While on the front line at the height of the COVID-19 health crisis, many healthcare workers are struggling to access care after contracting long COVID. Only 12% of healthcare workers who suffer from it have received rehabilitation care, according to a research report by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).
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Topic: labour rightsView all posts for the topic: labour rights
Sick days skyrocketed as Treasury Board employees returned to the office
The number of sick days employees working for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat took during the month of September skyrocketed as the department urged public servants to make their way back to their offices at least three days a week.
According to departmental data, TBS employees took a total of 2,191 sick days between Sept. 1 and Sept. 30.
That was up significantly from previous years. During the same period in 2023, employees took 1,708.9 sick days. In 2022, they took 1,477.9 sick days and in 2021 they had 1,075.4 sick days. In 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, TBS employees’ sick days totalled a mere 827.6 days.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
The risk of long COVID reaches 37% after three infections, according to the INSPQ
As COVID-19 continues to circulate widely, a report from the INSPQ warns that the risk of getting long COVID increases with each reinfection, and notes that the Quebec health system is failing to help the growing number of people who have had persistent symptoms for months or even years.
The report by the Institut national de la santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), which surveyed thousands of health workers in Quebec who were infected between the beginning of the pandemic and summer 2023, was released quietly on Monday. Yet, this report warns that post COVID-19 condition, commonly known as long COVID, is affecting more and more people.
« This is an important and real issue. We want to raise awareness among the public and public health authorities,” says Sara Carazo, one of the authors of the report.
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‘Long COVID has really mystified’: Western University researchers take steps to unravel long COVID mysteries
Long COVID can have wide-ranging impacts, but is most commonly associated with brain fog, breathing difficulties and debilitating fatigue.
“Long COVID has really mystified a lot of physicians and scientists,” according to Dr. Douglas Fraser. Fraser is a researcher with Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, based in London, Ont.
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Coughing kids, coughing parents. To keep everyone healthy, we have to update our schools
I’m coughing, looking at my plans for the day, cancelling each one.
As an elected official, this is not a good look. We wish to be out and about with people. We certainly don’t want to be coughing all over our constituents in this time of COVID.
But elected officials get sick too.
Like most parents in the community I represent, when I start to feel sick I think back to all the places my family and I have been, and also what plans we have coming up.
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Free rapid COVID tests a thing of the past in Alberta, unless you’re really lucky
The 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 closedTopic: Ottawa-GatineauView all posts for the topic: Ottawa-Gatineau
CHEO introduces new ‘safety measures’ for viral season, including masking requirements
Eastern Ontario’s children’s hospital is reintroducing safety measures for the viral season, including requiring people to wear a mask in clinical areas and waiting rooms and limiting the number of caregivers accompanying a patient to an appointment.
CHEO says the viral season can bring a “triple threat for children and youth” with seasonal influenza, COVID-19 and RSV.
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Toronto hospitals with UHN reinstate masking requirements ahead of the flu, cold and COVID season
Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN) is upping its masking requirements amid respiratory virus season.
As of Oct. 28, patients, visitors and staff will need to wear a mask while waiting for care, receiving care and in high-risk areas, UHN said in an update on its website.
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Changes in Paxlovid coverage raises concerns about affordability, access in N.B.
New Brunswick has taken steps to make Paxlovid more affordable for some people at higher risk of becoming severely ill or dying from COVID-19, now that the federal government has stopped supplying the anti-viral medication to provinces for free.
But the drug designed to reduce symptoms from an infection and shorten the period of illness remains out of reach for many, either because of the cost of about $1,400 for a five-day course, a lack of timely access, or reduced eligibility.
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NWT coughs up flu and Covid vaccine clinic dates
Dates for flu and Covid vaccination clinics in the Northwest Territories have been made public on the territorial health authority’s website.
The website now shows dates in November for Yellowknife, late October for Fort Smith and Hay River, and mid-October in Inuvik.
Not all communities have specific dates. Some residents are told to contact their local health centre instead.
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Quebec launches annual flu/COVID vaccination campaign
Quebec public health authorities on Monday launched the annual influenza and COVID-19 vaccination campaign, administering the shots first to people in long-term care before making the vaccines available for free to the general population as of Oct. 16.
And for the first time this year, medical staff will be immunizing infants up the age of 18 months against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a seasonal pathogen that often leads to overcrowded pediatric emergency rooms during the winter. Health Canada has approved a monoclonal antibody therapy, Nirsevimab, which is now being injected into premature infants in Quebec before they leave the hospital.
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Vaccine manufacturer won’t be making COVID shots at Montreal plant this winter
At the height of the pandemic in February of 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he had found a partner to make millions of doses…
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Updated COVID, flu vaccines arrive in London region, and health officials suggest you get both
Shipments of updated COVID-19 and flu vaccines have arrived in the London region, according to the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU), with more rolling in as respiratory virus season inches closer.
A spokesperson for the MLHU said high risk populations are eligible for the shots for now, and the general population will have to wait until the end of the month to update their immunization.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Call for the creation of a national registry for long COVID
The second Canadian Symposium on Long COVID came to a close in Edmonton on Friday, with an urgent call for the establishment of a national registry for the condition.
The event, organized by Long Covid Web, a network dedicated to research and support for people suffering from post COVID-19 condition, in collaboration with the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, and Alberta Health Services, brought together researchers, clinicians and patients to discuss the challenges associated with the condition.
The speakers’ testimonies highlighted the devastating impact of long COVID on patients’ daily lives.
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Ottawa’s wastewater surveillance program extended for another year
Two months after the Ontario government pulled the plug on wastewater surveillance, Ottawa health and research institutions have teamed up to extend the program in the city for a least another year.
Calling it an innovative solution that allowed for better monitoring of COVID-19 in the community, CHEO, the CHEO Research Institute, the University of Ottawa and Ottawa Public Health announced an extension of wastewater surveillance on Friday.
In addition to monitoring COVID-19 levels in wastewater, the program monitors levels of influenza, RSV and mpox in Ottawa. The program has been extended until September 2025.
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uOttawa, CHEO and OPH extend monitoring of viruses in wastewater to 2025
Comments closedOur research group is truly grateful for the overwhelming support we’ve received from the community over the past few months through emails, letters, and phone calls advocating for the continuation of our wastewater monitoring system.
We’ve gained invaluable insights into how this information is essential for community members facing health challenges, and we are thrilled to continue providing this vital service. A heartfelt thank you to OPH, CHEO, and CHEO-RI for their unwavering support.