Comments 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.
Public Service Confidential is a workplace advice column for federal public servants. The following question has been edited for clarity and length.
I am an immunocompromised federal public servant with multiple chronic illnesses. I still work from home, but HR wants me back in the office three days a week the moment they can give me a private office beside the bathroom. My doctor wrote a letter to counter the accommodation, saying it’s not appropriate and even less beside a bathroom with the shared environment, and it could put my life at risk of getting sick with complications. So I am fighting to keep my full-time telework agreement.
Comments closedAn 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 closedConfirmed cases of measles have now been reported at two public health units in southern Ontario.
Grand Erie Public Health said nine people have the highly contagious virus.
Of those, three are children and the remaining six are adults.
Only one of those cases is in Brantford-Brant, while the other eight are in Haldimand County and Norfolk County.
Southwestern Public Health, which covers Oxford County, Elgin County and St. Thomas, confirmed Thursday they have one active case. Officials believe it is likely connected to those reported by Grand Erie Public Health.
Comments closedSaskatchewan’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.
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 closedThe 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.”
Comments closedAn 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.
Comments closedComments closedSimply 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.
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.
Comments closedVANCOUVER – 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.”
Comments closedBC 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.
Comments closedComments closed“(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.”
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.
Comments closedVICTORIA – 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.
Comments closedMasks 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.”
Comments closedA 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.
Comments closedAnother 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.”
Comments closed