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.
Comments closedTag: SARS-CoV-2
Topic: Newfoundland and LabradorView all posts for the topic: Newfoundland and Labrador
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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Topic: climate crisisView all posts for the topic: climate crisis
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.
Comments closedTopic: universal maskingView all posts for the topic: universal masking
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.”
Comments closedTopic: universal maskingView all posts for the topic: universal masking
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’
Comments closedTopic: droplet dogmaView all posts for the topic: droplet dogma
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.
Comments closedTopic: life expectancyView all posts for the topic: life expectancy
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.
Comments closedTopic: antisemitismView all posts for the topic: antisemitism
Germany’s Anti-vaccination History Is Riddled With Anti-Semitism
Jewish people were blamed for spreading disease, and considered expendable victims.
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As supply of N95-style respirators grows, some say it’s time to upgrade our masks
Since the pandemic began, masking recommendations in Canada have centred on the idea of protecting others: my mask protects you, your mask protects me. However, more contagious and potentially more dangerous variants of COVID-19 have some asking if it’s time for an upgrade, so that people can rely on their masks to protect themselves as well as others.
Comments closedTopic: zero-COVID policiesView all posts for the topic: zero-COVID policies
All countries should pursue a Covid-19 elimination strategy: here are 16 reasons why
The past year of Covid-19 has taught us that it is the behaviour of governments, more than the behaviour of the virus or individuals, that shapes countries’ experience of the crisis. Talking about pandemic waves has given the virus far too much agency: until quite recently the apparent waves of infection were driven by government action and inaction. It is only now with the emergence of more infectious variants that it might be appropriate to talk about a true second wave.
As governments draw up their battle plans for year two, we might expect them to base their strategies on the wealth of data about what works best. And the evidence to date suggests that countries pursuing elimination of Covid-19 are performing much better than those trying to suppress the virus. Aiming for zero-Covid is producing more positive results than trying to “live with the virus.”
Continue readingAll countries should pursue a Covid-19 elimination strategy: here are 16 reasons why
Comments closed Topic: New ZealandView all posts for the topic: New Zealand
Ardern reveals the moment she chose Covid elimination strategy
New Zealand’s decision to eliminate coronavirus stemmed as much from fear as ambition, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has revealed, saying there was a point at which she realised the health system simply couldn’t cope with a big outbreak.
Comments closedTopic: labour rightsView all posts for the topic: labour rights
Almonte hospital workers file grievance to access N95 masks
One of the country’s top arbitrators has been asked to settle a pandemic-related grievance filed by Almonte General Hospital health care workers, who want N95 respirators made available to them.
The hospital now issues N95 masks only to staff involved in aerosol-generating medical procedures, such as intubations.
Comments closedTopic: science denialView all posts for the topic: science denial
COVID-19 et climat : Contrer les mécanismes du déni par un vaccin démocratique
Whether it’s about COVID or the climate, conspiracy theories are the sign of a deep evil: the weakening of democracy.
Comments closedTopic: New ZealandView all posts for the topic: New Zealand
New Zealand suspects ‘some failure at the border’ after COVID-19 returns
New Zealand officials and scientists are eying a breach in isolation security as the possible cause of the first cases of community transmission in the country in 102 days. Investigators are exploring several possibilities, but experts believe the alternatives—that the virus was circulating undetected or that it entered the country on a freight shipment—are unlikely.
Comments closedTopic: N95 respiratorsView all posts for the topic: N95 respirators
Video | The Astounding Physics of N95 Masks
The physics of N95 respirators is pretty incredible.
Comments closedTopic: universal maskingView all posts for the topic: universal masking
Opinion: Want to save lives and the economy? We need mandatory masks laws
Mandatory public masking has been saving lives and leading to an earlier (and safer) reopening of societies around the world. Despite this, Canadian officials have been reticent to support this cheap, effective measure.
As of May 12, 13 U.S. states, including Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, and 84 countries, including Israel, Germany, Austria, Czechia and France, have laws mandating public masking. And zero Canadian jurisdictions.
Comments closedTopic: wastewaterView all posts for the topic: wastewater
New research examines wastewater to detect community spread of Covid-19
A series of crucial setbacks in Covid-19 testing has made it difficult to keep up with the virus’ rapid spread, and has inspired some researchers to look to wastewater to help fill in the gap of measuring how prevalent SARS-CoV-2 is in a given community.
In a paper posted Tuesday to the preprint server medRxiv, researchers collected samples in late March from a wastewater treatment plant serving a large metropolitan area in Massachusetts and found that the amount of SARS-CoV-2 particles in the sewage samples indicated a far higher number of people likely infected with Covid-19 than the reported cases in that area.
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