with clouds. Text reads, the second annual Clean Air Festival! (The “R” in Air has cartoon eyes and is wearing a mask). A Covid-safer hybrid event.

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The Risks of Killing a COVID Early Warning System

Local groups join forces for Vancouver’s second annual Clean Air Festival

Published August 22, 2024

Published by: Clean Air Festival
Published on: August 22, 2024

Event spotlights clean air, community care, and award-winning talent

August 22, 2024 (Vancouver, BC) – On September 15, 2024, a coalition of community groups will present Vancouver’s second annual Clean Air Festival. From 1-6:30 pm, Clean Air 604, Clean Air in BC Schools, DoNoHarm BC, Masks 4 East Van, Millions Missing BC, Protect Our Province BC, SolidAIRity GVRD, Safe Schools Coalition BC, Spring Vancouver, and Vancouver Still Cares will join forces to present a COVID-safer, immuno-inclusive hybrid event, taking place in-person at Slocan Park and digitally via livestream and recording.

The event features a DIY air purifier-building workshop, tabling, children’s games and activities from 1:00 pm, with a stage magic performance at 3:45 pm and an outdoor concert from 4:30 pm. Masks, rapid tests, zines and DIY fit test kits will be available while supplies last. Air purifiers from the workshop will be donated to schools via Clean Air in BC Schools, and to vulnerable community members via Masks 4 East Van.

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Photo of a person wearing an elastomeric respirator, with an outstretched, gloved hand reaching forward towards the viewer. On the light blue glove, the text reads: Stop COVID-19. With a bokeh effect, there is a sharp image of the glove, and the person’s face and respirator are blurred in the background. Photo: fernando zhiminaicela via Pixabay.

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Ontario

The Risks of Killing a COVID Early Warning System

Published August 1, 2024

Published by: The Tyee
Published on: August 1, 2024
By Andrew Nikiforuk

COVID-19 is surging in parts of North America and Europe, and even played a role in ending the presidential campaign of 81-year-old Joe Biden, who was infected for the third time last month.

Nevertheless, on Wednesday the Ontario government shut down its early warning system to detect COVID and other emerging diseases.

Doctors, citizens and researchers are calling the decision to kill the province’s wastewater disease surveillance program both wrong-headed and dangerous. Ending the program will make it harder to track and thwart viral outbreaks, they say, and thereby increase the burden on Ontario’s understaffed hospitals, which experienced more than 1,000 emergency room closures last year.

“Pandemics do not end because science has been muzzled,” Dr. Iris Gorfinkel, a well-known Toronto physician and clinical researcher, told the CBC.

In emails to politicians, more than 5,000 citizens have demanded restoration of the program, with little effect.

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Ontario: Protect our health — save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring!

Photo of some test tubes and equipment in a lab, with text: Protect our health. Save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring. StillCoviding.ca.

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take action

Ontario: Protect our health — save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring!

Published June 4, 2024

📣 Let MPPs know you want funding for Ontario’s wastewater monitoring program to continue

✉️ Send letters to MPPs to voice your support for wastewater monitoring. Use our online tool to send emails.

Why take action? Wastewater monitoring is an essential public health tool that provides insights into the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in Ontario’s communities.

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Ontario: Call Members of Provincial Parliament on #WastewaterWednesday!

Photo of the Ontario Legislative Building, and the surrounding green lawn and trees. It is a sunny day, and the sky is blue with some clouds. Text reads: Save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring! Call Premier Ford Phone: 416-325-1941 TTY/Teletypewriter: 1-800-387-5559 StillCOVIDing.ca #WastewaterWednesday

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Ontario: Call Members of Provincial Parliament on #WastewaterWednesday!

Published June 4, 2024

📣 Take action! Let MPPs know you want funding for Ontario’s wastewater monitoring program to continue

📱 Call MPPs to voice your support for wastewater monitoring.

✉️ Use our online tool to send letters to MPPs.

✉️ Use our online tool to send emails to municipal councillors in Ottawa or Waterloo Region.

📸 Post photos on social media.

Why take action? Wastewater monitoring is an essential public health tool that provides insights into the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in Ontario’s communities.

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COVID virus can infect your eyes and damage vision

Illustration of an eye with a SARS-CoV-2 virus particle; with blue, black and coral pink colours. Illustration by Monika Jurczyk / Adobe.

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vision loss

COVID virus can infect your eyes and damage vision

Published May 15, 2024

Published by: Futurity
Published on: May 15, 2024
By Rochita Ghosh / University of Missouri

The virus that causes COVID-19 can breach the protective blood-retinal barrier, leading to potential long-term consequences in the eye, new research shows.

