The CSA Group — a not-for-profit standards organization — released for review a new draft standard on the “Selection, Use, and Care of Respirators” (CSA Z94.4:25) for workplaces, specifically including health care. This new standard is designed to ensure much better protection for health-care workers and for everyone seeking health care.
Comments closedCanada 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.
Comments closedChildren 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.
Comments closedThe 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.
Comments closedThe 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.
Comments closedMandatory 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.
Comments closedToronto, 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.
Comments closedA 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).
Comments closedThe Pennsylvania laboratory that certifies all of the country’s NIOSH-approved respirators is on the chopping block. HHS is stonewalling employees who raise questions.
Comments closedFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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.
Comments closedAfter 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.
Comments closedPeople 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.”
Comments closedIn 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.
Comments closedDate: 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.
Comments closedDecember 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.
Comments closedResearchers 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).
Comments closed✉️ 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.
Comments closedAugust 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.
Comments closedCOVID-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.
Comments closed✉️ 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.
Comments closed📱 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.
Comments closedThe 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.
Comments closedWednesday, 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.
Comments closedImplementation 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.
Comments closedComments closedThe 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.
You wouldn’t attend an outdoor party where measles or smallpox was present. Covid is no different, especially now.
Comments closedCW: 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.
Comments closedDo 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.
Comments closedBrain fog isn’t like a hangover or depression. It’s a disorder of executive function that makes basic cognitive tasks absurdly hard.
Comments closedA 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.
Comments closedCHEO 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.
Comments closedCanada 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.
Comments closedThe 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.
Comments closedThe 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.
Comments closedThere 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.
Comments closedResearch 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.
Comments closedThere are now 18 poultry farms in B.C. that are dealing with outbreaks of avian flu.
This includes more than a dozen large poultry farms in Chilliwack, Abbotsford and Langley.
Shawn Hall, director of the B.C. Poultry Industry Emergency Operations Centre, told Global News that it is a concerning time for poultry farmers in the province.
Comments closedFunding gaps are already making it difficult for Ottawa Public Health to meet growing community needs and invest in health-care prevention, but a public health emergency would make the situation worse, OPH is warning.
Among other things, OPH is unable to comply with Ontario Public Health standards when it comes to inspections and some infectious disease cases and contact management for “lower impact diseases of public health significance.”
Comments closedChanges to the Alberta government’s COVID vaccination plan this year mean many Albertans are facing long waitlists and a hefty bill to get their shot.
With the government-run program only offered through public health clinics and many of those clinics experiencing long waits, some Albertans are choosing instead to go to their local pharmacist to get immunized — as they have done in previous years.
Comments closedThe risk of long COVID was 36% lower in adolescents vaccinated within 6 months before their first infection than in their unvaccinated peers, suggests an analysis of US Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) trial data published late last week in Vaccine.
The study, led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers, involved 724 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years who were vaccinated against COVID-19 within the previous 6 months and 507 unvaccinated youth matched on sex, symptom onset, and enrollment date.
Comments closedOn October 26th, CBC’s flagship program The National aired an interview featuring former CBC host Gill Deacon discussing her recovery from Long COVID using a brain retraining program and promoting her upcoming book.
Although host Ian Hanomansing clarified on air that Deacon doesn’t endorse the brain retraining therapy, the segment still provided national coverage for an unproven therapy. The National failed to mention that there’s no strong evidence CBT, and related brain retraining programs, are effective for Long COVID. The specific brain retraining course Deacon used to recover, according to her Substack, the Lightning Process, has been accused of exploiting people with Long COVID.
At best, this suggests The National did not conduct sufficient background research that would have flagged the problematic nature of the Lightning Process. At worst, the program may have been aware of the concerns surrounding the Lightning Process but chose not to mention it.
Comments closedIf you think the COVID pandemic is done and ever-evolving variants pose no significant threat, consider these two realities.
The first is a recent U.S. study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It tracked 150 million workers and their absences in the workplace in the United States since the end of the so-called public health emergency in 2023.
Its central conclusion: “Health-related absences from work continued to track COVID-19 circulation and were 12.9 per cent higher in the post-pandemic period compared with before the pandemic (140,000 monthly absences).” Absences were highest in occupations with the greatest exposure to the public.
Comments closedA temporary mask mandate is coming back to Newfoundland and Labrador’s hospitals and long-term care facilities, and one doctor says the driving force is two-fold — a rise in COVID-19 cases and the availability of vaccines.
On Wednesday, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services announced it was temporarily bringing back mandatory masking in clinical settings effective Monday. The release cited an increase in infectious diseases circulating.
“The timing of the mask requirement was a little bit deliberate to coincide with the timing of the COVID-19 and influenza vaccine campaigns,” Dr. Natalie Bridger, an infectious disease specialist, told CBC Radio’s The St. John’s Morning Show.
Comments closed
