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Tag: Canada

Long COVID is ‘not rare’ and can develop after mild illness, says Montreal specialist

The Quebec government is setting up 15 clinics across the province to treat people with long COVID and Lyme disease. The first one to open in Montreal is located at the Jewish General Hospital.

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Une nouvelle clinique visant la COVID longue et la maladie de Lyme chronique à Montréal

A clinic dedicated to people with long COVID or persistent symptoms of Lyme disease has just opened at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. This reference centre, which will combine clinical and research on these two syndromes still poorly understood, is one of the 15 clinics announced last May by the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS).

“Although we do not yet have a very good understanding of the pathophysiology of these two diseases, we know that both of them sometimes cause long-term sequelae that persist even though the infection seems to have disappeared from the organism,” explains Dr Leighanne Parkes, microbiolgist-infectiologist at this new clinic.

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Jewish General Hospital opens long-COVID and Lyme disease clinic

The CIUSSS West-Central Montreal regional health authority announced the opening of a clinic for patients with persistent symptoms of COVID-19 and Lyme disease at the Jewish General Hospital on Monday.

“Although most of the people who get COVID-19 recover within a few weeks, some — even those who had mild versions of the disease — might have symptoms that last a long time afterward,” Dr. Karl Weiss, chief of the Jewish General Hospital’s division of infectious diseases, noted in a statement. “These symptoms can be disabling, making it difficult to perform daily activities or to return to work or school. They may vary in intensity from day to day, and over time.

“Research and knowledge about treating this illness known as long-COVID syndrome is emerging and rapidly evolving. Our goal in establishing the referral centre is to provide patients with leading-edge care, while improving our understanding of the disease.”

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559 HEPA purifiers delivered to Yukon schools

Every Yukon school was equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) purifiers for each classroom-sized space by the first day of school, according to the Education department.

The territorial government has dealt out hundreds of HEPA air purifiers to Yukon schools since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

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Opinion: Better protecting schools from COVID is within reach

Welcome to the “Live with COVID” era, where living with the virus means not talking about it at all. We’ve been told to pretend it’s over, though those “weird summer colds” and “lingering symptoms” indicate otherwise. Rising case rates, hospitalizations, and deaths. Best Summer Ever 2.0 is ending, which means kids are about to return for their third pandemic September.

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What’s the NWT’s Covid-19 situation? It’s kinda hard to tell.

Anecdotally, Covid-19 has picked up again in Yellowknife. But tracking the disease in the Northwest Territories is not nearly as easy as it once was.

That’s largely a function of relaxed restrictions. Eliminating mandatory isolation, and the requirement to take a test and report the results when symptomatic, restored freedoms but shut down data sources.

The NWT government’s Covid-19 dashboard, which existed for almost two years, was taken offline at the start of July.

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Omicron deadlier for Ontario seniors than previous two waves combined

Even as Ontario began reopening its economy and returning to some semblance of normalcy this year, COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on the lives of older residents — killing them at higher rates than the past two waves, new data shows.

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Anti-vaccine protest in Canada spurs outrage

In a scene at odds with Canadians’ reputation for niceness and rule-following, thousands of protesters railing against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions descended on the capital over the weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill.

Some urinated and parked on the National War Memorial. One danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A number carried signs and flags with swastikas.

In the aftermath of Canada’s biggest pandemic protest to date, the demonstrators have found little sympathy in a country where more than 80% are vaccinated. Many people were outraged by some of the crude behavior.

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Human rights complaint filed against B.C. health-care authority over N95 respirator ban

A class complaint has been filed at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal against a regional health-care authority over their policy prohibiting hospital patients and visitors from using N95 respirators.

The complaint was filed by Vancouver resident Lena Patsa on Wednesday against Fraser Health, the province’s largest health-care authority by population.

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High schoolers walk out to protest lax COVID policies

High school students across Manitoba walked out of class last Monday to demand improved COVID-19 safety measures as in-person learning resumes.

‍Organized by the group MB Students for COVID Safety, the walkout’s demands included the option to return to remote learning if students wish and increased funding for safety measures for those who prefer in-person learning.

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B.C. to allow COVID-positive and double-vaxxed patients to share hospital rooms

Due to record-high hospitalizations, patients who have COVID-19 are being placed in the same room with double-vaccinated people who do not have the virus, British Columbia health officials said.

B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry confirmed the policy at a Friday news conference, responding to a specific question about the policy’s use by the Fraser Health Authority.

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Burnaby mask maker that says B.C. isn’t following science donates 100K N95 respirators to teachers

Burnaby mask company Vitacore is being thanked by the union that represents B.C. teachers for donating 100,000 respirators to its members.

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Citing Omicron’s airborne ‘potential’, Ontario hospitals, LTC homes will now use N95 respirators with COVID patients

Ontario health officials are changing a key recommendation on the use of hospital personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the “potential” that the highly-transmissible Omicron variant can spread at a distance through the air.

Health-care workers providing care to a “suspected or confirmed” COVID-19 patient in hospitals, long-term-care homes, or in a home-care situation will now be required to also use a “fit-tested, seal-checked N95 respirator,” according to interim guidance issued by Public Health Ontario Wednesday.

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1,619 people likely caught COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals and 274 of them have died

For the first time, B.C.’s Ministry of Health has provided information about people who likely caught COVID-19 after going to acute care settings for medical treatment or work, with 1,619 getting the virus and 274 of them dying.

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Osborne ‘optimistic’ about getting 4,000 air purifiers before school starts. But is it realistic?

Newfoundland and Labrador’s education minister says 4,000 classrooms across the province will likely have an air purification system by the time school starts in September.

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