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Tag: influenza

Video | Questions about plans to axe Ontario’s wastewater monitoring networkScreenshot of the broadcast of Question Period, on June 6, 2024. Jeff Burch, Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Niagara Centre, is speaking. He has white and grey hair, glasses, a tie, and a navy blue suit. In the background, there are wood panels on the walls with intricate carvings.
Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Video | Questions about plans to axe Ontario’s wastewater monitoring network

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: Still COVIDing Canada
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During Question Period on June 6, 2024, Jeff Burch, MPP for Niagara Centre, asked some questions about the Ford government’s plans to eliminate Ontario’s wastewater monitoring program: “[…] with a serious gap in the federal government’s current ability to test wastewater in Ontario, why would this government abruptly cut this extremely low cost but highly valuable program?”

The government’s response was misleading. “The program is continuing through an expanded option with the federal government,” said Andrea Khanjin, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

That’s not actually true. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is not taking over the program. The Ontario government is planning to shut the existing extensive program that has been developed over years, with 58+ monitoring stations and expert researchers at 13 Ontario universities. In its place, there will be a much more limited network operated by PHAC, covering just five cities in Ontario.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Ontario’s wastewater testing program to be replaced by a federal program that is significantly smaller

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

When Ontario’s wastewater surveillance program is shut down next month it will be replaced by a significantly smaller federal program. That potential information gap worries some researchers and public health experts, especially at a time when COVID-19 cases are starting to tick up and avian influenza is spreading rapidly.

Ontario’s wastewater testing initiative, considered a world leader, currently tests wastewater for signs of infectious diseases including COVID, influenza, RSV and more at 58 locations across the province. The provincial government plans to pull the plug on the program at the end of July, saying it wants to avoid duplication with an expanding pan-Canadian wastewater surveillance program.

That new federal program includes plans to conduct wastewater surveillance in five Ontario cities. Four of the five cities have not yet been selected.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Ontario is a ‘world leader’ in wastewater surveillance for COVID. The province’s decision to close testing sites will end that, experts say

Published June 5, 2024

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Published by: Toronto Star
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By Megan Ogilvie

Researchers are warning that Ontario’s decision to shut down its wastewater surveillance program that proved crucial in tracking COVID-19 will limit the province’s ability to rapidly respond to infectious disease threats, including new COVID variants, respiratory viruses and bird flu.

A key member of the waterwater surveillance program says Ontario has been a “world leader and now we’ll probably be one of the passengers” by the scale-back that will also stifle research.

Cancelling the provincial surveillance system — the largest in Canada — will drastically reduce the number of testing sites in the province, experts say. They also caution that shuttering the program will mean that monitoring may no longer take place in smaller communities and in rural and northern areas, potentially missing vulnerable populations.

Continue readingOntario is a ‘world leader’ in wastewater surveillance for COVID. The province’s decision to close testing sites will end that, experts say
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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Radio | Peterborough Medical Officer of Health frustrated with the province’s decision to pullback on waste water monitoring

Published June 5, 2024

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Published by: CBC Radio / Ontario Morning with Ramraajh Sharvendiran
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Medical officer of health for Peterborough Public Health, Dr. Thomas Piggott talks with host Molly Thomas about why he believes we shouldn’t drop wastewater testing for diseases — even if COVID-19 is not the same threat it was when the program was rolled out.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

‘I was shocked’: Ontario to cancel widely used wastewater surveillance program

Published June 4, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

The Ontario government is shutting down the wastewater surveillance program that has provided early warning for incoming waves of COVID-19 and a growing list of other infectious diseases since it was developed.

By the time it ends on July 31, the program that got its start in Ottawa early in the pandemic will be one of the biggest in the world to monitor the spread of infectious diseases through wastewater. Researchers were told of the decision to end funding last week.

Its closure comes at a time when COVID-19 is again beginning to spread through the world after a lull and when the United States and other countries are ramping up wastewater surveillance programs to warn about the possible spread of H5N1 avian influenza.

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Ontario: Protect our health — save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring!Photo of some test tubes and equipment in a lab, with text: Protect our health. Save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring. StillCoviding.ca.
Topic: take actionView all posts for the topic: take action

Ontario: Protect our health — save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring!

Published June 4, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

📣 Let MPPs know you want funding for Ontario’s wastewater monitoring program to continue

✉️ Send letters to MPPs to voice your support for wastewater monitoring. Use our online tool to send emails.

Why take action? Wastewater monitoring is an essential public health tool that provides insights into the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in Ontario’s communities.

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Ontario: Call Members of Provincial Parliament on #WastewaterWednesday!Photo of the Ontario Legislative Building, and the surrounding green lawn and trees. It is a sunny day, and the sky is blue with some clouds. Text reads: Save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring! Call Premier Ford Phone: 416-325-1941 TTY/Teletypewriter: 1-800-387-5559 StillCOVIDing.ca #WastewaterWednesday
Topic: take actionView all posts for the topic: take action

Ontario: Call Members of Provincial Parliament on #WastewaterWednesday!

Published June 4, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

📣 Take action! Let MPPs know you want funding for Ontario’s wastewater monitoring program to continue

📱 Call MPPs to voice your support for wastewater monitoring.

✉️ Use our online tool to send letters to MPPs.

✉️ Use our online tool to send emails to municipal councillors in Ottawa or Waterloo Region.

📸 Post photos on social media.

Why take action? Wastewater monitoring is an essential public health tool that provides insights into the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in Ontario’s communities.

