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Tag: Ontario

Topic: Hamilton RegionView all posts for the topic: Hamilton Region

Should Hamilton bring back wastewater surveillance?

Published January 15, 2025

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Published by: The Hamilton Spectator
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By Joanna Frketich

The 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.”

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

7 southwestern Ontario poultry farms in quarantine after avian flu outbreak

Published January 5, 2025

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Published by: CBC News
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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says seven poultry farms in southwestern Ontario are under quarantine due to an avian flu outbreak.

These include four farms near Ingersoll, two in Strathroy and one in North Middlesex County. The first cases were detected on Dec. 14, 2024, and officials say the virus was transmitted to the area through migratory birds.

“The source is generally migratory birds, so it’s usually spread through direct contact with wild birds or indirectly through fecal matter or contaminated water, soil or feed,” said Grant Loney, incident commander for the Ontario Avian Influenza Response.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Hospital workers who refused COVID-19 vaccine lose court battle

Published December 24, 2024

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Published by: BayToday.ca
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By Doug Coxson

It strains all credulity to accept that the Premier of Ontario, a number of cabinet ministers and 54 non-governmental defendants somehow conspired to concoct a plan to declare a ‘false pandemic’ all for the predominant purpose of harming the plaintiffs.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Dropping vaccination rates for children in Ontario raise measles fears

Published December 22, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

Just 70 per cent of seven year olds in Ontario were fully vaccinated against measles last year, according to Public Health Ontario.

That represents a steep drop in vaccination coverage compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the data. There have been similar declines for other routine childhood vaccines as well.

A decade ago, during the 2013-14 school year, 94 per cent of seven year olds in Ontario were fully immunized against measles. That number has steadily declined since then. Herd immunity for measles, which is among the most contagious infections in the world, is between 90 and 95 per cent.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Why doesn’t Doug Ford’s government want you to know if you have this dangerous disease?

Published December 19, 2024

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Published by: Toronto Star
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By Iris Gorfinkel

Transparency is crucial to public health, but far too little effort has gone into informing the public about the long-term health hazards posed by repeated COVID-19 infections. That needs to change. A good place to start is by providing free rapid tests to enable Ontarians to gauge their risk and that of their loved ones. Its messaging would be clear: Results still matter.

— Dr. Iris Gorfinkel
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Topic: Ottawa-GatineauView all posts for the topic: Ottawa-Gatineau

Ottawa Public Health warns of very low risk of hepatitis A exposure at south-end Tim Hortons

Published December 17, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Ted Raymond

Ottawa Public Health is warning residents about a possible risk of exposure to hepatitis A at a local Tim Hortons in the city’s south end.

OPH says it is investigating a confirmed case of hepatitis A in an employee at the Tim Hortons at 372 Hunt Club Rd.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Guelph wastewater testing will continue for COVID-19 and more by university researchers

Published December 12, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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Wastewater in Guelph will continue to be monitored for COVID-19, influenza and other illnesses through a new partnership between researchers at the University of Guelph and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

The researchers will get samples of wastewater three times a week, then will submit their findings to public health, which will in turn publish it to a public online dashboard.

Provincial funding for wastewater testing was cut on July 31 with the Ontario government citing a federal program that tests wastewater; however, none of the testing sites are in Waterloo region or Guelph.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

‘We were in a public health emergency’

Published December 1, 2024

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Published by: The Kingston Whig-Standard
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By Meghan Balogh

A Kingston family doctor is being ordered to repay more than $600,000 to the Ontario government for what the province says was reimbursement for improperly billed medical services related to mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

Dr. Elaine Ma has been told by the Health Services Appeal and Review Board to repay $600,962.61, plus interest, to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), to reimburse money she billed the province for vaccinations administered during drive-in COVID-19 vaccination clinics between July 2021 and January 2022.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

‘Mind boggling’ surge in pneumonia cases among children, teens and young adults

Published November 27, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

Perth emergency physician Dr. Alan Drummond has never seen anything like it. Drummond has treated five or six patients with pneumonia during almost every shift…

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Topic: convoy occupationView all posts for the topic: convoy occupation

Pat King found guilty of mischief for role in ‘Freedom Convoy’

Published November 22, 2024

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Published by: The Canadian Press
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By David Baxter

Pat King, one of the most prominent figures of the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa, has been found guilty on five counts including mischief and disobeying a court order.

