A pilot project conducted at three Alberta hospitals at the height of the pandemic shows patients were not being admitted with undetected cases of COVID-19.
Over a six-week period, between April 9 and May 23, all patients admitted through the emergency departments at the Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary, the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton and the Red Deer Regional Hospital were screened for symptoms and tested for COVID-19. This was done regardless of whether or not any symptoms were identified.
The testing project was carried out to provide a snapshot of just how often asymptomatic carriers of the virus that causes COVID-19 were presenting to the ER — and to address concerns about potential transmission to health-care workers or other patients in the hospitals.
During the pilot project, 3,304 people were admitted through the ERs at the three hospitals and screened for symptoms.
Of the 1,814 patients deemed asymptomatic, no cases of COVID-19 were found.
“Actually, we were a little surprised,” said Dr. Braden Manns, the co-chair of the scientific advisory group for Alberta Health Services, a professor at the University of Calgary and and one of the authors of the review.
“This was happening right at the peak of all the outbreaks in Calgary. It was happening at the height of our reproducible number for the virus.… I think we all thought we would probably see around one per cent of people who ended up testing positive.”
The Peter Lougheed Centre was one of 3 Alberta hospitals that particpated in the pilot project. (Google Maps)
Of the patients deemed symptomatic, 4.5 per cent tested positive across the three sites, with the highest positive rate at the Peter Lougheed Hospital in Calgary (7.5 per cent).
“So it wasn’t like there was nobody testing positive out there. But when you carefully screened people, you could identify who needed to be screened and then who would need to be isolated in the hospital as well to keep staff safe,” said Manns.
“It’s really important people continue to be vigilant and screen carefully for those types of symptoms and for risk that indicates you need to be tested.”
The review concludes current screening measures at Alberta hospitals appear effective.
“This suggests that careful assessment of symptoms during the admission process is effective at identifying patients who should be tested (and isolated) in the context of hospital admission. Given the state of the current pandemic in Alberta (a low reproductive number and low daily case numbers), screening people without symptoms who are admitted to hospital through the emergency department and who are at low risk is not supported,” the review’s authors stated.
“This recommendation may need to be re-evaluated should higher levels of community transmission be encountered as relaxation of social distancing and other control measures occurs.”
Officials keep an eye on outbreak at Misericordia Hospital
The review was conducted prior to the outbreak at Edmonton’s Misericordia hospital.
Five deaths are now linked to that outbreak — Alberta Health reported Friday that one death, previously believed to be connected, had been reclassified.
An additional 36 cases had been confirmed as of Friday, including patients, staff and two cases in the community.
Alberta Health Services says it carefully screens all hospital patients for symptoms and potential exposure when they arrive at the hospital.
According to AHS, those who are found to have symptoms are tested. And, since May 30, AHS says it’s offered asymptomatic testing to people who request it in emergency rooms and urgent care centres.
Patients are regularly monitored for symptoms once admitted, according to AHS.
“As the pilot project concluded, careful and vigorous assessment of symptoms during the admission process has been shown to be effective at identifying patients who should be tested (and isolated),” an AHS spokesperson said in a statement emailed to CBC News.
“At this time, our current screening and testing protocols, including voluntary asymptomatic testing in EDs and UCCs, continues. However, we are carefully monitoring the situation at the Misericordia and we will reassess our protocols accordingly.”
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
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.
