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Category: News

Topic: QuebecView all posts for the topic: Quebec

Montreal General Hospital dealing with summertime COVID-19 outbreak

Published July 11, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CTV News
Published on:
By Caroline Van Vlaardingen

There is a COVID-19 outbreak on the 18th floor of the Montreal General Hospital as Quebec and other jurisdictions see a rise in infections.

The hospital has implemented a mandatory mask policy for everyone on that unit and everyone on the floor is being monitored for symptoms.

Overall, the numbers for positive tests for COVID-19 in Quebec are up from 448 in April to 745 yesterday. That’s still far below the 3,000 we had a day in early January.

The 22 deaths reported by the province’s public health institute, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) during the week of June 30 is still far below the 100 a week Quebec was seeing a year ago.

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Topic: QuebecView all posts for the topic: Quebec

Slight increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Quebec

Published July 9, 2024

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Published by: Le Devoir
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By Florence Morin-Martel

New variants are beginning to affect the number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations, Santé publique notes, but it is not concerned about the situation at this time.

“For the week ending July 5, we had 331 hospitalizations. The week before, it was 291. So it went up by about 14%,” says the national director of public health, Dr. Luc Boileau, in an interview with Le Devoir.

Those affected are mainly seniors, he said, noting that nearly half of the 331 Quebecers hospitalized are 80 years of age or older. “We have new variants, the KP.2 and KP.3, which have gradually settled in Quebec and are taking up all the space,” explains Dr. Boileau.

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Topic: Y’all masking?View all posts for the topic: Y’all masking?

“Y’all Masking?” hashtag goes viral on X, showing maskers they are not alone

Published July 8, 2024

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Published by: Boing Boing
Published on:
By Jennifer Sandlin

If you always feel like the lone masker wherever you go, I have some great news for you – you’re not! And the new “Y’all Masking?” trend on X/Twitter is proving it, much to my utter delight.

If you’re not on X, I honestly do not blame you at all. I’m literally only still there because it’s one of the few places left where I can get actual news about COVID-19. Over the last few days, the “Y’all Masking?” hashtag has gone viral on the platform, and my feed has been filled with selfies of awesome, smart, kind, beautiful people wearing masks of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Seeing so many folks who are still masking has honestly given me the boost I needed to continue masking and staying safe from COVID-19, especially as we’re currently in yet another surge.

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Topic: QuebecView all posts for the topic: Quebec

Analysis: Quebec in midst of new COVID-19 summer wave

Published July 7, 2024

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Published by: Montreal Gazette
Published on:
By Aaron Derfel

Quebec is now witnessing — as is the case across North America — an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations, reinforcing the notion that SARS-CoV-2 is still not yet a fully seasonal virus and sending vaccine manufacturers racing to develop COVID shots for this fall that will guard against the latest sub-variants.

The province reported a total of 671 hospitalizations with and for COVID-19 as of July 5. That’s up from a low of 400 such hospitalizations on April 20 in Quebec. The number of patients in emergency rooms testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 is also rising, according to the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).

More and more Quebecers are testing positive for COVID-19, with the percentage rising to 12.9 per cent as of June 30, according to the INSPQ. That this is occurring during summer suggests that SARS-CoV-2 is still far from a seasonal virus like the flu, a view supported by doctors and experts in the field.

“COVID is not over,” Dr. Susan Kuo, a British Columbia family physician, told the CBC on Friday. “This is the summer. It’s July. It’s not usually a time that we’re seeing so many people that are sick. What this tells us is that COVID is not a seasonal virus.”

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

B.C. COVID hospitalizations at highest level since January

Published July 4, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Ian Holliday

It may not be on most people’s minds, but COVID-19 is on the rise again in B.C.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control released its monthly data on the disease Thursday, showing 204 test-positive patients in provincial hospitals. It’s only the second time all year that the hospitalized population has risen above 200, and the first time since early January.

The hospital census is more than double what it was at this time last year, when the BCCDC’s July update showed just 96 COVID patients receiving hospital care.

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‘Visionary’ study finds inflammation, evidence of Covid virus years after infectionPhoto of cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. The reds and greens in the image represent cells infected with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Photo: Alberto Domingo Lopez-Munoz, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, NIAID/NIH.
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

‘Visionary’ study finds inflammation, evidence of Covid virus years after infection

Published July 3, 2024

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Published by: STAT
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By Isabella Cueto

Remember when we thought Covid was a two-week illness? So does Michael Peluso, assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

He recalls the rush to study acute Covid infection, and the crush of resulting papers. But Peluso, an HIV researcher, knew what his team excelled at: following people over the long term.

