Sunday marks International Long Covid Awareness Day, held annually on March 15. Six years after a global pandemic was declared, the affliction continues to be a battle for some long after their initial COVID-19 infection. The CBC’s Baneet Braich has more on the efforts to raise awareness about the illness.
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Health group calls on B.C. to bring back mask mandates in medical settings
In March 2025, the Province dropped its health-care mask requirement. DoNoHarm BC, an organization advocating for it to be reinstated, had been hoping that they would do so once respiratory illness season started last fall.
“We watched other provinces reenact these seasonal mask mandates, and waited and waited,” Beth Campbell Duke, a science educator, told Daily Hive. “We had a letter-writing campaign, and still there was no response.”
While people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed are most at risk, she said that it poses a risk to everyone because no one knows how COVID-19 infection could impact them.
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Snapshots of the unseen: How we focused Long COVID in a recent photo exhibition
“Are you sick?” the Uber driver asked. “Is that why you’re wearing a mask?”
I launched into my usual monologue, delivered to strangers weekly at this point, explaining how COVID-19 transmission is still high and that I don’t want to be reinfected to worsen my existing Long COVID.
He looked at me, puzzled, through the rearview mirror. “I haven’t heard of that before,” he said, “but you look really good!”
I awkwardly stammered that I can no longer exercise, and a few years ago I could barely leave the house, almost dropping out of my graduate school program. I listed statistics of Long COVID prevalence and the compounding risks of infections.
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COVID shot reduces risk of severe illness, premature birth in pregnancy, study says
TORONTO – A new study says the COVID-19 vaccine protects pregnant women from getting severely ill or giving birth prematurely.
Researchers with the Canadian Surveillance of COVID-19 in Pregnancy (CANCOVID-Preg) program, led by the University of British Columbia analyzed public health and clinical records of 19,899 pregnant people diagnosed with COVID between April 5, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2022.
That time period covered infections with both Delta and Omicron variants in eight provinces and one territory.
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Long COVID exhibition co-produced with community opens at the Museum of Vancouver
One in nine Canadians have experienced Long COVID symptoms, ranging from mild to debilitating. A new exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver, co-produced by Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, invites visitors into the often-invisible world of those living with the life-altering effects of COVID-19.
Long COVID is a chronic condition affecting one or more organ systems that occurs after a SARS-CoV-2 infection and lingers for at least three months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state. Despite its prevalence, the condition remains widely misunderstood, under-researched, and stigmatized.
The Living with Long COVID exhibition brings these realities to light and offers a unique opportunity to intimately understand Long COVID through the eyes of those living it.
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Wildfire smoke prompts air quality warnings on B.C.’s South Coast
Air quality warnings have been issued for much of B.C.’s South Coast, where smoke wafting from wildfires on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border has created hazy skies.
Elevated levels of fine particulate matter have been detected across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley as a result, creating a risk of negative health effects.
The conditions are expected to last “a few days, or until there is a change in the weather,” according to a notice posted on the Metro Vancouver Regional District website on Wednesday.
As of the early afternoon, the smoke had pushed Vancouver to the top of a “most-polluted major city” ranking from IQAir, a Swiss company that develops air quality monitoring systems.
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B.C. plans to cut payments for long-COVID clinics, leaving patients in lurch
A virtual clinic that treats patients for long COVID and other chronic conditions is warning that it may have to partially shut down if the province goes ahead with changes on Sept. 1 that would limit the number of patients who can take part in online group appointments.
The B.C. Centre for Long COVID, ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia, run by internal medicine doctors Ric Arseneau and R. Jane McKay, treats 5,000 patients for a variety of chronic diseases, such as myalgic encephalomyelitis, which causes extreme fatigue, and PoTS, a heart rate condition.
After each patient goes through an initial one-on-one consultation, follow-up appointments can take the form of a virtual group medical visit of up to 12 patients, where either Arseneau or McKay take at least one to two questions per patient, or a group medication visit of up to 50 patients, which allows for presentations on different medications and then takes questions from patients.
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Chronically ill artists honour International Awareness Month for chronic neuro-immune diseases
Vancouver’s Opera Mariposa presents month-long programme benefitting the ME | FM Society of BC
April 30, 2025 (Vancouver, BC) – This May, Canadian artists are rallying the community to support people with chronic and post-infectious illnesses. From May 1 to June 1, Vancouver’s Opera Mariposa is presenting their 2025 Benefit + Awareness Month: an all-digital charity extravaganza featuring art, prizes, and special programming benefiting the ME | FM Society of BC.
May is the International Awareness Month for chronic neuro-immune diseases, and Mariposa’s programming is created by and for people impacted by Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME or ME/CFS), Long Covid, and Fibromyalgia. These complex multisystem illnesses affect millions of people across Canada – and that number is rising, given that they can be triggered by viruses, including COVID-19.
