Alberta’s measles surge is so dramatic, the last time case counts were higher Calgary did not have an NHL team, O Canada was not yet the official national anthem and gasoline would set you back 24 cents a litre.
The province reported 29 more cases on Thursday, bringing the total since the outbreaks began in March to 868. That pushes the province past the levels seen during a surge in 1986, when 854 cases were reported.
A higher case count hasn’t been recorded since 1979.
Comments closedThe City of Edmonton has activated its extreme weather response due to high-risk air quality caused by wildfire smoke. The response began at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, and will continue until 9:00 a.m. on Monday, with possible extension if conditions persist.
City recreation centres, pools, and libraries are open to anyone needing relief from the smoke.
These indoor spaces offer cleaner air, unlike transit centres and LRT stations, which are exposed to outdoor air.
Free N95 masks and bottled water are also available at some City facilities, including libraries and recreation centres.
Residents are urged to stay indoors, keep windows closed, and check on vulnerable neighbours.
Comments closedToronto is currently the second most polluted major city in the world as wildfire smoke spreads across the city, according to a global tracker.
The ranking by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company, puts the city below Santiago, Chile, and above Montreal, which is in third place as it also faces wildfire smoke from western provinces.
As of noon Friday, air quality in Toronto was above 10 on Environment Canada’s air quality health index, which means “very high risk,” according to the weather agency’s website.
Comments closedA new poll suggests nearly 70 per cent of Canadians support mandatory childhood vaccinations, but at least one public health official says she’s uncomfortable with the idea of forcing parents to immunize their kids.
The Angus Reid Institute survey landed Thursday as Public Health Ontario said 93 new measles cases have emerged in the province over the past week, bringing the total number of infections there to 1,888 since October.
The poll found 69 per cent of respondents said proof of immunization should be required for kids to attend daycare and school. That’s an increase from the 55 per cent of respondents who said the same thing last year, before a measles outbreak emerged in multiple provinces and infected mostly unvaccinated infants, kids and teens.
Comments closedThe Ontario government announced today that the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) will be exempted as income.
“In a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty brough on by US tariffs and trade barriers, our government is taking action to keep costs down and protect Ontario families,” the provincial minister of children, community and social services said in a statement.
This decision will help the most vulnerable, the statement continued. People who rely on social assistance will receive the benefit without reduction in their social assistance payments.
Comments closedHealth officials say measles infected 197 more people in Ontario over the last week as the highly contagious disease emerged in new parts of the country.
That brings the province’s tally of probable and confirmed cases to 1,440 since an outbreak began in October.
Public Health Ontario’s measles report says there have been 101 hospitalizations, including 75 children. Eight patients have been in intensive care.
Nova Scotia and Northwest Territories each reported measles cases earlier this week, marking their first since this outbreak began.
Alberta reported yesterday that its overall case count had reached nearly 300 since mid-March, including three patients under the age of 18 in intensive care.
Saskatchewan updated its cumulative count to 27 cases today, a day after Manitoba reported it had reached 24 cases.
Measles has mostly infected unvaccinated children, infants and teenagers, with almost 500 cases in Ontario’s southwestern public health unit.
Comments closedTORONTO – Public Health Ontario is reporting 95 new measles cases since last week, bringing the total number of people infected past 1,000.
It says a total of 1,020 people have had measles since the province’s outbreak began last October.
The agency says the ongoing rise in cases is “due to continued exposures and transmission among individuals who have not been immunized.”
Preparations are underway for a limited spring COVID-19 vaccination program in Alberta.
Pharmacists say certain groups of high-risk Albertans will be eligible for a biannual dose of the KP.2 vaccine, starting April 28.
Eligible groups include seniors (aged 65 and older), all First Nations, Métis and Inuit people six months of age and older, immunocompromised Albertans six months and up, and adults living in care homes, according to Alberta’s updated immunization policy.
Comments closedThere’s been another sharp increase in Ontario measles cases as the province begins to release weekly reports on the infectious disease.
Public Health Ontario is reporting 470 measles cases since an outbreak began in October. That’s an increase of 120 cases since March 14.
