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Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

B.C. posts highest COVID-19 hospitalizations since January in latest monthly update

Published September 5, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Ian Holliday

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. has risen to its highest level since January, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s latest monthly update.

There were 214 test-positive COVID patients in provincial hospitals as of Thursday, according to the BCCDC. That’s the second-highest total the agency has published all year, only slightly below the 219 seen on Jan. 4, the first – and still highest – total reported in 2024.

Thursday’s update showed the number of lab-confirmed cases rose each week in August, with 365 new positive tests recorded during the week of Aug. 4 to 10 and 462 recorded last week.

Continue readingB.C. posts highest COVID-19 hospitalizations since January in latest monthly update
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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Health Canada orders provinces to destroy old COVID-19 vaccines amid wait for new batch

Published September 4, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Luca Caruso-Moro

Health Canada has directed provinces to withdraw and destroy remaining supplies of last year’s COVID-19 vaccines while it works to authorize updated shots, which is expected to happen in October, according to Ontario’s health ministry.

“Vaccines will be available once Ontario receives supply from Health Canada following their regulatory authorization of the new, updated vaccine formulation,” read a statement from Ontario spokesperson Hannah Jensen.

A notice posted on the federal government’s immunization guide says vaccines aimed at Omicron variant XBB.1.5 is no longer available in Canada. Updated shots, made to target the now-dominant JN.1 or KP.2 strains are expected to get the green light “in the coming weeks.”

Continue readingHealth Canada orders provinces to destroy old COVID-19 vaccines amid wait for new batch
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Topic: Ottawa-GatineauView all posts for the topic: Ottawa-Gatineau

High rates of COVID are causing outbreaks, rising hospitalizations and deaths heading into the school year

Published August 27, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

If it seems like many of your friends and neighbours have been sick with COVID this summer, you are not wrong.

Ottawa is experiencing a COVID-19 wave that is sending people to hospital, causing outbreaks in long-term care homes, retirement homes and hospital wards, and even causing deaths among some of the most vulnerable. At least one local hospital has tightened masking requirements following outbreaks there, and Ottawa Public Health is advising students to take precautions when they head back to school, including staying home when sick and wearing masks for their own protection and the protection of others.

Continue readingHigh rates of COVID are causing outbreaks, rising hospitalizations and deaths heading into the school year
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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

There’s been a summer surge in COVID-19 cases. Should I get a booster shot now or wait until the fall for the new updated COVID vaccine?

Published August 18, 2024

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Published by: The Globe and Mail
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By Paul Taylor

QUESTION: I’ve heard that there’s been a summer surge in COVID-19 cases. Should I get a booster shot now or wait until the fall for the new updated COVID vaccine?

ANSWER: It’s true that there’s been a recent rise in COVID levels in Canada, according to data from waste water collection sites across the country as of the end of July.

Not so long ago, many medical experts assumed that COVID would eventually turn into a seasonal infection – similar to influenza.

Continue readingThere’s been a summer surge in COVID-19 cases. Should I get a booster shot now or wait until the fall for the new updated COVID vaccine?
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Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

‘High’ COVID levels show virus may no longer be an emergency in B.C. but it’s still a threat

Published August 12, 2024

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Published by: Vancouver Sun
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By Michelle Gamage

B.C.’s [top doctor] has ended the COVID-19 public health emergency, but experts warn that COVID-19 still poses a serious and potentially deadly threat to the public.

“COVID is still a major, ongoing health issue and crisis,” said Tara Moriarty, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, an infectious disease expert and co-founder of the COVID-19 Resources Canada database.

By Moriarty’s calculations, one in 52 British Columbians currently has COVID. According to recent federal wastewater testing from mid-July, B.C. has “high” COVID-19 activity levels.

This can have major implications for public health because hospitals don’t have mandatory masking requirements.

Continue reading‘High’ COVID levels show virus may no longer be an emergency in B.C. but it’s still a threat
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Topic: QuebecView all posts for the topic: Quebec

Slight increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Quebec

Published July 9, 2024

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Published by: Le Devoir
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By Florence Morin-Martel

New variants are beginning to affect the number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations, Santé publique notes, but it is not concerned about the situation at this time.

“For the week ending July 5, we had 331 hospitalizations. The week before, it was 291. So it went up by about 14%,” says the national director of public health, Dr. Luc Boileau, in an interview with Le Devoir.

Those affected are mainly seniors, he said, noting that nearly half of the 331 Quebecers hospitalized are 80 years of age or older. “We have new variants, the KP.2 and KP.3, which have gradually settled in Quebec and are taking up all the space,” explains Dr. Boileau.

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Topic: QuebecView all posts for the topic: Quebec

Analysis: Quebec in midst of new COVID-19 summer wave

Published July 7, 2024

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Published by: Montreal Gazette
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By Aaron Derfel

Quebec is now witnessing — as is the case across North America — an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations, reinforcing the notion that SARS-CoV-2 is still not yet a fully seasonal virus and sending vaccine manufacturers racing to develop COVID shots for this fall that will guard against the latest sub-variants.

The province reported a total of 671 hospitalizations with and for COVID-19 as of July 5. That’s up from a low of 400 such hospitalizations on April 20 in Quebec. The number of patients in emergency rooms testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 is also rising, according to the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).

More and more Quebecers are testing positive for COVID-19, with the percentage rising to 12.9 per cent as of June 30, according to the INSPQ. That this is occurring during summer suggests that SARS-CoV-2 is still far from a seasonal virus like the flu, a view supported by doctors and experts in the field.

“COVID is not over,” Dr. Susan Kuo, a British Columbia family physician, told the CBC on Friday. “This is the summer. It’s July. It’s not usually a time that we’re seeing so many people that are sick. What this tells us is that COVID is not a seasonal virus.”

