Press "Enter" to skip to content

Category: News

Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

Metro Vancouver issues air quality warning

Published July 21, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CTV News
Published on:
By Sarah Marsh

Hot temperatures and wildfire smoke have prompted a yellow air quality warning from Metro Vancouver.

The regional district issued the warning Thursday afternoon for residents of the east side of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Environment Canada has also issued a heat warning for much of the province.

The Brunswick Complex of wildfires near Boston Bar, as well as wildfires in the southern Interior, are being blamed for an increase in smog and fine particulate matter concentrations.

Continue readingMetro Vancouver issues air quality warning
Comments closed
Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

COVID-19 outbreak declared over at Trail hospital

Published July 20, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Nelson Star
Published on:
By Sheri Regnier

A COVID-19 outbreak on the second-floor surgical unit at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail has been declared over.

Interior Health said the outbreak ended Wednesday, July 15, after 12 patient cases were associated with the outbreak.

The causative agent was identified as COVID-19.

The outbreak was declared July 6 after the first case was identified July 1.

Continue readingCOVID-19 outbreak declared over at Trail hospital
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

New Study Provides First Evidence of Dopamine System Injury in the Brain of Long COVID Patients

Findings have important implications for the pathophysiology of key COVID symptoms and suggest new potential avenues for treatment

Published July 10, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Published on:

Toronto, ON (July 10, 2026) — A new brain imaging study led by researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), published in eBioMedicine, provides the strongest evidence to date that long COVID is associated with injury to dopamine-releasing neurons in the brain—a finding that may explain symptoms such as lack of motivation due to fatigue, slowed movement, and memory difficulties, and could open the door to new treatment strategies.

Long COVID is estimated to affect five per cent of the world population, including two million Canadians, and is characterized by a wide range of persistent and sometimes debilitating symptoms, including brain-related ones such as fatigue, brain fog, memory problems, or low mood, that continue for at least three months following the initial COVID-19 infection. Despite its prevalence, no evidence-based treatments currently exist, largely due to limited understanding of the underlying brain pathology.

In the new study, researchers used positron emission tomography (PET) brain imaging to measure a well-established marker of dopamine neuron integrity in people with long COVID and healthy individuals.

Continue readingNew Study Provides First Evidence of Dopamine System Injury in the Brain of Long COVID Patients
Comments closed
Topic: indoor air qualityView all posts for the topic: indoor air quality

Buildings May Soon Have ‘Immune Systems’ That Fight Airborne Disease

Following the pandemic, the federal government is spending $150 million on new technology to ensure clean indoor air. Here’s what scientists are pursuing.

Published June 19, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The New York Times
Published on:
By Carl Zimmer

Linsey Marr, an environmental engineer, stood next to a pair of clear plastic boxes packed with tubes, nozzles and electronics, an odd-looking prototype that one day might serve to protect children in day care from airborne pathogens.

A nozzle filled the right-hand box with a faint silvery mist. A pump pulled some of that air into the left-hand box, where a sampler trapped floating particles and droplets. Soon, a digital screen bolted to the box turned red: “Detected! Dust mite allergen Der f 1.”

A protein shed by dust mites, Der f 1 can trigger asthma attacks when inhaled. Dr. Marr’s device had detected 843 picograms of Der f 1 per cubic meter. A single grain of salt is about 10 million times as heavy.

Continue readingBuildings May Soon Have ‘Immune Systems’ That Fight Airborne Disease
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Quebec can no longer remain inactive

The author sounds the alarm on the risks posed by long COVID and demands that Quebec inject money to finance research and treatments

Published June 11, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: La Presse
Published on:
By Andréanne Côté

My daughter has been living with COVID for almost two years. She suffers day after day, without access to proper treatment. She endures overwhelming fatigue, brain fog, severe insomnia, trigeminal neuralgia and a disorder of the autonomic nervous system where her heart accelerates abnormally when she stands, causing dizziness, intense fatigue and faintness. She spends almost 20 hours a day in bed. Her husband has had to stop working to take care of her and their two children. I can’t stand by and watch her suffer.