The spread resulted in 34 hospitalizations, including two people who needed intensive care. Most of those hospitalized were unvaccinated kids, including one of the intensive care patients.
The outbreak expansion adds to the growing concern of rising measles cases in different parts of the country, including in Quebec where there are 40 cases and Alberta where there are 13, according to the latest data.
Comments closedLast week the province of Alberta published a report on its pandemic-response calling for COVID vaccines to be restricted to “high-risk groups” and to stop “their use in healthy children and teenagers.” A mix of vaccine skeptics, fringe academics, and a Trump-appointee were behind it.
The report also recommends regulators, namely the province’s medical licensing body, be stripped of powers to discipline doctors who promote risky and ineffective off-label treatments.
The report has garnered nationwide criticism from the scientific and medical communities, with dozens of experts calling on the government to officially dismiss the report in an open letter. Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said the report was “an unfortunate use of public dollars” that funneled CAD$2,000,000 into furthering misinformation. She said it will cause harm globally, as it will be referenced in jurisdictions outside of Canada.
Comments closedFalse narratives in a new $2-million report on COVID 19 in Alberta send Albertans the wrong signals, said a former chief medical officer of health for the province.
An adjunct professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, Dr. James Talbot said the 269-page report released late last Friday cherry-picks information and includes unproven ideas, including that the vaccine is ineffective and potentially harmful.
“We’ve given literally billions of doses of this vaccine around the world with the best surveillance we’ve ever had. This is one of the safest, most effective vaccines that we’ve ever had,” he said.
Comments closedComments closedI think it was a waste of time. It was a waste of money. And under no circumstances should the recommendations be implemented until there’s been a full and expert public discussion of the report.
An Alberta government task force has recommended that the use of COVID-19 vaccines be halted unless more information is provided about risk, in a report rife with suggestions that run counter to mainstream scientific consensus.
The $2-million task force’s final report, released Friday, touched on several points common with disinformation campaigns such as the effectiveness of public health restrictions and masking, while also recommending some government authority over media.
Comments closedThe future of Alberta’s COVID-19 vaccination program is unclear with federal funding set to end this summer.
Ottawa has been paying for the shots and distributing them across the country since they became available.
But the Public Health Agency of Canada quietly announced, last week, the provinces and territories will take over purchasing their own supply of COVID-19 vaccines.
Comments closedComments closedYes, I’m still wearing a mask. And yes, it takes some courage. Any time I post images of myself in a mask on my Facebook page, the insults and jeers come thick and fast, mocking me for wearing “a face diaper” or for being too stupid to know that COVID is “over.”
I’ve had strangers shout angry abuse at me as I walk through airports. But I think the most exasperating are the jokes and eyerolls from colleagues and family members, who seem to take my mask as a personal affront or insult. These friends and relations bug me—jokingly, but incessantly—to take it off, or tease me for what they perceive as my neurosis. I had one Senate colleague make fun of me for masking—only to tell me, in his next breath, that he was just getting over his fourth case of COVID.
Comments closedThe reality is that people are dying from COVID in our hospitals, and we really are doing very little to prevent them getting ill and getting infected. And we wouldn’t do the same for any other infectious disease.
As better diagnosis and symptom management emerged for people with long COVID, researchers in Alberta set to work creating a program that could remotely connect urban specialists and rural patients. Between development and clinical implementation, the project was shelved.
With the province closing its clinics dedicated to treating people with long COVID, the story of Alberta’s innovative rural outreach program appears destined to remain incomplete.
Long COVID, or post COVID syndrome, refers to patients who are still experiencing symptoms twelve weeks after the initial infection. According to Health Canada, the condition affects about 1 in 9 adults who have had COVID.
Comments closedThe days of access to free rapid COVID-19 tests are over, unless you stumble across a pharmacy with a few boxes left, and most Albertans wishing to test for the virus now have to pay out of pocket.
The Alberta government has received its full allotment through the free federal government program, which ended earlier this month. Now its entire stockpile has been distributed.
Comments closed