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New travel-related measles case found in the Lower Mainland
A new case of travel-related measles has been confirmed in the Lower Mainland this week.
Fraser Health says a traveller from Ontario who went to Vancouver and Chilliwack on April 20 has a confirmed infection of the virus.
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Is Public Health Really Dead?
Local podcaster Daniella Barreto called her latest project Public Health Is Dead to capture her frustration with how leaders handled the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It seemed like all of these things we’re taught in school, like prevention being key and using evidence to make decisions, was thrown out the window,” Barreto told The Tyee. “Mask mandates were being taken away, people were increasingly getting long COVID, and I decided I needed to do something because people were not getting the information they needed.”
Launching the podcast in November 2024, Barreto used her background in public health, with a master of science in population public health from the University of British Columbia and a bachelor of science in health science from Simon Fraser University, to help explain what went wrong. So far she’s released five episodes and has many more in the works.
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Long COVID sufferers converge outside the Vancouver Art Gallery to protest for better support
Crowds of people suffering long COVID rallied outside the Vancouver Art Gallery Saturday afternoon to raise awareness of the debilitating effects felt by those still battling the disease.
People had gathered to call on the government to assist with funding for further research into symptoms and treatments, disability support, public awareness, and training for medical staff.
Via placards and speeches, protesters described their own various experiences and asked passers by and others in attendance to send letters to their MLA’s and MP’s, requesting support.
According to Statistics Canada, 3.5 million Canadians continue to suffer symptoms five years after the global outbreak of COVID-19.
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Additional measles case detected in B.C.‘s Lower Mainland: officials
A second case of measles linked to a group that travelled to Southeast Asia has been identified in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, according to health officials.
The infected person lives in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and was on Air Canada Flight 66, which arrived at YVR on Feb. 11, said a statement from the health authority on Wednesday. The person was travelling in the same “party” as a Fraser Health region resident in whom measles was detected over the weekend.
People who were on the flight or who were in the international arrivals area of Vancouver’s airport between 7 and 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 11 may have been exposed, the notification from health officials said.
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B.C. teen with bird flu is in critical condition, says Dr. Bonnie Henry
B.C.’s provincial health officer says the teenager who has tested positive for bird flu is in critical condition in B.C. Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Bonnie Henry says the teenager, who has the first presumptive human case of bird flu contracted in Canada, was admitted to hospital late Friday. B.C. tests last week confirmed the teenager has the virus, but are waiting confirmation from a national laboratory in Winnipeg.
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Local groups join forces for Vancouver’s second annual Clean Air Festival
Event spotlights clean air, community care, and award-winning talent
August 22, 2024 (Vancouver, BC) – On September 15, 2024, a coalition of community groups will present Vancouver’s second annual Clean Air Festival. From 1-6:30 pm, Clean Air 604, Clean Air in BC Schools, DoNoHarm BC, Masks 4 East Van, Millions Missing BC, Protect Our Province BC, SolidAIRity GVRD, Safe Schools Coalition BC, Spring Vancouver, and Vancouver Still Cares will join forces to present a COVID-safer, immuno-inclusive hybrid event, taking place in-person at Slocan Park and digitally via livestream and recording.
The event features a DIY air purifier-building workshop, tabling, children’s games and activities from 1:00 pm, with a stage magic performance at 3:45 pm and an outdoor concert from 4:30 pm. Masks, rapid tests, zines and DIY fit test kits will be available while supplies last. Air purifiers from the workshop will be donated to schools via Clean Air in BC Schools, and to vulnerable community members via Masks 4 East Van.
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Number hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. hits highest level since March
The number of COVID-19-positive patients in B.C. hospitals surged by 67 per cent during the month of May, according to data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control on Thursday.
The centre’s first update since May 2 shows 162 test-positive patients in B.C. hospitals, up from just 97 in the previous release.
The latest hospitalization total is the highest the BCCDC has reported since March 14, when there were 163 people hospitalized with the disease.
The data is also a notable shift from last June, when the number of COVID-positive patients in B.C. hospitals was plummeting.
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Vancouver’s Opera Mariposa presents month-long programme benefitting the ME | FM Society of BC
This May, Opera Mariposa is rallying the community to support people with chronic and post-viral illnesses. From May 1 to June 1, 2024, the disability-led indie arts company is presenting their 2024 Benefit + Awareness Month: an all-digital charity extravaganza featuring music, art, prizes, and special events benefiting the ME | FM Society of BC.
The initiative honours the International Awareness Month for chronic neuro-immune diseases, and it showcases disabled and chronically ill artists from around the world. Proceeds aid people and families affected by myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME or ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, and long COVID – a group of complex chronic illnesses that are surging due to long-term health impacts from COVID-19.
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