A judge in an Ottawa courtroom Friday said the Crown proved beyond a reasonable doubt that King was guilty on one count each of mischief, counselling others to commit mischief and counselling others to obstruct police. He was also found guilty of two counts of disobeying a court order.

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Topic: air qualityView all posts for the topic: air quality

Student’s article spurs inspection of school’s HVAC system

Published November 17, 2024

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Published by: The Kingston Whig Standard
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By Peter Hendra

Kingston Secondary School will have its automated heating, ventilation and air conditioning system inspected next week following the publication of a student-written article that found the concentration of carbon dioxide in the school exceeded safe levels.

Principal Darren Seymour sent a letter to students, staff and parents last week in response to the article that appeared in “The Bears Bulletin.”

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

Wastewater testing for avian influenza to begin in some Ontario communities

Published November 8, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

As bird flu infections continue to rise among livestock and humans in the United States, surveillance is ramping up in Canada.

Wastewater testing for the H5N1 bird flu virus is set to begin in the coming weeks in Ontario communities considered at high risk, said Rob Delatolla, whose University of Ottawa lab will lead the wastewater surveillance as part of a research program based at the University of Guelph. That will likely mean testing wastewater in communities in agricultural regions of the province. It is unclear whether there will also be testing in larger cities.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

She helped thousands get COVID-19 shots. Now she’s on the hook for $600K

Published November 7, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Dan Taekema

A Kingston, Ont., doctor celebrated for organizing drive-thru vaccination clinics that helped thousands get shots at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic is now being ordered to pay back more than $600,000 in fees for those same services.

Dr. Elaine Ma said she organized 45 mass vaccination clinics that administered roughly 35,000 doses between April 2021 and the following February.

Her work was recognized by the Ontario College of Family Physicians, which granted her its Award of Excellence in 2021, in part pointing to Ma’s role in boosting local vaccination rates.

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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

‘Long COVID has really mystified’: Western University researchers take steps to unravel long COVID mysteries

Published October 29, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Gerry Dewan

Long COVID can have wide-ranging impacts, but is most commonly associated with brain fog, breathing difficulties and debilitating fatigue.

“Long COVID has really mystified a lot of physicians and scientists,” according to Dr. Douglas Fraser. Fraser is a researcher with Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, based in London, Ont.

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Topic: opinionView all posts for the topic: opinion

Coughing kids, coughing parents. To keep everyone healthy, we have to update our schools

Published October 28, 2024

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Published by: Toronto Star
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By Sara Ehrhardt

I’m coughing, looking at my plans for the day, cancelling each one.

As an elected official, this is not a good look. We wish to be out and about with people. We certainly don’t want to be coughing all over our constituents in this time of COVID.

But elected officials get sick too.

Like most parents in the community I represent, when I start to feel sick I think back to all the places my family and I have been, and also what plans we have coming up.

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Topic: Ottawa-GatineauView all posts for the topic: Ottawa-Gatineau

CHEO introduces new ‘safety measures’ for viral season, including masking requirements

Published October 22, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Josh Pringle

Eastern Ontario’s children’s hospital is reintroducing safety measures for the viral season, including requiring people to wear a mask in clinical areas and waiting rooms and limiting the number of caregivers accompanying a patient to an appointment.

CHEO says the viral season can bring a “triple threat for children and youth” with seasonal influenza, COVID-19 and RSV.

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Topic: TorontoView all posts for the topic: Toronto

Toronto hospitals with UHN reinstate masking requirements ahead of the flu, cold and COVID season

Published October 20, 2024

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Published by: Toronto Star
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By Elissa Mendes

Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN) is upping its masking requirements amid respiratory virus season.

As of Oct. 28, patients, visitors and staff will need to wear a mask while waiting for care, receiving care and in high-risk areas, UHN said in an update on its website.

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Topic: parosmiaView all posts for the topic: parosmia

London clinical trial targets lingering COVID toll on patients – smell distortion

Published October 6, 2024

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Published by: The London Free Press
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By Beatriz Baleeiro

Haunted for more than a year by phantom smells she couldn’t explain, Rebecca Bruzzese said she worried about her safety and mental health.

She could smell burning cigarettes in her living room, but no one was smoking. Beef frying on the stove smelled like “excrement in a pan.” Coffee was even worse.

“It smelled like hot garbage,” the 32-year-old said.

Unable to eat, Bruzzese lost 30 pounds and developed other health problems.

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