Comments closedI do feel like we are in a worse position (than last winter) because of the complacency of people. I think the pandemic has been downplayed this whole past year. And not enough has been explained to people about the long-term harm from previous COVID infections.
For the first time in months, weekly wastewater data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control shows increasing concentrations of COVID-19 at most monitored treatment plants around the province.
Comments closedHeart attack-caused deaths rose during every virus surge. Worse, young people aren’t supposed to have heart attacks but Cheng’s research documented a nearly 30% increase in heart attack deaths among 25- to 44-year-olds in the pandemic’s first two years.
Comments closedProtect Our Province is asking for HEPA filters, mask mandates, and fast-tracked COVID vaccinations.
Comments closedIn a new study, researchers used Medicare data to characterize the long-term risk of death and hospital readmission after being hospitalized with COVID-19 among patients 65 years and older. The study demonstrates that among patients who were admitted to a hospital with COVID-19 and discharged alive, the risk of post-discharge death was nearly twice that observed in those who were discharged alive from an influenza-related hospital admission.
Comments closedThis study provides us with strong evidence that we need to stop looking at COVID-19 as strictly an upper respiratory disease and start viewing it as a systemic disorder that impacts multiple organs. The continued dysfunction we observed in organs other than the lungs suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction could be causing long-term damage to the internal organs of these patients.
Manitoba has detected an unknown number of cases of the latest Omicron subvariant, EG.5, of COVID-19 that has become dominant in the United States.
Comments closedComments closedCurrently in B.C., we have no mask protections in schools, no proof of indoor air quality in schools including monitoring of carbon dioxide levels during full class occupancy, no [high-efficiency particulate air] filtration units available in most classrooms, almost non-existent [nucleic acid] testing, and only the occasional provincial public health report (and those reports we do see are of limited value).
The hyperinfectious Omicron subvariant called EG.5 has been designated a variant of interest by the World Health Organization (WHO).
EG.5 has been circulating in Canada since at least May, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). The subvariant and its offshoots are estimated to have made up 36 per cent of cases in Canada between July 30 and August 5, according to PHAC.
Comments closedWith students returning to B.C. classrooms in four weeks, an open letter to the province is outlining five things the signatories say must be addressed to ensure “a safe return to school.”
Comments closedA new SARS-CoV-2 variant has emerged, serving as a reminder that the pandemic is not over. The World Health Organization (WHO) has added EG.5 (includes EG.5.1) to the list of variants under monitoring (VUMs).
Comments closed“It’s not public health to go around pretending everyone has access to the same protections and treatments, when they’re reserved for the rich. It’s not public health to tell anyone they can ignore a virus that disables 20 percent of those infected.”
Comments closedComments closedWith this test, there are no nasal swabs and no waiting 15 minutes for results, as with home tests. A person simply blows into a tube in the device, and an electrochemical biosensor detects whether the virus is there. Results are available in about a minute.
The National Institutes of Health in the United States have begun a series of studies to test possible treatments for long COVID, a step eagerly awaited in the efforts of the United States to fight this mysterious disease that affects millions of people.
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