We’re answering your questions about the pandemic. Send yours to COVID@cbc.ca, and we’ll answer as many as we can. We publish a selection of answers online and also put some questions to the experts during The National and on CBC News Network. So far, we’ve received more than 57,000 emails from all corners of the country.
In light of recent COVID-19 spikes throughout Canada, the trickiest part of the holidays might just be the planning. Reconciling your COVID-19 risk comfort level with your families could prove difficult.
We’ve been hearing from Canadians who are concerned about what the holidays might look like, so we asked experts how best to negotiate gatherings this season.
Should we be cancelling our Christmas plans?
Kirsten Z. asked if she should cancel her holiday plans altogether.
First, it’s important to remember that officials and medical experts have been emphasizing that the large, extended family gatherings with family members from all over are not a good idea right now.
“Obviously the holidays will be different this year,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a news conference earlier this week. How different, he said, depends on where you live.
“Maybe the Atlantic bubble can be spared, depending on how well they’re able to maintain things and what their policy is,” said Dr. Susy Hota, medical director for infection prevention and control at University Health Network in Toronto.
Get-togethers are being discouraged in most places across the country. In Manitoba and some regions of Ontario, they’re not allowed at all.
WATCH | How to navigate the holiday season as the pandemic continues:
An infectious disease expert and epidemiologist answer questions about navigating the holiday season during the COVID-19 pandemic, including what lessons may have been learned from Thanksgiving. 5:51
“This won’t be a popular answer, but sadly I don’t think [family gatherings] will be a safe thing for us to do in most areas of Canada,” Hota said.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Zain Chagla agreed.
“It’s not looking hopeful that traditional things like Christmas dinner is happening,” said Chagla, who is an associate professor at McMaster University and consultant physician at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ont.
“We’ve seen outbreaks associated with family dinners and sleepovers, and it’s just too much of a risk to the community to have another amplifying event.”
What if we isolate ourselves beforehand?
Quebecers have been offered the option to quarantine themselves for a week before and a week after Christmas in exchange for the lifting of a ban on gatherings.
A number of you have written in asking if isolating before the holidays would make it OK to get together.
“I think it’s a pragmatic approach, informed in part by Canada’s experience over Thanksgiving.” said Dr. Matthew Oughton, an attending physician in the infectious diseases division at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, referring to Canadians who gathered despite warnings from public health officials.
But he worries that due to the incubation period of COVID-19, which is sometimes longer than the seven days Quebec is advising, some may develop symptoms even after the second week of isolation and then spread the virus further.
WATCH | Quebec’s holiday gathering rules
For four days, the rules that have kept Quebecers apart for months will be eased. But it’s not without risk. 4:39
Other experts worry that the idea is good in theory, but see flaws in its practicality.
“I think there are too many holes in that strategy,” said Chagla. He pointed out there are just too many possibilities for someone to slip up and expose everyone to risk because isolation would require:
Adults working from home.
Keeping kids home from school.
Not going out in public at all, not even for groceries.
The notion also raises equity issues, noted Chagla, as many families simply don’t have the ability to isolate for 14 days due to work or other factors.
Hota agreed and said isolation would be unrealistic for most people.
“The problem is it’s very difficult to exclude contact from all people,” she said.
You’d also have to trust that everyone was being diligent.
“People start making their own judgments and decisions saying, ‘I got 11 out of 14 days and that’s good enough,'” said Hota. “That worries me about that strategy.”
But if we get negative test results, we’ll be okay, right?
Not necessarily.
Hota warned that a negative test could give you a false sense of security.
A nurse demonstrates testing at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing centre at the National Arts Centre garage on Nov. 18 in Ottawa, the day before it opened. Hota suggested negative COVID-19 test results could create a false sense of security during the holidays. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Testing isn’t always accurate, and whether results are accurate depend heavily on the timing.
“Testing really just tells you what your status is at the time you got tested,” Hota said. “It doesn’t tell you if you’re going to be developing the infections a couple of days from then, when you actually show up at your parents’ house.”
