SARS-CoV-2 is now circulating out of control worldwide. The only major limitation on transmission is the immune environment the virus faces. The disease it causes, COVID‑19, is now a risk faced by most people as part of daily life.
Comments closedThe population benefit of COVID-19 vaccination via direct and indirect effects was substantial in Tokyo in early 2022 during Omicron, with an estimated 65% reduction in the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections, according to a new model that compared risks between unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals.
Comments closedComments closedI think New Brunswickers were under the impression that government was looking for recommendations, for opinions from Public Health experts to make these decisions, and [it] feels like that … clearly wasn’t what was happening
The COVID-19 vaccination campaign in 141 countries averted 2.4 million excess deaths by August 2021 and would have saved another 670,000 more lives had vaccines been distributed equitably, estimates a working paper from University of Southern California (USC) and Brown University researchers.
Comments closedLong-term care facilities in Prince Edward Island were not ready for the pandemic. Because of this, the quality of patient care deteriorated when COVID-19 arrived.
A group appointed by the provincial government came to these conclusions after talking to residents, workers, and managers of long-term care facilities, as well as families whose loved ones live in those facilities.
A long-awaited report into how Prince Edward Island handled the COVID-19 pandemic in its long-term care homes says that while the province’s response was reasonable, it was too severe in its impact on residents.
P.E.I.’s long-term care homes “were not sufficiently prepared for a pandemic” when the COVID-19 crisis began, leading to the quality of care for residents deteriorating, according to an external panel appointed by the provincial government.
The panel headed by mediator and retired lawyer Michele Dorsey reported on its work Thursday, after interviewing and surveying long-term care residents, operators, staff and unions as well as health administrators and Island families who had loved ones in the system.
Comments closedIreland’s Covid-19 vaccination programme prevented 16,000 deaths and hugely reduced hospital and intensive care admissions, according to a Health Service Executive study.
Comments closedGovernment’s strategy, which included closing the border, meant death rate was 80% lower than in the US, according to the New Zealand Medical Journal.
Comments closedCOVID killed more than 53,000 Canadians. So why is the federal government still refusing to call an inquiry into lessons learned?
Comments closedThe leaders of Manitoba’s two largest political parties said Wednesday they would not impose the kind of restrictions on people and businesses seen during the…
Comments closedThe Government of Quebec’s inability to roll out its pandemic response plan, when the novel coronavirus began circulating around the world in early 2020, has resulted in preventable deaths in long-term care facilities, supported a Montreal lawyer on Monday.
Comments closedA new report from six Dalhousie University researchers has found government restrictions that limited movement during the first two years of the pandemic likely helped curb the spread of COVID-19.
It also found infection, hospitalizations and deaths increased when restrictions eased and the highly infectious Omicron variant arrived.
Comments closedComments closedThe Biden administration has made a political choice—not a scientific or public health one—to downgrade the national response to COVID-19. Included in this is the reticence or outright avoidance of mentioning masking even as cases rise in the US. The CDC director, in talking about this late increase in COVID cases, bends over backward to mention hand-washing, but not N95s. Without question, N95s offer individuals protection against infection and leaving out that fact is a disservice and an abdication of duty.
Comments closedWhat we uncovered was an oversight system that was strained before the pandemic, and proved to be wholly incapable and unprepared to handle the additional stresses posed by COVID-19.
New Brunswick nursing homes that reported high COVID-19 infection rates lacked infection prevention and control practices, and were not properly inspected, says a report by the auditor general.
Comments closedThe Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health was at the bottom of New Brunswick’s COVID-19 pandemic decision-making hierarchy, a new report by the auditor general shows, while third from the top, after cabinet and the cabinet committee on COVID-19, was a group that several MLAs say they knew nothing about.
Comments closed“While too many people who should know better are downplaying the ongoing public health risk from Covid, others are trying to signal the peril of our current moment. The New York Times recently reported on new estimates from researchers that Covid might lead to at least 45,000 deaths between September and April—and that’s the best-case scenario.”
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