Tag: Canada

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 21, 2025
By Alexander Quon

Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health has enough COVID-19 vaccine doses for the province’s high-risk population this spring, but would not confirm whether it plans to purchase more doses in the future.

The province has more than 100,000 doses, all of which were provided through the federal government’s procurement process.

Ottawa has been paying for the shots and distributing them across the country since they became available. Earlier this month, the Public Health Agency of Canada quietly announced that practice would come to an end.

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Alberta

Alberta government weighs future of COVID-19 vaccination as federal program winds down

Published January 15, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 15, 2025
By Jennifer Lee

No answer on whether COVID shots will continue to be free in Alberta once change takes effect

The 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.

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Hamilton Region

Should Hamilton bring back wastewater surveillance?

Published January 15, 2025

Published by: The Hamilton Spectator
Published on: January 15, 2025
By Joanna Frketich

The feasibility of bringing back wastewater surveillance in Hamilton to detect emerging infectious disease is being examined by city staff.

“One of the benefits of wastewater sampling is that it’s a really cost-effective tool for public health concerns,” said Dr. Robin Lennox, a Hamilton family physician. “It can be tailored to identify specific pathogens of concern based on what a local community actually identifies as their priorities, so it can look at anything from respiratory viruses to sexually transmitted infections.”

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measles

Quebec calls for vigilance following 11th case of measles

Published January 12, 2025

Published by: Radio-Canada / The Canadian Press
Published on: January 12, 2025

An eleventh case of measles has been reported in Quebec, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) announced on Sunday.

The government is urging the public to be extra cautious and to follow public health recommendations “due to the active circulation of measles in Quebec and the presence of several exposure sites in the Laurentides, Laval, Montréal and Montérégie regions,” the MSSS said in a press release.

The last infected person visited the Carrefour Laval during his/her contagious period on January 7.

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immunity theft

Analysis: Why are B.C. kids sick all the time? Health experts explain

Published January 10, 2025

Published by: Surrey Now-Leader
Published on: January 10, 2025
By Dr. Lyne Filiatrault, Arijit Chakravarty, T. Ryan Gregory

Simply put, COVID-19 infections weaken our immune systems. This makes us more prone to reinfection with SARS-CoV-2, infections with other viruses (e.g. RSV), reactivation of dormant viral infections (e.g. shingles, Herpes-Zoster virus), bacterial infections (Group A strep,TB) and even rare fungal infections. To make matters worse, the infections themselves may also be more severe. Being infected with SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses or bacteria at the same time can also make things worse, in adults as well as children.

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vaccines

Feds issue new COVID vaccine guidance, says provinces now responsible for buying them

Published January 10, 2025

Published by: The Canadian Press
Published on: January 10, 2025
By Nicole Ireland

TORONTO – Federal funding for COVID-19 vaccines will stop this year and the provinces and territories will be responsible for buying them, as well as determining the timing of the vaccinations, the Public Health Agency of Canada says.

The agency published the information online on Friday, along with the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s COVID-19 vaccine guidance for 2025 through to the summer of 2026.

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British Columbia

Flu driving spike in respiratory illness in B.C., but COVID-19 numbers low

Published January 9, 2025

Published by: The Canadian Press
Published on: January 9, 2025

VANCOUVER – New data shared by British Columbia’s Centre for Disease Control shows the province has one of the worst flu rates in Canada, as a holiday-season spike in respiratory illnesses continues.

But the data also shows the province has one of the lowest COVID-19 test positivity rates in the country, at about half the national rate.

Dr. Jennifer Vines, interim medical director for public health response at the B.C. CDC, says respiratory illness has been “steadily climbing” over the past several weeks, with RSV and influenza “driving the increase right now.”

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avian flu

B.C. teen with avian flu discharged after weeks in hospital

Published January 9, 2025

Published by: CTV News / The Canadian Press
Published on: January 9, 2025
By Hannah Alberga

BC Children’s Hospital says a 13-year-old girl with avian flu was discharged Tuesday after weeks in hospital.

The patient was taken to a pediatric intensive care unit with respiratory failure and pneumonia on Nov. 8 and health officials said she tested positive for H5N1 a day later.

A recent medical journal chronicled the teen’s hospitalization in Vancouver, which involved tracheal intubation and supplemental oxygen.

Her family says in a statement that the experience has been “life-changing” and that they are grateful to have their daughter home.

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New Brunswick

COVID isn’t just ‘a bad flu,’ and NBers need to know that: Coon

Published January 9, 2025

Published by: Telegraph-Journal
Published on: January 9, 2025
By Andrew Waugh

Green leader cites huge difference in death toll between viruses

“(COVID) isn’t just respiratory. We know that it affects other organs – not just the lungs, but the heart, the brain and other (organs). So there needs to be a much greater focus on prevention, and what does that look like based on what’s been learned about the circumstances and risk factors leading up to those deaths?”

“Related to that is there needs to be a greater effort at awareness and outreach to the general population on COVID – that this is not just the flu. And we know that science continues to progress here. It’s now well understood that the more (times) people get COVID, the greater their chance of long COVID.”

