As COVID cases rise, Hamilton is missing a key tool used by the province as an early warning system.
Wastewater surveillance has been called the “canary in the coal mine” by Health Minister Christine Elliott and a closely monitored “key indicator” by chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore.
Wastewater data updated daily by the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table shows the virus is increasing across the province, including in Central West, which is Hamilton, Brant, Haldimand, Norfolk, Niagara, Waterloo and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph.
But Hamilton public health doesn’t understand local wastewater surveillance data by it’s own admission. The department pulled its associate medical officer of health off of the project when resources became overwhelmed during the Omicron wave.
The reliability of wastewater surveillance has repeatedly been called into question by medical officer of health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson.
“Wastewater data continues to be under evaluation,” she said in a statement last week after making similar remarks to the board of health and at a city briefing.
She also blamed a lack of guidance from the province for the city’s reluctance to incorporate wastewater as a monitoring tool.
“There is no provincial guidance on its use for surveillance or disease control,” she said.
But Coun. John-Paul Danko questioned, “What guidance are we looking for from the province?”
He pointed to Ontario’s $22-million investment in surveillance at more than 170 locations covering all public health units.
“The reliance on wastewater signal for COVID seems to be fairly substantial across the province,” Danko said at a board of health meeting on March 21.
He raised the importance of wastewater as the general public has no access to PCR testing, making other metrics significantly underestimated.
“I think there would be a concern then that we’re not actually verifying the prevalence of COVID in the community,” said Danko. “The viral signal in the wastewater is one method of verifying.”
In addition, he asked about public health’s long insistence that wastewater surveillance hasn’t worked in Hamilton. Data made public for the first time on March 11 appears to show wastewater has been providing early warning of cases, hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and deaths.
“I’m just looking at this as a layperson but it seems to me that for Omicron they are quite closely aligned to date,” said Danko.
The surveillance has been called “remarkable” by the lead researcher of the team at the University of Ottawa that has been analyzing the data from the Woodward Avenue and Dundas treatment plants since July 2020. Robert Delatolla claims wastewater has been an early predictor of Hamilton hospitalizations for over 18 months now.
Delatolla said in recent weeks there has been effort to come to an understanding between researchers and Hamilton public health since The Spectator started publishing stories on the divide March 5.
Richardson said public health is working with the university and the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks “to understand the data overall” and how it functions as an early indicator.
In addition, she says public health has kept in contact with Moore’s office, “and our approach that we are taking here in Hamilton has been supported … by the chief medical officer of health.”
A statement from the Ministry of Health neither confirms nor denies support for Hamilton’s stance on wastewater, but makes clear the province is using it as a key metric.
“At this time, the Ministry of Health is using the wastewater surveillance data in conjunction with other public health and health system indicators … to monitor the current epidemiology of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario,” it said.
Dr. Bart Harvey was looking at how wastewater could be similarly used to monitor COVID in Hamilton, but the associate medical officer of health was pulled away during the fifth wave that started in December.
“The unprecedented surge in infections and outbreaks in high-risk settings led Hamilton Public Health Services to prioritize resources to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and its impact on the community,” Richardson said. “Dr. Harvey’s time, as with all staff, was prioritized to support the most urgent areas of the response.”
Richardson said there was still engagement with the project over the Omicron wave but at a “lower level.” Now, she’s waiting for provincial guidance that isn’t expected until the fall.
That time lag is significant considering COVID is on the rise. Hamilton’s average daily cases and weekly rate per 100,000 population have been increasing since March 19.
Hospital staff self-isolating was up to 394 Monday compared to 292 just under one week ago. During that same time, COVID patients hospitalized increased to 82 from 49.
Outbreaks in high-risk settings are up to 15 after holding steady between five and 10 for more than one month.
The city reported two deaths since Wednesday to bring the toll to 528 — one was a senior age 80 or older and the other was in their 70s.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
All orders are protected by SSL encryption – the highest industry standard for online security from trusted vendors.
Bizarre Sunlight Loophole Melts Belly Fat Fast! is backed with a 60 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee. If within the first 60 days of receipt you are not satisfied with Wake Up Lean™, you can request a refund by sending an email to the address given inside the product and we will immediately refund your entire purchase price, with no questions asked.
