Prince Edward Islanders should be considering whether they need a COVID vaccine booster before the end of May, says Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison.
In a news release Monday morning, Morrison said the National Advisory Committee on Immunization has released updated guidance on COVID-19 vaccine boosters for this spring.
Comments closedThe Manitoulin Health Centre on Manitoulin Island is closing its testing centre for COVID.
President and CEO Paula Fields says the last day for specimen collection at the Centre is this Friday, March 22nd.
She says since the beginning of the pandemic, the Centre has provided safe and timely access to COVID-19 testing and thanks everyone who played a role in relieving pressure off the emergency departments and in protecting Island communities.
Comments closedAdvocacy group launches province-wide campaign to strengthen mask protections in healthcare.
DoNoHarm BC, a grassroots group advocating for public health measures, is campaigning to keep mask protections in the healthcare industry year-long.
In a release, the organization says healthcare workers are not required to stay masked everywhere. Last April, they were able to stop masking in various settings, including in ERs, children’s hospitals, and cancer centres.
“B.C. currently requires masks in hospitals and long-term care for staff, contractors, visitors, and volunteers – but not for patients,” DoNoHarm BC said in a news release.
“While policy-makers have only guaranteed this measure for a “few months” over the winter, DoNoHarm BC notes the last time BC discarded healthcare masking, multiple medical facilities suffered COVID outbreaks.”
Comments closedAs measles cases keep appearing in more parts of the country, new projections suggest there’s a high chance Canada may experience a “sizable outbreak” — with anywhere from dozens to thousands of people infected if the disease strikes communities with low vaccination rates.
As of Friday, at least 31 cases of measles have been reported so far this year across Canada, according to a CBC News tally of provincial and regional figures released by public health teams.
That’s already the largest annual total since 2019 and more than double the number of cases reported last year, as medical experts fear the number will rise while more Canadians travel in and out of the country this month for March break.
Comments closedOn Friday, dozens of people went to our nation’s capital to demand more action be taken to address long Covid. Patients, advocates, and activists demonstrated in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the first Long Covid Awareness Day.
“When you become a nurse, you swear to a code of ethics. This code is why I’m standing here today,” said Dara York who organized the rally.
York is a nurse and mother of three from California who is battling long Covid. She and others called on Congress and President Biden to provide more resources for prevention, research and treatment.
Comments closedNew data shows Quebec with 21 measles cases as of Friday 2 p.m., including 15 in Montreal.
According to the CIUSSS de l’Est, health centres in the eastern part of the island have responded by reinstating mask mandates and launching a vaccination campaign in elementary schools.
Notre-Dame and Sainte-Justine Hospitals are also among those requiring patients to wear masks to stop the spread.
“I feel like it’s necessary, especially to protect those who are more vulnerable,” said Montrealer Selena Ringwald. “Masking really doesn’t bother me, even as someone who has breathing issues after having COVID.”
Comments closedSome 6.8% of American adults are currently experiencing long Covid symptoms, according to a new survey from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), revealing an “alarming” increase in recent months even as the health agency relaxes Covid isolation recommendations, experts say.
That means an estimated 17.6 million Americans could now be living with long Covid.
“This should be setting off alarms for many people,” said David Putrino, the Nash Family Director of the Cohen Center for Recovery From Complex Chronic Illness at Mount Sinai. “We’re really starting to see issues emerging faster than I expected.”
Comments closedClass action lawsuits against six of Ontario’s largest for-profit long-term care (LTC) home providers, claiming gross negligence that led to illnesses and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, have been allowed to proceed.
In a ruling last week, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice certified class action suits against Sienna, Revera, Schlegel, Responsive, Extendicare and Chartwell.
The separate class actions were filed on behalf of thousands of clients, family members and visitors, who allege the companies were unprepared to provide care during the pandemic and failed to protect the health of residents and visitors.
Comments closedThe Ontario Superior Court authorizes six class actions against private operators of long-term care homes charged with negligence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The complainants allege that the operators of these homes were not at all prepared for a pandemic and did not take the necessary measures to protect their residents and visitors. More than 200 centres, owned and managed by Chartwell Retirement Residences, Extendicare, Responsive Group, Revera, Schlegel Villages and Sienna Senior Living, are subject to these class actions.
Comments closedThe Supreme Court of Canada has decided not to hear an appeal by several churches that fought Manitoba’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Lawyers for the churches argued public health orders in 2020 and 2021 that temporarily closed in-person religious services, then permitted them with caps on attendance, violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
They lost that argument in two lower courts.
The Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled last year the restrictions were necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and allowable under the Charter.
Comments closedOntario’s Ministry of Health says it is launching an investigation into the practices of an Ottawa Appletree clinic after a woman was charged $110 to see a nurse practitioner for a routine cancer screening test.
Eileen Murphy says she registered with the Appletree clinic near Carling and Woodroffe last year because both she and her husband were without a family doctor. Their former doctor switched her practice from family medicine to dermatology in 2022.
Comments closedCovid-19 caused the average life expectancy of people worldwide to fall by 1.6 years during the first two years of the pandemic, a more dramatic decline than previously thought, a major study said Tuesday.
This marked a sharp reversal during a decades-long rise in global life expectancy, according to hundreds of researchers sifting through data for the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
“For adults worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a more profound impact than any event seen in half a century, including conflicts and natural disasters,” said Austin Schumacher, an IHME researcher and lead author of the study published in The Lancet journal.
During 2020-2021, life expectancy declined in 84 percent of the 204 countries and territories analysed, “demonstrating the devastating potential impacts” of new viruses, he said in a statement.
The rate of death for people over 15 rose by 22 percent for men and 17 percent for women during this time, the researchers estimated.
Comments closedAverage life expectancy, which has been rising for decades around the world, suddenly declined in 2020 and 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published on Tuesday in The Lancet.
Life expectancy has declined in the vast majority (84%) of the more than 200 countries and territories studied by the researchers, that is, for all intents and purposes, around the world.
On average, out of all the data reviewed, life expectancy declined by more than a year and a half in 2020-21 (1.6 year). This resulted in an excess of 15.9 million deaths, slightly more than the estimated 15 million estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) baseline.
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