Is it safe to give and receive presents, cards or cookies?
Both Chagla and Hota agreed that gift giving and dropping off baked goods is safe, provided that you take the necessary precautions like distancing and hand hygiene.
“Once you wrap and give or receive your gift, just make sure to wash your hands,” said Hota.
If it’s a washable item, such as clothes, Hota suggested you launder them, which you should be doing with new clothing anyway.
However, she said it’s not necessary to wipe everything down with disinfectants the way we were early in the pandemic.
“We’re learning, over time, that the virus doesn’t really last on surfaces for that long, particularly on clothing,” she said in an earlier article.
A box wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper waits to be loaded after being sorted. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Zain Chagla said one way to be extra safe when exchanging gifts is to deliver them, let them sit overnight and open them together the next day — virtually. (Brett Purdy/CBC)
As for the exchange itself, Chagla said doing it while physically distanced, with masks and outdoors would be “a great option” if your local public health agency allows it. But in Toronto, for example, even outdoor socializing is being discouraged.
And if you wanted to take an extra precaution, Chagla suggested leaving the presents under the tree overnight before opening them together the next morning — virtually.
How do I tell Mom we’re not coming for Christmas?
We’ve heard from Canadians who have made the decision to stay home, but still want to know: What’s the best way to tell their family that they’re not coming over?
“Frame your message in terms of family-related considerations,” said Igor Grossmann, associate professor of psychology at the University of Waterloo.
He suggests telling your loved ones that you aren’t coming “not because you are trying to be selfish, but in fact, because you care about them and you care about your elderly parents.”
But what if they get mad or think you are overreacting?
One thing that’s important to keep in mind is you need to be compassionate and remain calm, according to Grossmann.
“Don’t make any accusations, and don’t make them feel bad,” he said.
People can be quick to assume others are just being selfish and that’s the reason they are not following the rules and recommendations from public health officials, Grossman added.
“I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. It may be the case for some people, but often it’s a lack of proper information.”
WATCH | Why a January COVID-19 could be particularly problematic:
There is a lot going on in Quebec hospitals in January – more injuries, respiratory illnesses and cardiac episodes. And as infectious disease specialist Dr. Cécile Tremblay explains, that is also when COVID cases from Christmas will start to pop up, another source of stress on the health-care system. 0:53
Instead, Grossmann suggests asking them where they are getting their information and asking them to offer their perspective. Then explain to them why you think the way you think and where your sources come from.
“The best strategy is to engage in a dialogue where you don’t discount their opinion but instead elaborate on their sources,” he said. “This type of dialogue may often help people realize that their beliefs are based on misinformed opinions.”
How do I talk to family/friends that don’t take the pandemic seriously or think it’s just the flu?
“The worst thing that you can do in this type of situation is tell them that they are stupid and they are wrong, because as research has shown, that will right away lead to them shutting off and not listening,” said Grossmann.
Even if you may not have much common ground to stand on, it’s still important to open up the dialogue and have a conversation, rather than an argument.
What happens if we go and they’re not taking precautions?
So you’ve talked about it and decided to visit with a small family bubble, but you get to Grandma’s house and nobody is following the rules you laid out. What next?
Don’t panic or overreact to anything, Grossmann said. You can still control things like wearing a mask and the amount of distance you put between yourself and others.
“You can always take a step back,” he said. “If someone gets too close to you, you can communicate to them: ‘Is it okay if I take a step back?'”
Above all else, Grossmann underscored the idea that if you don’t feel comfortable or if it goes against common sense you probably shouldn’t do it.
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. syphilis epidemic slowed dramatically last year, gonorrhea cases fell and chlamydia cases remained below prepandemic levels, according to federal data released Tuesday.
The numbers represented some good news about sexually transmitted diseases, which experienced some alarming increases in past years due to declining condom use, inadequate sex education, and reduced testing and treatment when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Last year, cases of the most infectious stages of syphilis fell 10% from the year before — the first substantial decline in more than two decades. Gonorrhea cases dropped 7%, marking a second straight year of decline and bringing the number below what it was in 2019.