Continue readingAnalysis: Quebec in midst of new COVID-19 summer wave
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Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

B.C. COVID hospitalizations at highest level since January

Published July 4, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Ian Holliday

It may not be on most people’s minds, but COVID-19 is on the rise again in B.C.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control released its monthly data on the disease Thursday, showing 204 test-positive patients in provincial hospitals. It’s only the second time all year that the hospitalized population has risen above 200, and the first time since early January.

The hospital census is more than double what it was at this time last year, when the BCCDC’s July update showed just 96 COVID patients receiving hospital care.

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Topic: New BrunswickView all posts for the topic: New Brunswick

COVID-19 experts warn of risks of summer surge as N.B. hazard index leads country

Published June 28, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon

Two infectious disease experts are warning New Brunswickers about the risks of COVID-19 heading into the summer, when they say many people mistakenly believe infections decrease.

New Brunswick has the highest COVID-19 risk index in the country right now — more than double the national average, according to Tara Moriarty, an infectious disease researcher and lead of COVID-19 Resources Canada, which produces a weekly forecast.

The province is listed as “severe” for June 22 to July 5, with a score of 28.2, based on current infections and spread, health-care system impact and mortality. Canada’s overall rate is 13.6.

Continue readingCOVID-19 experts warn of risks of summer surge as N.B. hazard index leads country
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Topic: CaliforniaView all posts for the topic: California

Summer COVID bump intensifies in L.A. and California, fueled by FLiRT variants

Published June 24, 2024

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Published by: Los Angeles Times
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By Rong-Gong Lin II

The new COVID-19 subvariants collectively nicknamed FLiRT are continuing to increase their dominance nationwide, fueling a rise in cases in Los Angeles County and growth in the coronavirus levels seen in California wastewater.

Taken together, the data point to a coronavirus resurgence in the Golden State — one that, while not wholly unexpected given the trends seen in previous pandemic-era summers, has arrived earlier and is being driven by even more transmissible strains than those previously seen.

It remains unclear how bad the COVID situation may get this summer, however. Doctors have said that by the Fourth of July, we may have a better feel for how the rest of the season will play out.

Continue readingSummer COVID bump intensifies in L.A. and California, fueled by FLiRT variants
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Topic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta

COVID-19 on the rise in Alberta as summer approaches

Published June 18, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Jennifer Lee

Albertans can expect a further COVID-19 bump, driven by yet another crop of new variants, experts are cautioning.

COVID cases, hospitalizations and positivity rates have been rising since April.

“Unlike other respiratory illnesses, we’re not really getting a summer reprieve,” said Sarah (Sally) Otto, a COVID-19 modeller and professor in the department of zoology at the University of British Columbia.

“We’re seeing this across Canada and globally, that there’s an uptick in cases. And that’s coming from these new variants [and the] evolution of this virus.”

The KP.2 and KP.3 variants, combined, now account for more than half of Alberta’s sequenced cases.

Continue readingCOVID-19 on the rise in Alberta as summer approaches
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Topic: CaliforniaView all posts for the topic: California

COVID is coming for Calif., and it’s already hitting the Bay Area the hardest

Published June 12, 2024

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Published by: SFGATE
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By Ariana Bindman

If you or any of your friends have gotten sick with COVID-19 recently, you’re not the only ones: Case rates are rising in the Bay Area and the proof is in the pipes. According to the California Department of Public Health, the region now has the most viral wastewater than anywhere else in California.

In an email to SFGATE, Amanda Bidwell, a wastewater researcher and data analyst at Stanford, said that over the past 21 days “consistently high concentrations” of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected in wastewater samples collected across San Francisco.

“Currently we are seeing some of the highest concentrations we’ve ever measured” at these locations, Bidwell continued. And across San Francisco, the levels are approaching those last seen in December and January. Because individuals shed the virus before getting tested, this method of monitoring wastewater helps predict upcoming surges while including data from those who are asymptomatic.

Continue readingCOVID is coming for Calif., and it’s already hitting the Bay Area the hardest
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Topic: SingaporeView all posts for the topic: Singapore

Singapore facing new Covid-19 wave; vaccination recommended especially for seniors: Ong Ye Kung

Published May 18, 2024

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Published by: The Straits Times
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By Chin Soo Fang

Singapore is seeing a new Covid-19 wave, with rising cases of infection in the last two weeks, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on May 18.

“We are at the beginning part of the wave where it is steadily rising,” said Mr Ong. “So I would say the wave should peak in the next two to four weeks, which means between mid- and end of June.”

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that to protect hospital bed capacity and as a precaution, public hospitals have been asked to reduce their non-urgent elective surgery cases and move suitable patients to facilities like transitional care facilities or back home through Mobile Inpatient Care@Home.

Continue readingSingapore facing new Covid-19 wave; vaccination recommended especially for seniors: Ong Ye Kung
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Topic: TorontoView all posts for the topic: Toronto

Toronto ER doctor says winter surge of respiratory illnesses has begun

Published November 28, 2023

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Published by: CityNews
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By Shauna Hunt, Meredith Bond

Toronto emergency room doctors say the winter surge of COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections is underway, with hospitals seeing a wave of visits across the GTA.

In the last week, nearly 250 Ontarians have been admitted to hospital, and Public Health Ontario (PHO) reports the COVID-19 wastewater signal is at its highest level in more than a year.

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Topic: hospitalizationsView all posts for the topic: hospitalizations

COVID-19 hospitalizations reach numbers not seen since last winter

Published October 17, 2023

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Published by: CTV News
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By Megan DeLaire

COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise across Canada as a wave of autumn infections sweeps the population, according to recent data released by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

Continue readingCOVID-19 hospitalizations reach numbers not seen since last winter
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