This is not an isolated case: this suffering, sometimes present for six years, is still ignored by our health system, even though the existence of long COVID is firmly established by science.

Continue readingQuebec can no longer remain inactive
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Long COVID may affect 1 in 6 infected patients

Published June 1, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on:
By Laine Bergeson

Long COVID may be affecting far more Americans than current estimates suggest, with a study published last week in JAMA Network Open estimating that roughly one in six people infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop the condition, and nearly 90% go on to experience chronic health problems.

For the study, a team led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital analyzed health record data from 457,950 adults treated for COVID-19 (also known as postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, or PASC) across 58 hospitals and clinics in New England, Southeast Texas, Southern California, and Western Pennsylvania.

The researchers identified long COVID cases by detecting symptoms and conditions that emerged after infection and could not be explained by preexisting conditions.

Continue readingLong COVID may affect 1 in 6 infected patients
Comments closed
Seasonal COVID-19 vaccination in 2025/26 reduced risk of illness by half in CanadaA healthcare worker administers a vaccine dose to a patient. Photo: Katja Fuhlert / Pixabay.
Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Seasonal COVID-19 vaccination in 2025/26 reduced risk of illness by half in Canada

Published May 7, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Medical Xpress
Published on:
By European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

An interim analysis published in Eurosurveillance estimates that the COVID-19 vaccine for the 2025/26 season reduced the risk of illness in Canada by about half at about 9 weeks after vaccination, offering protection beyond the vaccine’s target strain.

Seasonal COVID-19 vaccination is recommended in Canada as in several other countries for people older than 6 months with an increased risk of severe illness from the infection, and for all adults aged 65 or older. In the 2025/26 respiratory virus season, the vaccine was updated to target the LP.8.1 strain as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), but other strains were also circulating during that period.

Continue readingSeasonal COVID-19 vaccination in 2025/26 reduced risk of illness by half in Canada
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

1400 days with long COVID; the latest findings offering hope for a cure

Published April 25, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on:
By Marie-Christine Gagnon

Although COVID-19 is no longer a hot topic, this disease still takes a toll on thousands of people who contract the virus and develop severe long-term symptoms. A meeting was held in Québec to discuss the latest findings on long COVID.

The daughter of Sylvain Thibault and Noémie Lévesque is 17 years old. She has been living with severe symptoms of long COVID since she was 13 years old, for 1400 days. Today, this teen’s daily routine is spent in bed for half the day. “She no longer has much of a life right now,” her father laments. “Her body is holding her back.”

Continue reading1400 days with long COVID; the latest findings offering hope for a cure
Comments closed
Topic: anti-vaxxersView all posts for the topic: anti-vaxxers

HHS rejects publication of study showing Covid-19 vaccines prevent hospitalizations, ER visits

Published April 22, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CNN
Published on:
By Brenda Goodman

Covid-19 vaccines roughly halved the chances that a US adult would need to visit the emergency room or be hospitalized with their infections last fall and winter, according to two sources familiar with the findings of a new study. But you won’t hear about it from the agency that led the research: the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The current head of the CDC, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who’s also director of the US National Institutes of Health, blocked the publication of those findings in the CDC’s flagship journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, according to the sources.

The authors of the study received an official rejection letter from the journal on Tuesday, one source said, even though the study had cleared internal reviews and had been scheduled for publication.

Continue readingHHS rejects publication of study showing Covid-19 vaccines prevent hospitalizations, ER visits
Comments closed
Topic: hospitalizationsView all posts for the topic: hospitalizations

Hospitalization rates for illnesses like COVID, flu have doubled since pre-pandemic, report finds

Vaccine-preventable respiratory infections sending thousands to hospital, all while vaccine uptake is dropping

Published April 16, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News
Published on:
By Lauren Pelley

Years after the virus that causes COVID-19 kicked off a global pandemic, it’s still sending thousands of Canadians into hospital each year alongside other respiratory infections — despite a suite of vaccines that can slash someone’s risk of serious illness.

