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).
Comments closedTag: SARS-CoV-2
📈 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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Most Ottawa COVID-19 signals are very high
The city’s COVID-19 numbers to watch are mostly very high, and they are either stable or rising in this week’s Ottawa Public Health (OPH) updates.
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After 3 years, Western Fair COVID-19 vaccine site to close down operations
The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) is closing its mass vaccination clinic in mid-December.
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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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Video: Why Toronto vaccination centres are closing
Despite data showing surging flu and COVID-19 infections, Toronto’s COVID-19 vaccination clinics are shutting down due to a lack of funding.
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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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Toronto residents are confused about vaccination clinics closing as Ontario reports rise in COVID cases
Torontonians are questioning why the city is closing its four fixed-site vaccination clinics in less than a month, despite a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases across Ontario.
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Cancer patients with COVID at higher risk of death, hospitalization amid Omicron
A study from Israel finds that adult solid-cancer patients had a higher risk of death and hospitalization after COVID-19 infection than infected patients without cancer during a period of Omicron variant predominance and that vaccination lowered that risk.
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Topic: PirolaView all posts for the topic: Pirola
COVID variant BA.2.86 triples in new CDC estimates, now 8.8% of cases
Nearly 1 in 10 new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are from the BA.2.86 variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Monday, nearly triple what the agency estimated the highly mutated variant’s prevalence was two weeks ago.
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Topic: outdoor transmissionView all posts for the topic: outdoor transmission
Can You Catch Covid Outside? Yes, You Can.
You wouldn’t attend an outdoor party where measles or smallpox was present. Covid is no different, especially now.
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Two new COVID-19 variants quickly gaining traction across Canada are already dominant in New Brunswick.
So far, HV.1 and HK.3, related to Omicron EG.5, do not appear to cause more severe disease than other recent variants, said Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto.
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Topic: life expectancyView all posts for the topic: life expectancy
Canadians’ life expectancy falls for third straight year: StatCan
More than 19,700 Canadians died of COVID-19 last year, the highest number since the pandemic began in 2020.
Comments closedTopic: variantsView all posts for the topic: variants
WHO upgrades BA.2.86 to COVID-19 variant of interest as US proportions grow
The World Health Organization (WHO) last week reclassified the Omicron BA.2.86 variant—and its offshoots, including JN.1—as a variant of interest as global proportions grow, including in the United States, where it now makes up about 9% of circulating viruses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.
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Topic: premature birthsView all posts for the topic: premature births
Study: Spike in premature births caused by COVID, halted by vaccines
COVID-19 caused an alarming surge in premature births, but vaccines were key to returning the early birth rate to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new analysis of California birth records.
“The effect of maternal COVID infection from the onset of the pandemic into 2023 is large, increasing the risk of preterm births over that time by 1.2 percentage points,” says Jenna Nobles, a University of Wisconsin–Madison sociology professor. “To move the needle on preterm birth that much is akin to a disastrous environmental exposure, like weeks of breathing intense wildfire smoke.”
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