A national non-profit group called the Canadian Covid Society launched on Wednesday, with co-founders saying the organization is needed as public health agencies have pulled back on COVID-19 prevention measures and awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel in some ways we\u2019re filling a gap where public health has left open,\u201d Dr. Joe Vipond, one of the society\u2019s five co-founders, said at a news conference.<\/p>\n
In his home province of Alberta, \u201cthere\u2019s basically no mention of COVID. There\u2019s no mention of long COVID. It\u2019s really fallen off the radar for a lot of public health at this point,\u201d said Vipond, who is an emergency physician in Calgary. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the acute phase of the pandemic has ended, the virus continues to cause significant chronic illness,\u201d the Canadian Covid Society\u2019s website says. <\/p>\n
COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death across Canada in 2022, behind heart disease and cancer, it says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still continues to be a stressor on our health system up to this present day. It is contributing to poor health and excess deaths,\u201d said Dr. Kashif Pirzada, another co-founder of the society.<\/p>\n
But as many Canadians want to leave COVID-19 behind, public health agencies are in a difficult position, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201c(In public health) one foot is in politics, one foot is in medicine. But right now, the public doesn\u2019t want to think about this. Politicians don\u2019t want to think about this. And public health has to respond to that,\u201d said Pirzada, who is an emergency doctor based in Toronto.<\/p>\n
The society\u2019s mission is to \u201cprotect the health and safety of people in Canada against the harms of COVID and long COVID through education, engaging and empowering the public and organizations with scientific knowledge,\u201d a slide presented at the news conference said. <\/p>\n
It also aims to support people with long COVID, which afflicts 2.1 million people in [the] country, according to Statistics Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A national non-profit group called the Canadian Covid Society launched on Wednesday, with co-founders saying the organization is needed as public health agencies have pulled back on COVID-19 prevention measures and awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel in some ways we\u2019re filling a gap where public health has left open,\u201d Dr. Joe Vipond, one of the society\u2019s five co-founders, said at a news conference.<\/p>\n
In his home province of Alberta, \u201cthere\u2019s basically no mention of COVID. There\u2019s no mention of long COVID. It\u2019s really fallen off the radar for a lot of public health at this point,\u201d said Vipond, who is an emergency physician in Calgary. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the acute phase of the pandemic has ended, the virus continues to cause significant chronic illness,\u201d the Canadian Covid Society\u2019s website says. <\/p>\n
COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death across Canada in 2022, behind heart disease and cancer, it says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still continues to be a stressor on our health system up to this present day. It is contributing to poor health and excess deaths,\u201d said Dr. Kashif Pirzada, another co-founder of the society.<\/p>\n