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Month: June 2024

Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Sudbury researcher disappointed Ontario ends COVID-19 wastewater surveillance

Published June 10, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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A researcher in Sudbury, Ont., says he’s disappointed the province is ending its wastewater surveillance program to track COVID-19 and other viruses in municipal systems.

“I would be lying if I said that I don’t feel sad to let the people go,” said Gustavo Ybazeta, a researcher at the Health Sciences North Research Institute.

Ybazeta said six people work at the lab, testing local wastewater for COVID-19 and other viruses like influenza and even sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and chlamydia.

While they will continue to conduct research on ways to monitor for viruses in wastewater, losing the surveillance program means at least half of those scientists will lose their jobs, he says.

Ybazeta said there are a dozen labs across Ontario that face the same fate.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Cutting wastewater surveillance is short-sighted

Published June 8, 2024

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Published by: Toronto Star
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Ontario to halt COVID wastewater surveillance program, June 4

The Ontario government’s plan to axe funding for wastewater surveillance is irresponsible. Wastewater monitoring is an essential public health tool that provides insights into the spread of SARS-CoV-2, influenza and other viruses. Without funding, we will lose important information about the prevalence of these significant health concerns.

The timing of the announcement is astonishing. We are faced with an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and new hyper-infectious subvariants are spreading rapidly. We will be hindered in providing an early warning system to inform everyone about new subvariants and emerging pandemic threats such as avian flu.

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Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

Number hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. hits highest level since March

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Ian Holliday

The number of COVID-19-positive patients in B.C. hospitals surged by 67 per cent during the month of May, according to data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control on Thursday.

The centre’s first update since May 2 shows 162 test-positive patients in B.C. hospitals, up from just 97 in the previous release.

The latest hospitalization total is the highest the BCCDC has reported since March 14, when there were 163 people hospitalized with the disease.

The data is also a notable shift from last June, when the number of COVID-positive patients in B.C. hospitals was plummeting.

Continue readingNumber hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. hits highest level since March
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Topic: Waterloo RegionView all posts for the topic: Waterloo Region

Province shutting down wastewater surveillance in Waterloo Region

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Tyler Kelaher

The Region of Waterloo’s most effective tool in tracking COVID-19 and other respiratory infections is ceasing operations at the end in July.

The University of Waterloo’s provincially-funded wastewater surveillance is ending, coinciding with the Ontario government’s decision to wind down its own program.

Wastewater surveillance was first introduced in 2021.

Mark Servos, the Canada research chair in water quality protection, has been spearheading wastewater monitoring at the University of Waterloo since 2020.

“We’re monitoring hundreds of thousands of people at the same time with the same sample,” he explained to CTV News. “There’s been hundreds of variants that we’ve been able to isolate.”

Continue readingProvince shutting down wastewater surveillance in Waterloo Region
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Video | Questions about plans to axe Ontario’s wastewater monitoring networkScreenshot of the broadcast of Question Period, on June 6, 2024. Jeff Burch, Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Niagara Centre, is speaking. He has white and grey hair, glasses, a tie, and a navy blue suit. In the background, there are wood panels on the walls with intricate carvings.
Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Video | Questions about plans to axe Ontario’s wastewater monitoring network

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: Still COVIDing Canada
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During Question Period on June 6, 2024, Jeff Burch, MPP for Niagara Centre, asked some questions about the Ford government’s plans to eliminate Ontario’s wastewater monitoring program: “[…] with a serious gap in the federal government’s current ability to test wastewater in Ontario, why would this government abruptly cut this extremely low cost but highly valuable program?”

The government’s response was misleading. “The program is continuing through an expanded option with the federal government,” said Andrea Khanjin, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

That’s not actually true. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is not taking over the program. The Ontario government is planning to shut the existing extensive program that has been developed over years, with 58+ monitoring stations and expert researchers at 13 Ontario universities. In its place, there will be a much more limited network operated by PHAC, covering just five cities in Ontario.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Ontario’s wastewater testing program to be replaced by a federal program that is significantly smaller

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

When Ontario’s wastewater surveillance program is shut down next month it will be replaced by a significantly smaller federal program. That potential information gap worries some researchers and public health experts, especially at a time when COVID-19 cases are starting to tick up and avian influenza is spreading rapidly.

Ontario’s wastewater testing initiative, considered a world leader, currently tests wastewater for signs of infectious diseases including COVID, influenza, RSV and more at 58 locations across the province. The provincial government plans to pull the plug on the program at the end of July, saying it wants to avoid duplication with an expanding pan-Canadian wastewater surveillance program.

That new federal program includes plans to conduct wastewater surveillance in five Ontario cities. Four of the five cities have not yet been selected.

Continue readingOntario’s wastewater testing program to be replaced by a federal program that is significantly smaller
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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Small towns likely to be big losers when Ontario stops monitoring wastewater, expert says

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Kate Dubinski

Small towns and rural communities are likely to see the biggest impact when the province stops paying scientists to monitor wastewater for COVID-19 and other illnesses, an expert says.