The blood-retinal barrier is designed to protect our vision from infections by preventing microbial pathogens from reaching the retina where they could trigger an inflammatory response with potential vision loss.

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BC health advocates call on government to reinstate healthcare mask requirements

A 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

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

BC health advocates call on government to reinstate healthcare mask requirements

Published April 25, 2024

Published by: DoNoHarm BC
Published on: April 17, 2024

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.

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Lieutenant (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.

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N95 respirators

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

Published January 17, 2024

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: January 17, 2024
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.

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“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.

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activism

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

Published January 12, 2024

Published by: OK Doomer
Published on: January 12, 2024
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

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Can You Catch Covid Outside? Yes, You Can.

Monochromatic image with a masked plague doctor in the foreground and a smoky background. Image generated using AI by Olivia. Source: Adobe stock image.

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outdoor transmission

Can You Catch Covid Outside? Yes, You Can.

Published November 28, 2023

Published by: OK Doomer
Published on: November 28, 2023
By Jessica Wildfire

You wouldn’t attend an outdoor party where measles or smallpox was present. Covid is no different, especially now.

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First-person stories from British Columbians

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First-person stories from British Columbians

Published August 28, 2023

Published by: DoNoHarm BC
Published on: August 28, 2023

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.

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pandemic myths

Ten COVID Facts Health Officials Dangerously Downplay

Published December 21, 2022

Published by: The Tyee
Published on: December 21, 2022
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.

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Washington resident dies of complications from bird flu strain never before reported in humans

One of Long COVID’s Worst Symptoms Is Also Its Most Misunderstood

Published September 12, 2022

Published by: The Atlantic
Published on: September 12, 2022
By Ed Yong

Brain fog isn’t like a hangover or depression. It’s a disorder of executive function that makes basic cognitive tasks absurdly hard.

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Colourized transmission electron micrograph of avian influenza A H5N1 virus particles (yellow), grown in canine kidney epithelial cells (blue). Photo: CDC and NIAID.

avian flu

Washington resident dies of complications from bird flu strain never before reported in humans

Published November 21, 2025

Published by: CNN
Published on: November 21, 2025
By Katherine Dillinger, Jen Christensen

A Washington resident died of complications from an infection with a bird flu strain never before reported in humans, the state Department of Health said on Friday.

The patient was an older adult with underlying health conditions who had been hospitalized and undergoing treatment for infection with H5N5 avian influenza.

It’s the first reported case of bird flu in a human in the US in nine months and only the second reported human death from the virus in the United States, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the risk to the general public from the virus remains low.

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United Kingdom

Delay in COVID-19 lockdowns in U.K. resulted in some 23,000 more deaths: public inquiry

Published November 20, 2025

Published by: CBC News / Reuters
Published on: November 20, 2025

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson oversaw a “toxic,” “chaotic” and dithering response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a delay in locking the country down resulting in about 23,000 more deaths, a report by a public inquiry concluded on Thursday.

Britain recorded more than 230,000 deaths from COVID, a similar death rate to the United States and Italy but higher than elsewhere in western Europe, and it is still recovering from the economic consequences.

An inquiry, which Johnson ordered in May 2021, delivered a blistering assessment of his government’s response to the pandemic, criticizing his indecisive leadership, lambasting his Downing Street office for breaking their own rules and castigating his top adviser, Dominic Cummings.

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Measles outbreak in Arizona and Utah could spell the end for U.S. elimination status

Published November 19, 2025

Published by: NBC News
Published on: November 19, 2025
By Aria Bendix, Erika Edwards

A measles outbreak in Arizona and Utah shows no sign of slowing, putting the United States dangerously close to losing its elimination status for the vaccine-preventable disease.

With holiday travel and gatherings approaching, doctors worry that transmission could escalate. If measles continues to spread through Jan. 20, that will mark a year of sustained transmission in the United States. At that point, the disease would no longer be considered eliminated and it would instead revert to being endemic, or constantly present.

The backward step seems highly likely.

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Alberta

Alberta doctors call for regular access to vaccines in children’s hospitals to combat low immunization rates

Published November 17, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: November 17, 2025
By Jennifer Lee

Some Alberta pediatricians say making childhood immunizations routinely available in pediatric hospitals could help improve slumping vaccination rates in the province.

But the Alberta government is closing the door on that idea, saying children’s hospitals are under significant pressure, and it’s taking other steps to improve access.

Dr. Sam Wong, president of the section of pediatrics with the Alberta Medical Association, said he and his colleagues have been advocating for this change for several years.