Striking new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) shows hospitalization rates for vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases more than doubled in 2024 compared to pre-pandemic levels, all while vaccination rates are backsliding.

There were 142 hospitalizations for every 100,000 Canadians that year, the data shows, up from roughly 66 per 100,000 in 2019.

Continue readingHospitalization rates for illnesses like COVID, flu have doubled since pre-pandemic, report finds
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Common antidepressant can treat long COVID fatigue symptoms: study

Published March 30, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CTV News
Published on:
By Daniel Otis

A common and low-cost antidepressant can successfully treat fatigue associated with long COVID, according to a new study.

Co-led by researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, the study found that the drug fluvoxamine, which is commonly sold under the name Luvox, significantly reduced fatigue symptoms in a clinical trial of 399 adults with long COVID. It is one of the first times a medication has been shown to effectively treat the condition.

“This is an important step forward for patients who have been desperate for evidence‑based options,” senior author and McMaster University professor Edward Mills said in a news release.

Continue readingCommon antidepressant can treat long COVID fatigue symptoms: study
Comments closed
Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Judge Strikes Down Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies

Ruling on a lawsuit brought by several prominent medical organizations, a district court said the federal government had not based its decisions on science in limiting Covid shots and revising the childhood immunization schedule.

Published March 16, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The New York Times
Published on:
By Apoorva Mandavilli

In a severe blow to the Trump administration’s health agenda, a federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday blocked the government from implementing a series of decisions on vaccines made over the last year by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The ruling also reversed, at least for the time being, all decisions made by the panelists that Mr. Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on which vaccines Americans should take. The court decision will prevent the committee from meeting later this week, as it was scheduled to do.

Continue readingJudge Strikes Down Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Video | Doctors, patients raise awareness on Long COVID Awareness Day

Published March 15, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News BC
Published on:

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.

Continue readingVideo | Doctors, patients raise awareness on Long COVID Awareness Day
Comments closed
Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

F.D.A. Reverses Decision and Agrees to Review Moderna’s Flu Vaccine

Moderna held further discussions with regulators and announced that the agency would accept the company’s application for approval of its flu vaccine that uses mRNA technology.

Published February 18, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The New York Times
Published on:
By Christina Jewett, Rebecca Robbins

The Food and Drug Administration reversed its decision on Moderna’s flu vaccine and has agreed to review it for possible approval.

Just last week, Moderna announced that the agency had rejected its application for review of a new flu vaccine. The F.D.A. said the company’s research design had been flawed.

Continue readingF.D.A. Reverses Decision and Agrees to Review Moderna’s Flu Vaccine
Comments closed
Topic: airborne transmissionView all posts for the topic: airborne transmission

Study: SARS-CoV-2 RNA found in 39% of hospital air samples during outbreaks, despite good ventilation

Published February 17, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on:
By Laine Bergeson

COVID-19 genetic material was frequently detected in hospital air during community outbreaks, even in well-ventilated settings, according to a new study published in Respiratory Medicine.

A team led by Kirby Institute researchers conducted air and surface sampling in the emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit (ICU) of a large metropolitan hospital in Sydney, Australia, during two COVID-19 waves between November 2023 and July 2024. Their testing found that 39% (20 of 51) of aerosol samples were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA.

Detection was significantly more common in the ED than in the ICU. Of the positive samples, 80% were collected in the ED and 20% in the ICU.

Continue readingStudy: SARS-CoV-2 RNA found in 39% of hospital air samples during outbreaks, despite good ventilation
Comments closed
Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

Health group calls on B.C. to bring back mask mandates in medical settings

Published February 12, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Daily Hive
Published on:
By Hanna Hett

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.

Continue readingHealth group calls on B.C. to bring back mask mandates in medical settings
Comments closed