So they adapted their HIV research infrastructure to study Covid patients. The LIINC program, short for “Long-term Impact of Infection with Novel Coronavirus,” started in San Francisco at the very beginning of the pandemic. By April 2020, the team was already seeing patients come in with lingering illness and effects of Covid — in those early days still unnamed and unpublicized as long Covid. They planned to follow people’s progress for three months after they were infected with the virus.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

NIH announces launch of clinical trial for nasal COVID vaccine

Published July 2, 2024

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Lisa Schnirring

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) yesterday announced the launch of a phase 1 trial of a nasal vaccine against COVID-19, which also marks the first National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) trial conducted as part of the government’s Project NextGen—an effort designed to advance the development of next-generation vaccines against the disease.

In an NIH statement, NIAID Director Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, said first-generation COVID vaccines have greatly mitigated the toll of the disease and are still effective for preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death. She added, however, that they aren’t as good at preventing illness and battling milder disease.

“With the continual emergence of new virus variants, there is a critical need to develop next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, including nasal vaccines, that could reduce SARS-CoV-2 infections and transmission,” she said.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

‘Really unfortunate:’ Public health losing tool that tracks emerging threats in infectious diseases

Published July 2, 2024

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Published by: NewmarketToday
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By Joseph Quigley

York Region stands to lose reliability in its warning signs for population-wide COVID-19 and influenza cases as provincial wastewater surveillance ends, public health said.

The Ontario government announced it is ending the program, which allowed public health units to track COVID-19 in wastewater sampling sites across the province, on July 31.

York Region associate medical officer of health Dr. Sarah Erdman said the tool was very useful to help inform public health decisions.

“Given tighter testing eligibility for COVID-19 and influenza, wastewater surveillance provided helpful information about the burden of disease and community transmission among the general population,” Erdman said. “It also provided an early warning of surges ahead of an increase in cases and hospitalizations; without wastewater data, York Region will be unable to reliably obtain these estimates moving forward.”

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What We Can Do about Long COVID’s Growing TollA stylized image of a SARS-CoV-2 virus particle, depicted with bright red colours. Illustration by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

What We Can Do about Long COVID’s Growing Toll

Published July 2, 2024

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Published by: The Tyee
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By Kaylee Byers, Julia Smith, Kayli Jamieson, Rackeb Tesfaye

Kaylee Byers is an assistant professor in the faculty of health sciences and senior scientist at the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society at Simon Fraser University. Julia Smith is an assistant professor in the faculty. Kayli Jamieson is a master’s student in communication and a research assistant for the Pacific Institute. Rackeb Tesfaye is director of knowledge mobilization at the institute. This article was originally published by the Conversation.

We are living through a mass-disabling event: Over 200 million people worldwide have long COVID. In Canada, one in nine people have experienced long COVID symptoms, and this is likely an underestimate.

Occurring weeks to months after a COVID-19 infection, this multi-system chronic illness has led to what some have called “the shadow pandemic.” Although millions are navigating this new illness, four years into the pandemic both patients and their caregivers continue to face challenges accessing the information and care they need.

Most Canadians have had COVID, and at least one in five have been infected more than once. These trends are troubling because evidence suggests that the risk of acquiring long COVID increases with reinfection.

 Image description: A stylized image of a SARS-CoV-2 virus particle, depicted with bright red colours. Illustration by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

Avian influenza in the United States closely monitored by authorities

Published June 30, 2024

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Published by: Radio-Canada / The Canadian Press
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The rise in the number of cases of avian influenza on farms in the United States, the infection of cow herds and recent cases of transmission to human beings are of concern to Quebec and Canadian authorities, who say they are monitoring the situation very closely.

Avian influenza – specifically avian influenza of subtypes H5 and H7 – is a reportable disease in Quebec. Avian influenza is a zoonosis, meaning it can be transmitted from animals to humans.

Cases of avian influenza in humans remain very rare, but last spring three cases of human infection associated with infected dairy farms were reported in the United States. Two infected people had eye symptoms and the third person suffered a respiratory infection.

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Topic: New BrunswickView all posts for the topic: New Brunswick

COVID-19 experts warn of risks of summer surge as N.B. hazard index leads country

Published June 28, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon

Two infectious disease experts are warning New Brunswickers about the risks of COVID-19 heading into the summer, when they say many people mistakenly believe infections decrease.

New Brunswick has the highest COVID-19 risk index in the country right now — more than double the national average, according to Tara Moriarty, an infectious disease researcher and lead of COVID-19 Resources Canada, which produces a weekly forecast.

The province is listed as “severe” for June 22 to July 5, with a score of 28.2, based on current infections and spread, health-care system impact and mortality. Canada’s overall rate is 13.6.

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

Finland to start bird flu vaccinations for humans, in world first

Published June 26, 2024

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Published by: Reuters
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Finland plans to offer preemptive bird flu vaccination as soon as next week to some workers with exposure to animals, health authorities said on Tuesday, making it the first country in the world to do so.

