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Tag: SARS-CoV-2

Les virus respiratoires prennent d’assaut les urgences du Québec

A trio of respiratory viruses hover over Quebec and send many patients to the emergency room.

According to Jean Longtin, a microbiologist-infectiologist at the CHU in Québec-Université Laval, it is mainly the respiratory syncytial virus, the RSV, influenza and COVID-19 that are currently circulating.

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24 Nova Scotia long-term care homes currently dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks

There are currently two dozen COVID-19 outbreaks reported at long-term care homes across Nova Scotia, and some health-care officials are concerned about a lack of COVID protocols.

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Fact Check: Iceland has not banned COVID vaccines

A headline shared online falsely claims that Iceland has banned COVID-19 vaccines and cites sudden deaths for which there is no evidence, according to the Icelandic national health authority.

Iceland has not banned COVID vaccines and “there are no soaring sudden deaths,” Guðrún Aspelund, chief epidemiologist at the Icelandic Directorate of Health, told Reuters in a Nov. 29 email.

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Flu season has officially started in Canada, public health agency says

Flu season has officially begun in Canada, the federal public health agency said on Friday.

“At the national level, influenza activity has crossed the seasonal threshold, indicating the start of influenza season,” the Public Health Agency of Canada said in its weekly FluWatch report posted online.

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‘Dramatic’ increases in younger Canadians’ deaths contributed to our reduced life expectancy

Amid a declining life expectancy across the country, new national data released this week show that years on from the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-19…

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COVID-19 shrinks life expectancy in S. Korea for first time since 1970

Babies born in South Korea last year are expected to live 82.7 years, down from 83.6 years in 2021, the statistics agency said on Friday, after life expectancy fell in 2022 for the first time since 1970, hit by a spike in deaths linked to COVID-19.

Following a global trend of such declines over the past few years, the OECD grouping said last month that average life expectancy had dipped 0.7 years across its 39 member nations between 2019 and 2021.

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Manitoba reduces recommended wait time between COVID-19 shots

Respiratory viruses are on the rise in Manitoba and the province is reducing recommended intervals between COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer, said residents are now eligible to receive an updated vaccine three months after their previous shot.

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Meta-analysis reveals high rates of heart complications in long-COVID patients

A review and meta-analysis of long-term cardiac complications of long COVID finds a high prevalence of chest pain and abnormal heart rhythms (arrythmias).

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Study estimates 2 COVID vaccine doses 40% effective against emergency, hospital care in young kids

Two doses of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine were 40% effective against emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalization in preschool-aged children during a period of Omicron variant predominance, estimates a test-negative, case-control study using data from the New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN).

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Ottawa-Gatineau community update | 2023‑11‑29

📈 The COVID-19 wastewater viral signal for Ottawa has increased substantially (+1,826%) since a low on July 12, 2023. It is extremely high.

⚠️ The 7-day average of percent positivity is extremely high (19.94%).

🏥 Confirmed COVID-19 patients in Ottawa hospitals: 160 ( decrease of 43).

In 2023, there have been 114 COVID-19 outbreaks at Ottawa’s hospitals so far, leading to 18 deaths and 953 known cases of COVID-19.

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COVID-19: Peterborough risk index still high as 1 death, 11 active outbreaks reported

For the fifth consecutive week, the community risk index for COVID-19 for the Peterborough, Ont., region remains at a high level, public health officials report.

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US life expectancy rose last year, but it remains below its pre-pandemic level

U.S. life expectancy rose last year — by more than a year — but still isn’t close to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2022 rise was mainly due to the waning pandemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said Wednesday. But even with the large increase, U.S. life expectancy is only back to 77 years, 6 months — about what it was two decades ago.

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With COVID-19 clinics set to close, Toronto wants to focus on boosting student immunization rates

With four of Toronto’s temporary COVID-19 vaccination sites set to close for good, the city is hoping to switch focus to boosting immunization rates for school-aged children.

Provincial funding will soon run out, meaning “fixed-site” vaccination clinics at Metro Hall, Cloverdale Mall, North York Civic Centre and one near Scarborough Town Centre will close after Dec. 13, the city announced in a release Monday.

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It’s not the quarantine that made so many other diseases surge: It’s the COVID

The world is nearly four years into the COVID-19 pandemic, but how the SARS-CoV-2 virus damages human lives, both in the short term and across a span of years, is still becoming clear. Earlier this month, a study in Lancet showed that 54% of those infected in the first months of the pandemic were still experiencing symptoms over three years later.

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Toronto ER doctor says winter surge of respiratory illnesses has begun

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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