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Topic: pro-virus policiesView all posts for the topic: pro-virus policies

Masks no longer mandatory at N.S. Health facilities

Published May 23, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Cassidy Chisholm

Nova Scotia Health will no longer require people to wear masks when entering its facilities, unless they are symptomatic.

The health authority updated its rules on Tuesday, stating that it will continue to monitor levels of respiratory illness, including COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

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Topic: masksView all posts for the topic: masks

Masks work, our comprehensive review has found

Published May 22, 2024

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Published by: The Conversation
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By Trish Greenhalgh, C Raina MacIntyre, David Fisman

When a Texan farm worker caught bird flu from cattle recently, social media was abuzz with rumours. While bird flu is not a human pandemic, scientists and policymakers the world over are keen to prepare as best they can for when such a pandemic emerges – a tricky task, given that science is messy, policy must be pragmatic and people’s values don’t always align.

It’s time for masks to enter the chat. At the beginning of a pandemic caused by a novel or newly mutated virus, there may be no vaccine, no firm knowledge about how bad things will get and no specific treatment. Slowing transmission until more is known will be critical.

Getting most people to wear a mask could nip the outbreak in the bud, preventing a pandemic or lessening its impact. Wearing a mask is inconvenient, but not as inconvenient as lockdowns.

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Topic: mortality rateView all posts for the topic: mortality rate

Four Years On, Covid-19 Remains a Worse Killer Than the Flu, US Study Finds

Published May 15, 2024

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Published by: Bloomberg
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By Jason Gale

We did the 2024 Covid-versus-flu rematch thinking that we may find that risk of death in Covid may have sufficiently declined to become equal with the risk of death from flu. But the reality remains that Covid carries a higher risk of death than the flu. […]

Overall, I think this means that we still need to take Covid seriously. Trivializing it as an inconsequential ‘cold,’ as we often hear, doesn’t mesh or align with reality.

— Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly
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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

CDC launching wastewater dashboard to track bird flu virus spread

Published May 13, 2024

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Published by: STAT
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By Megan Molteni, Helen Branswell

Reluctance among dairy farmers to report H5N1 bird flu outbreaks within their herds or allow testing of their workers has made it difficult to keep up with the virus’s rapid spread, prompting federal public health officials to look to wastewater to help fill in the gaps.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to unveil a public dashboard tracking influenza A viruses in sewage that the agency has been collecting from 600 wastewater treatment sites around the country since last fall.

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Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

What are the most reliable rapid antigen tests?

Published May 6, 2024

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Published by: newsGP
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By Michelle Wisbey

A new study has analysed 26 RATs from Australia and Canada, finding only six could effectively detect the lowest concentrations of COVID-19.

Patients across the globe have come to rely on rapid antigen tests (RATs) to confirm a COVID-19 diagnosis, but a new Australian study has revealed most are not producing accurate results.

Researchers from James Cook University (JCU) say they were left ‘shocked’ after an analysis of 26 RATs from Australia and Canada found just six were effective at detecting the lowest concentration of COVID-19.

One Canadian test failed to detect the COVID-19 protein entirely at any level of concentration.

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Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

International study highlights best RATs

Published May 2, 2024

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Published by: James Cook University
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A ground-breaking study by James Cook University researchers has produced damning findings on several COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) available in Australia and overseas.

The new joint study by JCU and National Research Council Canada analysed 16 RATs approved by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and 10 by Health Canada, using a JCU-developed COVID-19 protein and its Canadian counterpart as reference materials.

Out of the total 26 RATs compared, only six were found to be effective at detecting the lowest concentration of the COVID-19 reference proteins in the dilution series used for benchmarking.

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

What we’re starting to learn about H5N1 in cows, and the risk to people

Published April 30, 2024

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Published by: STAT
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By Helen Branswell, Megan Molteni

The H5N1 bird flu virus has been around for decades, and the damage it wreaks on chickens and other poultry is well documented. But the recent discovery that the virus has jumped into dairy cattle — whose udders seem to be where the virus either infects or migrates to — has dumbfounded scientists and agricultural authorities.

Questions for which there are pretty clear answers when it comes to birds are suddenly unsettled science in cows. How are they getting infected? Are they transmitting the virus cow to cow, or are human actions — activities that are part of the day-to-day of farming — serving as an unrecognized amplifier of viral transmission? In the interface between infected cows and humans, how might people be at risk? Does consuming milk laced with live H5 virus pose a hazard?

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

There’s never a good time to drink raw milk. But now’s a really bad time as bird flu infects cows

Published April 29, 2024

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Published by: STAT
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By Helen Branswell

Scientists who know about the types of pathogens — E. coli and Salmonella among them — that can be transmitted in raw milk generally think drinking unpasteurized milk is a bad idea. But right now, they believe, the danger associated with raw milk may have gone to a whole new level.

“If I were in charge, for the moment I would forbid the selling of raw milk,” said Thijs Kuiken, a pathologist in the department of viroscience at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who has done research on H5N1 and the damage it inflicts for about two decades.

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

Cattle testing for H5N1 bird flu will be more limited than USDA initially announced

Published April 26, 2024

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Published by: STAT
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By Megan Molteni

New federal rules aimed at limiting the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus among dairy cattle go into effect Monday, but detailed guidance documents released Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture reveal its mandatory testing order is less stringent than initially described.

While that is easing concerns from farmers and veterinarians about the economic and logistical burden of testing, it leaves questions about how effective the testing program will be at containing additional outbreaks.

Continue readingCattle testing for H5N1 bird flu will be more limited than USDA initially announced
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