– David Coon, leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick, Canada

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British Columbia

Mask Rules Are Back in BC Hospitals

Published January 9, 2025

Published by: The Tyee
Published on: January 9, 2025
By Michelle Gamage

Masks are back for British Columbia’s health-care sector.

On Wednesday the province said it had reintroduced masking requirements for all health-care workers, volunteers, contractors, patients and visitors.

The masking requirements kicked off on Monday and will last for the duration of respiratory season, which usually ends once the weather improves in the spring.

Masks will be required “in areas where patients are actively receiving care, except when eating and/or drinking,” the Health Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

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British Columbia

B.C. orders masks for hospitals, care facilities as flu, respiratory illness increase

Published January 8, 2025

Published by: The Canadian Press
Published on: January 8, 2025

VICTORIA – Medical masks are again required in British Columbia health-care facilities as provincial authorities say cases of respiratory illness are rising.

A statement from B.C.’s Health Ministry says workers, volunteers and visitors in facilities operated by provincial health authorities must wear masks in areas where patients are receiving care in order to prevent the spread of the flu, RSV and COVID-19.

The requirement spans hospitals, long-term care and assisted living facilities, outpatient clinics and ambulatory care settings, and it’s expected to remain in effect until the risk of illness decreases, likely in the spring.

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British Columbia

Masking required at all B.C. health-care facilities once again

Published January 8, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 8, 2025

Masks must again be worn in health-care facilities across B.C., according to the province’s Health Ministry.

In an email to CBC News, the Ministry of Health said the requirement came into effect on Jan. 6, and everyone in health-care facilities, including staff, patients, visitors and volunteers, must wear medical masks “in areas where patients are actively seeking care.”

The move is in response to what the ministry says is a rise in influenza and RSV infections in B.C. COVID-19, it said, is “stable but showing early signs of an increase.”

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avian flu

First Bird Flu Death in U.S. Reported in Louisiana

Published January 6, 2025

Published by: The New York Times
Published on: January 6, 2025
By Apoorva Mandavilli, Emily Anthes

A Louisiana patient who had been hospitalized with severe bird flu has died, the first such fatality in the United States, state health officials reported on Monday.

The patient was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions, the officials said. The individual became infected with the bird flu virus, H5N1, after exposure to a backyard flock and wild birds.

There is no sign that the virus is spreading from person to person anywhere in the country, and Louisiana officials have not identified any other cases in the state. Pasteurized dairy products remain safe to consume.

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Montreal

Locations exposed to measles in Montreal due to the appearance of a new case

Published January 6, 2025

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: January 6, 2025

Another case of measles has been detected in recent days by the Direction de la santé publique de Montréal, which is reminding hospital staff to apply the necessary measures to avoid transmission of this serious respiratory disease.

In a notice published on Sunday, the Direction régionale de santé publique revealed that “a Montréal adult was infected with measles following exposure to another unvaccinated adult with measles, in a location outside Montréal.”

Public Health states that these two cases are part of “the measles chain of transmission initiated by the case imported from a foreign country who attended the NATO Parliamentary Assembly at the Palais des congrès de Montréal in November.”

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avian flu

7 southwestern Ontario poultry farms in quarantine after avian flu outbreak

Published January 5, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 5, 2025

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says seven poultry farms in southwestern Ontario are under quarantine due to an avian flu outbreak.

These include four farms near Ingersoll, two in Strathroy and one in North Middlesex County. The first cases were detected on Dec. 14, 2024, and officials say the virus was transmitted to the area through migratory birds.

“The source is generally migratory birds, so it’s usually spread through direct contact with wild birds or indirectly through fecal matter or contaminated water, soil or feed,” said Grant Loney, incident commander for the Ontario Avian Influenza Response.

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avian flu

In severe bird flu cases, the virus can mutate as it lingers in the body

Published January 3, 2025

Published by: NBC News
Published on: January 3, 2025
By Kaitlin Sullivan, Mustafa Fattah

A 13-year-old girl in British Columbia who was hospitalized with bird flu for several weeks late last year harbored a mutated version of the virus, according to a report published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The case was Canada’s first recorded human infection of avian influenza, which has infected at least 66 people in the United States since last March, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This includes the nation’s first severe case, in Louisiana in December.

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Alberta

Masking Fear

Published January 1, 2025

Published by: Alberta Views
Published on: January 1, 2025
By Paula Simons

COVID hasn’t forgotten us

Yes, 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.

— Senator Paula Simons

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avian flu

B.C. teen no longer critical with avian flu, has been taken off oxygen

Published December 31, 2024

Published by: Global News
Published on: December 31, 2024
By Simon Little

We’re learning more about the B.C. teenager who became the first critically ill pediatric patient with avian influenza in North America earlier this fall, including some details about her recovery.

The new information was published in a case summary as a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday, signed by multiple doctors from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, BC Children’s Hospital and Public Health Agency of Canada.

Prior to the publication of the letter, B.C.’s Ministry of Health had refused to provide updates on the teen’s status or their case “unless there is a need from a public health perspective to do so.”

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Tag: Canada

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