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Tag: British Columbia

BC health advocates demand return of mandatory masks in healthcare

In response to April’s removal of mandatory mask mandates in healthcare settings, BC’s health advocacy group DoNoHarm BC, joined by Protect Our Province BC and Masks4EastVan, are leading a campaign to urge the provincial government to reinstate these protections. The groups say that BC health authorities have ignored warnings about ongoing COVID-19 risks and other respiratory threats like measles and tuberculosis.

The decision to remove mask mandates in healthcare settings was announced by the Ministry of Health, “the peak of the respiratory illness season has passed.” Though COVID-19 levels typically lessen in the spring, COVID-19 has not been established as a seasonal illness.

The Peak reached out to Dr. Karina Zeidler who organizes with DoNoHarm BC and is the co-founder of Protect Our Province BC for more information. Zeidler referenced a research article from BC Medical Journal which noted that “for some of these most vulnerable patients, the air in the hospital can be deadlier than the diagnosis that brought them in.” This is due to hospital acquired infections, which can then lead to COVID-19 deaths.

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BC Supreme Court rules in favour of PHO’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for health-care workers

Health-care workers who pushed back against being forced to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or face losing their jobs have lost in the BC Supreme Court.

In a ruling released Monday, presiding judge Justice Simon R. Coval says the provincial health officer was right in mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for health-care workers.

The three cases in question were brought to court by a nurse practitioner and two doctors, with all three saying they didn’t want to get the shot.

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Wildfire smoke could move into Ottawa, eastern Ontario tonight

Wildfires in western Canada will likely bring smoke into Ottawa and eastern Ontario starting on Monday and into Tuesday morning.

CTV’s Your Morning chief meteorologist Kelsey McEwen says smoke could travel as far as Quebec City by Tuesday morning with air quality advisories being issued in five provinces.

“You can see the Jetstream pulling that smoke down south of the border through the Dakotas and back up through the Great Lakes,” McEwen said.

“By tomorrow, this begins to slide toward the Ottawa-Gatineau area, tomorrow morning and out toward Quebec City.”

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Scientists, clinicians across Canada preparing for future pandemic threats

Nearly $574 million will be doled out to researchers across the country for projects aimed at ramping up Canada’s preparedness for future health emergencies, including the next pandemic, the federal government announced on Monday.

One of the 19 projects is a national network of existing emergency departments and primary-care clinics, called Prepared, that will screen for any new viruses or pathogens that start to appear in patients.

“As a public health specialist and as a practising physician, I would very much anticipate there being another respiratory pandemic in the future. The challenge is we don’t know when it will be or what it will be,” said Dr. Andrew Pinto, Prepared project lead and a family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

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BC health advocates call on government to reinstate healthcare mask requirements

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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B.C. COVID-19 hospitalizations up slightly as province launches latest vaccine campaign

The number of people in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 rose slightly this week as the province began rolling out its latest vaccination campaign.

There were 141 test-positive COVID patients in hospitals across the province as of Thursday, according to the latest data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. That’s an increase of nine – or about 6.8 per cent – from last week’s total.

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Mask mandate in hospitals dropped as vaccine booster program ramps up

As respiratory season winds down, a mask mandate in hospitals is being dropped but a COVID spring booster program is ramping up to strengthen waning protection for the most vulnerable.

“We are returning to the rules that were in place prior to respiratory illness season,” Health Minister Adrian Dix said Monday on the suspension of the mask mandate, likely to be a seasonal requirement.

The B.C. Health Ministry says given the decreased rates of viral respiratory infections in the community, additional infection prevention and control measures implemented last fall in health-care settings — such as masks — are no longer required at all times.

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Severe COVID leads to higher risk of pulmonary fibrosis: research

For Vancouver resident Farrell Eckman, having a long conversation or attending a workout class without breaking into coughs is a major accomplishment.

The 50-year-old is one of many people who researchers say developed pulmonary fibrosis — a condition that thickens the tissue in lungs and can affect breathing — after experiencing a severe case of COVID-19.

In January 2022, Eckman was admitted to Vancouver General Hospital because she was having trouble breathing along with flu-like symptoms.

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More awareness and investment needed to support people with long COVID: SFU report

It’s an invisible and new condition. Many people don’t believe that long COVID is real or exists. And unfortunately, that permeates through the healthcare system. Even outside of the medical system, there is a broader societal awareness that is lacking.

— Kayli Jamieson
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‘Telework’ Can Be a Life Changer

If you are the family member of someone who’s highly immunocompromised, and you’re not able to protect yourself from infection in your workplace and your employer is insisting that you come back and work in an office where people have now shifted to the mindset that [COVID-19] is not that big a deal, if someone gets [sick] and you bring that home, that can be catastrophic.