“I’m encouraged, and it’s been a long time since I felt that way” about the nation’s epidemic of sexually transmitted infections, said the CDC’s Dr. Jonathan Mermin. “Something is working.”
More than 2.4 million cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia were diagnosed and reported last year — 1.6 million cases of chlamydia, 600,000 of gonorrhea, and more than 209,000 of syphilis.
Syphilis is a particular concern. For centuries, it was a common but feared infection that could deform the body and end in death. New cases plummeted in the U.S. starting in the 1940s when infection-fighting antibiotics became widely available, and they trended down for a half century after that. By 2002, however, cases began rising again, with men who have sex with other men being disproportionately affected.
The new report found cases of syphilis in their early, most infectious stages dropped 13% among gay and bisexual men. It was the first such drop since the agency began reporting data for that group in the mid-2000s.
However, there was a 12% increase in the rate of cases of unknown- or later-stage syphilis — a reflection of people infected years ago.
Cases of syphilis in newborns, passed on from infected mothers, also rose. There were nearly 4,000 cases, including 279 stillbirths and infant deaths.
“This means pregnant women are not being tested often enough,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a professor of medicine at the University of Southern California.
What caused some of the STD trends to improve? Several experts say one contributor is the growing use of an antibiotic as a “morning-after pill.” Studies have shown that taking doxycycline within 72 hours of unprotected sex cuts the risk of developing syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia.
In June, the CDC started recommending doxycycline as a morning-after pill, specifically for gay and bisexual men and transgender women who recently had an STD diagnosis. But health departments and organizations in some cities had been giving the pills to people for a couple years.
Some experts believe that the 2022 mpox outbreak — which mainly hit gay and bisexual men — may have had a lingering effect on sexual behavior in 2023, or at least on people’s willingness to get tested when strange sores appeared.
Another factor may have been an increase in the number of health workers testing people for infections, doing contact tracing and connecting people to treatment. Congress gave $1.2 billion to expand the workforce over five years, including $600 million to states, cities and territories that get STD prevention funding from CDC.
Last year had the “most activity with that funding throughout the U.S.,” said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors.
However, Congress ended the funds early as a part of last year’s debt ceiling deal, cutting off $400 million. Some people already have lost their jobs, said a spokeswoman for Harvey’s organization.
Still, Harvey said he had reasons for optimism, including the growing use of doxycycline and a push for at-home STD test kits.
Also, there are reasons to think the next presidential administration could get behind STD prevention. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump announced a campaign to “eliminate” the U.S. HIV epidemic by 2030. (Federal health officials later clarified that the actual goal was a huge reduction in new infections — fewer than 3,000 a year.)
There were nearly 32,000 new HIV infections in 2022, the CDC estimates. But a boost in public health funding for HIV could also also help bring down other sexually transmitted infections, experts said.
“When the government puts in resources, puts in money, we see declines in STDs,” Klausner said.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists can’t know precisely when a volcano is about to erupt, but they can sometimes pick up telltale signs.
That happened two years ago with the world’s largest active volcano. About two months before Mauna Loa spewed rivers of glowing orange molten lava, geologists detected small earthquakes nearby and other signs, and they warned residents on Hawaii‘s Big Island.
Now a study of the volcano’s lava confirms their timeline for when the molten rock below was on the move.
“Volcanoes are tricky because we don’t get to watch directly what’s happening inside – we have to look for other signs,” said Erik Klemetti Gonzalez, a volcano expert at Denison University, who was not involved in the study.
Upswelling ground and increased earthquake activity near the volcano resulted from magma rising from lower levels of Earth’s crust to fill chambers beneath the volcano, said Kendra Lynn, a research geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and co-author of a new study in Nature Communications.
When pressure was high enough, the magma broke through brittle surface rock and became lava – and the eruption began in late November 2022. Later, researchers collected samples of volcanic rock for analysis.
