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Tag: SARS-CoV-2

High schoolers walk out to protest lax COVID policies

High school students across Manitoba walked out of class last Monday to demand improved COVID-19 safety measures as in-person learning resumes.

‍Organized by the group MB Students for COVID Safety, the walkout’s demands included the option to return to remote learning if students wish and increased funding for safety measures for those who prefer in-person learning.

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B.C. to allow COVID-positive and double-vaxxed patients to share hospital rooms

Due to record-high hospitalizations, patients who have COVID-19 are being placed in the same room with double-vaccinated people who do not have the virus, British Columbia health officials said.

B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry confirmed the policy at a Friday news conference, responding to a specific question about the policy’s use by the Fraser Health Authority.

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Burnaby mask maker that says B.C. isn’t following science donates 100K N95 respirators to teachers

Burnaby mask company Vitacore is being thanked by the union that represents B.C. teachers for donating 100,000 respirators to its members.

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It might be time to upgrade your mask

If you’re still wearing a cloth or surgical mask when you’re out and about, it’s time to rethink your face covering.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is set to update its mask advice this week to best reflect the available options and the different levels of protection they provide, a CDC official told CNN Tuesday.

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Will Covid-19 become less dangerous as it evolves?

The pandemic has been awash with slogans, but in recent weeks, two have been repeated with increasing frequency: “Variants will evolve to be milder” and “Covid will become endemic”. Yet experts warn that neither of these things can be taken for granted.

Those stating that viruses become less deadly over time often cite influenza. Both of the flu viruses responsible for the 1918 Spanish flu and 2009 swine flu pandemics eventually evolved to become less dangerous. However, the 1918 virus is thought to have become more deadly before it became milder. And other viruses, such as Ebola, have become more dangerous over time.

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Give FFP3 masks to NHS staff during Omicron, doctors say

NHS staff treating Covid patients should be given much more protective facewear than thin surgical masks to help them avoid getting infected during the Omicron rise, doctors say.

The British Medical Association (BMA), Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) and Doctors’ Association UK are calling for frontline personnel to be given FFP3 masks.

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Citing Omicron’s airborne ‘potential’, Ontario hospitals, LTC homes will now use N95 respirators with COVID patients

Ontario health officials are changing a key recommendation on the use of hospital personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the “potential” that the highly-transmissible Omicron variant can spread at a distance through the air.

Health-care workers providing care to a “suspected or confirmed” COVID-19 patient in hospitals, long-term-care homes, or in a home-care situation will now be required to also use a “fit-tested, seal-checked N95 respirator,” according to interim guidance issued by Public Health Ontario Wednesday.

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1,619 people likely caught COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals and 274 of them have died

For the first time, B.C.’s Ministry of Health has provided information about people who likely caught COVID-19 after going to acute care settings for medical treatment or work, with 1,619 getting the virus and 274 of them dying.

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Des purificateurs d’air pourraient s’avérer utiles dans certains milieux hospitaliers

The idea of using air purifiers to limit the spread of COVID-19 is not new. It has been attracting interest, particularly from health professionals, since…

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COVID-19 has caused the biggest decrease in life expectancy since World War II

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered life expectancy losses not seen since World War II in Western Europe and exceeded those observed around the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc in central and Eastern European countries, according to research published today, led by scientists at Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science.

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Osborne ‘optimistic’ about getting 4,000 air purifiers before school starts. But is it realistic?

Newfoundland and Labrador’s education minister says 4,000 classrooms across the province will likely have an air purification system by the time school starts in September.

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Wildfire smoke may have contributed to thousands of extra COVID-19 cases and deaths in western U.S. in 2020

Thousands of COVID-19 cases and deaths in California, Oregon, and Washington between March and December 2020 may be attributable to increases in fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) from wildfire smoke, according to a new study co-authored by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

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Upgrading PPE for staff working on COVID-19 wards cut hospital-acquired infections dramatically

“Once FFP3 respirators were introduced, the number of cases attributed to exposure on COVID-19 wards dropped dramatically – in fact, our model suggests that FFP3 respirators may have cut ward-based infection to zero.”

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Cambridge hospital’s mask upgrade appears to eliminate Covid risk to staff

Hospital infection study shows use of FFP3 respirators at Addenbrooke’s ‘may have cut ward-based infection to zero’

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Canada’s culture of silence on airborne virus transmission leaves many confused on how to best avoid infection

It’s the dog days of the pandemic. We continue to follow public health guidance, which is getting less restrictive, as we wait for vaccines to end this crisis. We have learned so much over the last year about how to better protect ourselves, including critical information that COVID is likely transmitted predominantly via airborne spread.

And yet, many of our infectious disease and public health specialists — including our chief medical officers of health — seem to be unable to say the word “airborne” or “aerosol” out loud, and instead continue to emphasize measures such as deep cleaning and plexiglass panels.

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How the COVID-19 pandemic lowered life expectancy in Canada last year

COVID-19 deaths led to a five-month decrease in life expectancy at birth last year, recent data released by Statistics Canada suggest, potentially putting the country at a level not seen in seven years.

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The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill

Early one morning, Linsey Marr tiptoed to her dining room table, slipped on a headset, and fired up Zoom. On her computer screen, dozens of familiar faces began to appear. She also saw a few people she didn’t know, including Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead for Covid-19, and other expert advisers to the WHO. It was just past 1 pm Geneva time on April 3, 2020, but in Blacksburg, Virginia, where Marr lives with her husband and two children, dawn was just beginning to break.

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