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Number hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. hits new low for 2024 in latest update

The number of patients with COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals declined to its lowest level of 2024 in the latest data update from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

There were 133 test-positive patients in provincial hospitals as of Thursday, according to the BCCDC. The last published update to show a total lower than that was in August of last year, when the BCCDC reported just 76 patients hospitalized.

This week’s hospitalized population is less than half of what it was around this time last year. The final published update of March 2023 showed 294 patients in B.C. hospitals.

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Do you need a spring COVID-19 vaccine? Research backs extra round for high-risk groups

New guidelines suggest certain high-risk groups could benefit from having another dose of a COVID-19 vaccine this spring — and more frequent shots in general — while the broader population could be entering once-a-year territory, much like an annual flu shot.

Medical experts told CBC News that falling behind on the latest shots can come with health risks, particularly for individuals who are older or immunocompromised.

“Even when the risk of infection starts to increase, the vaccines still do a really good job at decreasing risk of severe disease,” said McMaster University researcher and immunologist Matthew Miller.

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Anti-COVID mandate protester found not guilty of criminal charges

WARNING: This story contains offensive and racist language.

A Kelowna man charged with causing a disturbance after yelling at a security guard at a vaccine clinic has been found not guilty by a B.C. judge.

Bruce Orydzuk, 60, was captured on video repeatedly yelling at the guard, who was wearing a turban. The guard had asked him to leave the property of a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in July 2021.

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COVID-19 hospitalizations drop in weekly BCCDC update

The number of COVID-positive patients in B.C. hospitals declined this week, according to the latest data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

There were 148 test-positive patients in hospitals across the province as of Thursday, a decrease of 15 – or about nine per cent – from the 163 reported in hospital at this time last week.

The latest data continues the trend of relatively stable hospitalization levels seen throughout 2024 so far, with the first update of the year remaining the only one to show more than 200 COVID patients receiving hospital treatment.

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Measles is highly contagious, but vaccine-preventable: A primer on recent outbreaks, transmission, symptoms and complications, including ‘immune amnesia’

Canada is seeing a resurgence of measles, with cases in the first quarter of 2024 already far surpassing the total for all of 2023. There were 12 cases last year, and more than three times that number so far in 2024, with 38 reported as of March 19.

Most of these cases (28) are in Québec, and eight are in Ontario, while Saskatchewan and British Columbia have each reported one case.

As an immunologist with a focus on host-microbe interactions and antiviral immunity, I have been following recent measles outbreaks.

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Advocacy group calls for stronger mask requirements in B.C.

Advocacy group launches province-wide campaign to strengthen mask protections in healthcare.

DoNoHarm BC, a grassroots group advocating for public health measures, is campaigning to keep mask protections in the healthcare industry year-long.

In a release, the organization says healthcare workers are not required to stay masked everywhere. Last April, they were able to stop masking in various settings, including in ERs, children’s hospitals, and cancer centres.

“B.C. currently requires masks in hospitals and long-term care for staff, contractors, visitors, and volunteers – but not for patients,” DoNoHarm BC said in a news release.

“While policy-makers have only guaranteed this measure for a “few months” over the winter, DoNoHarm BC notes the last time BC discarded healthcare masking, multiple medical facilities suffered COVID outbreaks.”

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“Vulnerability isn’t seasonal”: DoNoHarm BC launches campaign to keep masks in BC healthcare

Vulnerable British Columbians call for continued protections from COVID-19, measles, and other airborne diseases

March 14, 2024 (British Columbia) – DoNoHarm BC, a grassroots group advocating for evidence-based public health measures, is leading a province-wide campaign to keep mask protections in BC medical settings. The campaign, “Vulnerability Isn’t Seasonal”, also calls to strengthen infection control with patient masking; wider use of N95 masks; and coverage in private practices like GP’s offices.

BC currently requires masks in hospitals and long-term care for staff, contractors, visitors and volunteers – but not for patients. While policy-makers have only guaranteed this measure for a “few months” over the winter, DoNoHarm BC notes that the last time BC discarded healthcare masking, multiple medical facilities suffered COVID outbreaks. At the time, removal of healthcare masking contradicted guidance from the World Health Organization, and prompted BC’s Human Rights Commissioner to state that the move “does not uphold a human rights centered approach to public health.”

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Long COVID Patients Say WorkSafeBC Is Making Life Worse

Maryanne Andrew has been getting sicker and sicker since she caught COVID-19 in January 2022 while working in a Campbell River school.

And instead of helping, she says, WorkSafeBC’s attempts to require her to go back to work have made her symptoms worse.

Andrew is among more than two million Canadians still suffering from long-term COVID symptoms as of last summer, according to a Statistics Canada survey, which also found about half of the patients reported not seeing any improvements in their condition over time.

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