The chemical makeup of certain crystals within the lava indicated that around 70 days before the eruption, large quantities of molten rock had moved from around 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) to 3 miles (5 kilometers) under the summit to a mile (2 kilometers) or less beneath, the study found. This matched the timeline the geologists had observed with other signs.
The last time Mauna Loa erupted was in 1984. Most of the U.S. volcanoes that scientists consider to be active are found in Hawaii, Alaska and the West Coast.
Worldwide, around 585 volcanoes are considered active.
Scientists can’t predict eruptions, but they can make a “forecast,” said Ben Andrews, who heads the global volcano program at the Smithsonian Institution and who was not involved in the study.
Andrews compared volcano forecasts to weather forecasts – informed “probabilities” that an event will occur. And better data about the past behavior of specific volcanos can help researchers finetune forecasts of future activity, experts say.
(asterisk)We can look for similar patterns in the future and expect that there’s a higher probability of conditions for an eruption happening,” said Klemetti Gonzalez.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Waymo on Tuesday opened its robotaxi service to anyone who wants a ride around Los Angeles, marking another milestone in the evolution of self-driving car technology since the company began as a secret project at Google 15 years ago.
The expansion comes eight months after Waymo began offering rides in Los Angeles to a limited group of passengers chosen from a waiting list that had ballooned to more than 300,000 people. Now, anyone with the Waymo One smartphone app will be able to request a ride around an 80-square-mile (129-square-kilometer) territory spanning the second largest U.S. city.
After Waymo received approval from California regulators to charge for rides 15 months ago, the company initially chose to launch its operations in San Francisco before offering a limited service in Los Angeles.
Before deciding to compete against conventional ride-hailing pioneers Uber and Lyft in California, Waymo unleashed its robotaxis in Phoenix in 2020 and has been steadily extending the reach of its service in that Arizona city ever since.
Driverless rides are proving to be more than just a novelty. Waymo says it now transports more than 50,000 weekly passengers in its robotaxis, a volume of business numbers that helped the company recently raise $5.6 billion from its corporate parent Alphabet and a list of other investors that included venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz and financial management firm T. Rowe Price.
“Our service has matured quickly and our riders are embracing the many benefits of fully autonomous driving,” Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in a blog post.
Despite its inroads, Waymo is still believed to be losing money. Although Alphabet doesn’t disclose Waymo’s financial results, the robotaxi is a major part of an “Other Bets” division that had suffered an operating loss of $3.3 billion through the first nine months of this year, down from a setback of $4.2 billion at the same time last year.
But Waymo has come a long way since Google began working on self-driving cars in 2009 as part of project “Chauffeur.” Since its 2016 spinoff from Google, Waymo has established itself as the clear leader in a robotaxi industry that’s getting more congested.
Electric auto pioneer Tesla is aiming to launch a rival “Cybercab” service by 2026, although its CEO Elon Musk said he hopes the company can get the required regulatory clearances to operate in Texas and California by next year.
Tesla’s projected timeline for competing against Waymo has been met with skepticism because Musk has made unfulfilled promises about the company’s self-driving car technology for nearly a decade.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s robotaxis have driven more than 20 million fully autonomous miles and provided more than 2 million rides to passengers without encountering a serious accident that resulted in its operations being sidelined.
That safety record is a stark contrast to one of its early rivals, Cruise, a robotaxi service owned by General Motors. Cruise’s California license was suspended last year after one of its driverless cars in San Francisco dragged a jaywalking pedestrian who had been struck by a different car driven by a human.
Cruise is now trying to rebound by joining forces with Uber to make some of its services available next year in U.S. cities that still haven’t been announced. But Waymo also has forged a similar alliance with Uber to dispatch its robotaxi in Atlanta and Austin, Texas next year.
Another robotaxi service, Amazon’s Zoox, is hoping to begin offering driverless rides to the general public in Las Vegas at some point next year before also launching in San Francisco.