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avian flu

1st US human bird flu case in 9 months confirmed with strain only seen in animals before

Published November 14, 2025

Published by: ABC News
Published on: November 14, 2025
By Mary Kekatos

A Washington state resident has tested positive for bird flu, marking the first human case confirmed in the U.S. in nine months.

The patient, who is an older adult with underlying health conditions, developed symptoms including high fever, confusion and respiratory distress and was hospitalized in early November, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

Testing confirmed the patient has H5N5, a strain of bird flu that has previously been reported in animals but never before in humans, according to the Washington State Department of Health. However, officials say the risk to the public is low.

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Ottawa-Gatineau

Here are CHEO’s new visitor guidelines as flu season begins

Published November 14, 2025

Published by: Ottawa Citizen
Published on: November 14, 2025
By Elizabeth Payne

CHEO is reinstating public health measures for visitors to the hospital as viral season begins.

Beginning Monday (Nov. 17), visitors will be asked to wear masks while in all waiting areas and during clinical interactions. CHEO will also begin limiting visitors. There will be a limit of one caregiver for patients attending appointments, and no visitors under the age of 12 — including siblings — will be allowed.

The precautions are being taken to help reduce the spread of viruses and protect those who visit the hospital and its community locations, spokesperson Karl Oczkowski said.

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Toronto

Mask mandate returns to UHN facilities ahead of respiratory virus season

Published November 14, 2025

Published by: TorontoToday
Published on: November 14, 2025

University Health Network (UHN) has announced a new requirement for staff, patients and visitors to wear a mask when inside its facilities.

Masks must be worn in all UHN facilities, including Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre as of Tuesday, Nov. 18.

All staff, patients and visitors will be expected to wear a mask in physician offices, waiting rooms for clinics, the emergency department and other outpatient clinical areas. Patients and staff must also wear a mask when delivering or receiving direct care, or when staff are closely interacting with patients in inpatient, outpatient and emergency clinical areas.

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Canada loses measles elimination status — as does the entire Americas region

Published November 10, 2025

Published by: STAT
Published on: November 10, 2025
By Helen Branswell

Canada has formally lost its measles elimination status, the country’s public health agency announced Monday, meaning all of the Americas have lost that status as well.

The decision, which was widely expected, comes after a meeting last week where an expert committee of the Pan American Health Organization determined that a large measles outbreak that began in Canada in October 2024 was still ongoing, more than 12 months after it started.

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Canada loses its measles elimination status

Published November 10, 2025

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: November 10, 2025
By Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski

The Pan American Health Organization has informed the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) that Canada no longer has the status of a country that has eliminated measles, due to an outbreak that has been ongoing for more than one year.

This status indicates that there is no continuous transmission of the disease for 12 months or more in a given geographical area.

“Despite considerable efforts by Canada, the country has lost its status. Measles is now considered to be endemic in this country,” PAHO director Dr. Jason Barbosa told a news conference.

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Alberta

CUPE Alberta launches online campaign against province’s COVID-19 vaccine fee

Published November 7, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: November 7, 2025
By Stephen Hunt

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Alberta has launched an online campaign against the province’s $100 fee for Albertans who want to get a COVID-19 vaccination.

A new website calls on the province to “axe the vax tax.”

The website calls the fee unfair, reckless and dangerous, and allows Albertans to write a letter to Premier Danielle Smith, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi and their local MLAs protesting the province’s decision to charge Albertans $100 for a COVID vaccine this year.

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Northwest Territories

Fresh Covid-19 vaccine supply arrives in NWT after earlier shipment spoiled

Published November 7, 2025

Published by: Cabin Radio
Published on: November 7, 2025
By Ollie Williams

The NWT’s health authority says a new shipment of Covid-19 vaccines has arrived in the territory after an earlier consignment spoiled.

There had been a shortage of the vaccine in recent days after the previous supply’s cold chain – the mechanism by which vaccines are kept refrigerated prior to use – broke down.

On Friday morning, the health authority said more supplies had arrived and anyone can now request a Covid-19 vaccine at Yellowknife’s Centre Square Mall clinic.

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Women are three times more likely than men to get severe long COVID: Here’s why

Published November 7, 2025

Published by: Folio - University of Alberta
Published on: November 7, 2025
By Gillian Rutherford

Research published today in Cell Reports Medicine reveals key biological differences that may explain why women with long COVID — especially those who develop chronic fatigue syndrome — tend to experience more severe and persistent symptoms than men do.

Post COVID-19 condition, or long COVID, is diagnosed when neurological, respiratory or gastrointestinal symptoms develop or continue three months or more after an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The likelihood of developing long COVID is three times higher for women than men, but until now the underlying biological mechanisms driving this disparity have remained unknown.

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