Also likely to suffer is the scientific community’s ability to learn from rich, robust data that is currently being collected but won’t be after the provincial surveillance program wraps up at the end of July, said Chris deGroot, the lead researcher at the Western University lab that monitors the wastewater in this region.

“It’s safe to assume that with the transition to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), there will be a reduction in the total number of sites and that we’re most likely going to see the sites be in larger urban centres,” deGroot said.

Continue readingSmall towns likely to be big losers when Ontario stops monitoring wastewater, expert says
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Topic: cancerView all posts for the topic: cancer

‘Unusual’ cancers emerged after the pandemic. Doctors ask if covid is to blame.

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: The Washington Post
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By Ariana Eunjung Cha

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Kashyap Patel looked forward to his team’s Friday lunches. All the doctors from his oncology practice would gather in the open-air courtyard under the shadow of a tall magnolia tree and catch up. The atmosphere tended to the lighthearted and optimistic. But that week, he was distressed.

It was 2021, a year into the coronavirus pandemic, and as he slid into a chair, Patel shared that he’d just seen a patient in his 40s with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and lethal cancer of the bile ducts that typically strikes people in their 70s and 80s. Initially, there was silence, and then one colleague after another said they’d recently treated patients who had similar diagnoses. Within a year of that meeting, the office had recorded seven such cases.

“I’ve been in practice 23 years and have never seen anything like this,” Patel, CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates, later recalled. Asutosh Gor, another oncologist, agreed: “We were all shaken.”

Continue reading‘Unusual’ cancers emerged after the pandemic. Doctors ask if covid is to blame.
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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Ontario is a ‘world leader’ in wastewater surveillance for COVID. The province’s decision to close testing sites will end that, experts say

Published June 5, 2024

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Published by: Toronto Star
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By Megan Ogilvie

Researchers are warning that Ontario’s decision to shut down its wastewater surveillance program that proved crucial in tracking COVID-19 will limit the province’s ability to rapidly respond to infectious disease threats, including new COVID variants, respiratory viruses and bird flu.

A key member of the waterwater surveillance program says Ontario has been a “world leader and now we’ll probably be one of the passengers” by the scale-back that will also stifle research.

Cancelling the provincial surveillance system — the largest in Canada — will drastically reduce the number of testing sites in the province, experts say. They also caution that shuttering the program will mean that monitoring may no longer take place in smaller communities and in rural and northern areas, potentially missing vulnerable populations.

Continue readingOntario is a ‘world leader’ in wastewater surveillance for COVID. The province’s decision to close testing sites will end that, experts say
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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Radio | Peterborough Medical Officer of Health frustrated with the province’s decision to pullback on waste water monitoring

Published June 5, 2024

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Published by: CBC Radio / Ontario Morning with Ramraajh Sharvendiran
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Medical officer of health for Peterborough Public Health, Dr. Thomas Piggott talks with host Molly Thomas about why he believes we shouldn’t drop wastewater testing for diseases — even if COVID-19 is not the same threat it was when the program was rolled out.

Continue readingRadio | Peterborough Medical Officer of Health frustrated with the province’s decision to pullback on waste water monitoring
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Report: More than 200 symptoms tied to long COVIDElectron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. Image captured and colourized at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Photo by: NIAID. Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Report: More than 200 symptoms tied to long COVID

Published June 5, 2024

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Stephanie Soucheray

Today a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine presents a number of conclusions about long-COVID diagnosis, symptoms, and impact on daily function, including that the condition can cause more than 200 symptoms, and that a positive COVID-19 test is not necessary to make a long-COVID diagnosis.

The findings are meant to guide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and are published one week before the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is set to offer a new single definition of long COVID that can be used across US governmental groups as a way to streamline treating the condition in the years to come.

“This report offers a comprehensive review of the evidence base for how Long COVID may impact a patient’s ability to engage in normal activities, such as going to work, attending school, or taking care of their families,” said Victor J. Dzau, MD, president of the National Academy of Medicine, in a National Academies press release. “Its findings will be useful to anyone attempting to understand how Long COVID may affect the millions of people in the U.S. who have reported symptoms.”

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

‘I was shocked’: Ontario to cancel widely used wastewater surveillance program

Published June 4, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

The Ontario government is shutting down the wastewater surveillance program that has provided early warning for incoming waves of COVID-19 and a growing list of other infectious diseases since it was developed.

By the time it ends on July 31, the program that got its start in Ottawa early in the pandemic will be one of the biggest in the world to monitor the spread of infectious diseases through wastewater. Researchers were told of the decision to end funding last week.

Its closure comes at a time when COVID-19 is again beginning to spread through the world after a lull and when the United States and other countries are ramping up wastewater surveillance programs to warn about the possible spread of H5N1 avian influenza.

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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.
Topic: take actionView all posts for the topic: take action

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

Published June 4, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

📣 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.

Continue readingOntario: Protect our health — save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring!
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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
Topic: take actionView all posts for the topic: take action

Ontario: Call Members of Provincial Parliament on #WastewaterWednesday!

Published June 4, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

📣 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.

Continue readingOntario: Call Members of Provincial Parliament on #WastewaterWednesday!
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