The Nordic country has bought vaccines for 10,000 people, each consisting of two injections, as part of a joint EU procurement of up to 40 million doses for 15 nations from manufacturer CSL Seqirus (CSL.AX).

The European Commission said Finland would be the first country to roll out the vaccine.

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Topic: CaliforniaView all posts for the topic: California

Despite Covid surge, Los Angeles mayor considers mask ban at protests

Published June 25, 2024

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Published by: The Guardian
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By Lois Beckett

As Covid cases rise across California, the Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass announced that city officials were exploring the legality of wearing masks at demonstrations.

The announcement came as a response to a pro-Palestinian protest outside a Los Angeles synagogue that made international headlines.

Bass, a Democrat, said at a press conference with local Jewish leaders on Monday that she would be seeking “several points of clarity” from the city attorney “around what are the parameters with protests: when permits are needed, whether or not people should be masked, and establishing clear lines of demarcation between what is legal and what is not.”

The move represents a stark reversal from 2020, when public health officials urged protesters to wear masks, and Democratic politicians embraced mask-wearing, while Donald Trump and many Republicans rejected masks and other public health measures.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

‘Dream tool’ being taken away by province, says public health doc

Published June 24, 2024

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Published by: CollingwoodToday
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By Erika Engel

News that the province is shutting down wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases has left Simcoe-Muskoka’s associate medical officer of health “disappointed.”

“It is really unfortunate because I think the rest of the world is certainly embracing this (science), so I’m not quite sure why they’re not continuing this very important infectious disease surveillance tool let alone for COVID, but also for influenza and other infections,” said Dr. Colin Lee from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.

The Ontario wastewater surveillance network that began in 2020 as a way to track COVID-19 in wastewater includes 59 sampling sites across Ontario, covering about 60 per cent of the province’s population.

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Topic: CaliforniaView all posts for the topic: California

Summer COVID bump intensifies in L.A. and California, fueled by FLiRT variants

Published June 24, 2024

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Published by: Los Angeles Times
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By Rong-Gong Lin II

The new COVID-19 subvariants collectively nicknamed FLiRT are continuing to increase their dominance nationwide, fueling a rise in cases in Los Angeles County and growth in the coronavirus levels seen in California wastewater.

Taken together, the data point to a coronavirus resurgence in the Golden State — one that, while not wholly unexpected given the trends seen in previous pandemic-era summers, has arrived earlier and is being driven by even more transmissible strains than those previously seen.

It remains unclear how bad the COVID situation may get this summer, however. Doctors have said that by the Fourth of July, we may have a better feel for how the rest of the season will play out.

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Topic: United KingdomView all posts for the topic: United Kingdom

UK Covid hospitalisations increase following emergence of new variant

Published June 23, 2024

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Published by: The Independent
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By Matt Mathers

Experts have warned that Covid “hasn’t gone away” after an uptick in infections and hospitalisations that is thought to have been caused by new variants of the virus.

A group of Covid mutations has recently emerged and is collectively referred to as FLiRT.

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Covid hospital admissions increased by 24 per cent in the week to Sunday, with a rate of 3.31 per 100,000 people compared with 2.67 per 100,000 in the previous week.

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Topic: pregnancyView all posts for the topic: pregnancy

COVID infection endangers pregnancies and newborns. Why aren’t parents being warned?

Published June 21, 2024

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Published by: The Gauntlet
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By Julia Doubleday

In the movie Knocked Up, Seth Rogan’s character refers to the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting as “basically a giant list of things you can’t do.” It’s a line that pokes fun at the seemingly ever-expanding list of foods, behaviors and hazards that pregnant people are encouraged to avoid in order to reduce health risks to themselves and their babies.

Despite pre-natal education’s reputation for warning new mothers of every possible danger from jumping on trampolines to eating soft cheeses, contracting a vascular virus that increases risk of pre-eclampsia, pre-term birth, miscarriage and stillbirth is being ignored. Let’s look at the evidence.

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Topic: Ottawa-GatineauView all posts for the topic: Ottawa-Gatineau

Ottawa Public Health seeking ways to continue wastewater testing

Published June 21, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Nathan Fung

Ottawa Public Health wants to collaborate with local partners to look for ways to continue wastewater monitoring after the province cuts funding to the program next month.

At its meeting this week, the city’s board of health passed a motion directing Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches to write to provincial and federal partners to find ways to continue the wastewater testing work that’s being done at the University of Ottawa.

Earlier this month, Ontario announced that by the end of July, it will scrap the program for sampling wastewater to monitor levels of COVID-19 in the population. The program began in 2020 and is funded through the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.

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