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 almost 67,000 emails from all corners of the country.
Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, warned Wednesday that variant strains of the coronavirus had been found in eight provinces, and that they could quickly reverse the gains the country has made in recent weeks in the battle against COVID-19.
At least two of three variants of concern are spreading in Canada, in some cases with no known link to travel, and have already led to devastating outbreaks in long-term care homes.
Here’s a look at some of the most common questions Canadians have about the variants.
What is it about the new coronavirus variants that makes them more transmissible?
As a virus infects people, it can mutate as it makes copies of itself. Some mutations can be harmful to a virus, causing it to die out. Others can offer an advantage and help it spread.
“Not every mutation is created equal,” Mary Petrone, who studies infectious diseases at Yale University, told The Associated Press. “The virus is going to get lucky now and again.”
There are many variants circulating around the world, but health experts are primarily concerned with the emergence of three:
B117, first discovered in the U.K., which has “a large number” of mutations, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
B1351, first discovered in South Africa, which shares some of the same mutations as B117.
P1, which was first discovered in Japan, in four travellers who had been in Brazil.
Dr. Eric Topol, a U.S. physician, scientist and clinical trials expert who heads the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California, told CBC News in January that the variant first found in the U.K. exhibits changes in the spike protein — a key component of how the coronavirus binds to human cells.
He said those changes are likely behind its higher transmission, with the altered spike protein potentially allowing the coronavirus to infect cells more easily. The other two variants of concern also have changes to the spike protein.
WATCH | Dr. Bonnie Henry ‘confident’ variant transmission isn’t widespread:
B.C.’s provincial health officer says the province is aiming to control the spread of more infectious coronavirus variants over the next few weeks as it ramps up vaccinations. 1:14
If the variants are more contagious, do we need to distance more?
Ashleigh Tuite, an infectious diseases epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, noted to CBC’s Adam Miller earlier this month that the 15-minute exposure time and two-metre distance guidelines from the federal government are “arbitrary.”
“The new variants, I think, provide us with a reason to re-evaluate those rules and I think that’s something that hasn’t necessarily been well-communicated to the public,” she said. “There’s nothing magical about that distance that was based on science, that’s based on sort of what we know about how airborne pathogens are spread. But I think the science has evolved, or at least our thinking has evolved.”
Erring on the side of caution makes sense, she said.
Dr. Lucas Castellani, an infectious diseases specialist at Sault Area Hospital, told CBC News Network on Feb. 2 that there’s no set distance the virus can travel, regardless of variants.
“We know it potentially can go farther and there are a lot of factors involved,” he said in regards to a question about smoking or vaping during the pandemic. “How heavy the person has been breathing, how good the ventilation is in the room or the space you’re in.”
At the same time, Castellani said he suspected based on the mutations that it’s not a case of the virus hanging in the air longer or travelling farther.
“Based on the type of mutations they have, it is unlikely that those are the types of characteristics that are leading to the change that we’re seeing,” he said.
WATCH | With COVID-19 variants, questions of whether guidelines go far enough:
The spread of the highly transmissible COVID-19 variant first found in the U.K. has some Canadian doctors wondering if our current distancing recommendations are enough. 2:02
Should we be wearing better masks?
Yes. Experts say we should consider finding better quality masks, wearing two at a time and/or wearing them more often.
In fact, the CDC released new guidance on Wednesday that said a lab experiment had found two masks meant double the protection.
The CDC said a cloth mask worn over a surgical mask can tighten the gaps around the mask’s edges that can let virus particles in.
The researchers found that wearing one mask — surgical or cloth — blocked around 40 per cent of the particles coming in during an experiment. When a cloth mask was worn on top of a surgical mask, about 80 per cent were blocked.
WATCH | COVID variants can cause cases to increase exponentially, Ontario health official says:
There is obvious community transmission of COVID-19 variants, according to York Region Medical Officer of Health Dr. Karim Kurji, who says the virus needs to be contained as it has the capacity to increase case numbers exponentially. 7:51
Canada recommends the use of three-layer non-medical masks with a filter layer to prevent the spread of the virus, but has not updated its recommendations since November, before the emergence of the new variants.
Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases physician at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, told CBC News that while three-layer non-medical masks are a good “minimum standard,” Canadians should opt for masks that offer better protection whenever possible.
Those include surgical masks, which are a step below N95s and KN95s and come in three different filtration levels determined by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).
“When I go to the grocery store now, I wear my very best mask,” said Linsey Marr, one of the top aerosol scientists in the world and an expert on the airborne transmission of viruses at Virginia Tech. “Before I was wearing an OK mask that was comfortable and easy.”
She said a cloth mask can “easily filter out half of particles, maybe more, but we’re at the point where we need better performance.”
WATCH | Must detect variant COVID-19 cases quickly to stop spread, immunologist says:
In order to limit the spread of COVID-19 variants, cases must be detected quickly to ensure isolation occurs, says microbiologist and immunologist Craig Jenne. 3:21
Erin Bromage, a biology professor and immunologist at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, who studies infectious diseases, said a tight-fitting mask is more important than ever due to the emergence of variants.
“It’s not that double-masking provides extra protection if the mask was fitting well,” he said. “Double-masking helps the mask that is closest to your skin fit more snugly, meaning more air goes through that mask.”
If you’re already wearing a high-quality mask that fits well, with air going through the material rather than out the sides, Bromage said there’s no extra benefit in throwing an extra mask on top.
He recommends looking at yourself in the mirror before you go out to make sure your mask isn’t too loose fitting.
“I really want people to look at them and think, is all the air going through the material? And if it’s not, work out a way to do that,” he said. “And that may be putting a second mask on or finding a different mask that fits their face.”
WATCH | Simple hacks to make your face mask more effective:
Canadian respirologist Dr. Samir Gupta explains the latest COVID-19 mask recommendations and demonstrates simple hacks to make yours more effective. 2:38
Are the variants more deadly?
It’s possible. There is some evidence the variant first found in the U.K. carries a higher risk of death than the original strain, the British government’s chief scientific adviser said in January.
“The verdict is still slightly out but theoretically, yes, it’s possible,” Castellani, the infectious diseases specialist at Sault Area Hospital, told CBC News. “And unfortunately that’s the way viruses work and the way mutations potentially catch up with us.”
WATCH | The race between COVID-19 vaccines and variants continues despite concern about efficacy:
South Africa has halted its rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after a study showed it offered minimal protection against mild infection from a variant spreading there. While experts say it’s cause for concern, they say vaccines can be reconfigured to protect against mutations. 2:01
Is it possible to be re-infected from any of the variants?
“Yes, it is possible to be re-infected,” Castellani said on Tuesday. “We’re seeing that in some parts of the world, in particular South Africa, that some individuals are in fact being re-infected with the virus. It’s felt that once you get the immunity from the virus it may last for some time, but not everyone’s will last the same as the next person.”
Dr. James Hamblin, a Yale University public health policy lecturer and a writer with the Atlantic, told CBC’s Front Burnerthat a raging outbreak in the Brazilian city of Manaus also pointed toward re-infection.
“It’s been very tragic there: places running out of oxygen, people being buried in mass graves,” he said.
The city was hit so hard by the coronavirus in the spring that researchers estimated that 76 per cent of the population had been infected, which makes the severity of this recent outbreak unexpected and concerning.
Hamblin said the leading theory is that it’s a combination of fading immunity given that the first surge in Manaus was about nine months ago, along with the dangers of the P1 variant.
The variant “shares a mutation that the South Africa variant also has, which gives it a propensity to evade immune responses.”
Front Burner21:02A mutating virus and the need for global herd immunity
Does giving one dose of the vaccine and waiting beyond recommended days for the second dose help the virus adapt?
“It can,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a Toronto-based infectious diseases specialist and member of Ontario’s vaccine task force, in an interview with CBC News Network on Monday.
He said the concern is if you only give one dose of a two-dose vaccine regimen you can create an environment that allows the virus to “selectively evade that protection, and that’s certainly a theoretical concern.”
However, he said, in Canada most people will get the second dose on the optimum day (21 or 28, depending on the vaccine), and if not, within the recommended 42 days.
Is there concern that 14 days is not long enough to quarantine and protect others from virus variants?
Bogoch said that while the variants of concern may have greater transmissibility or the ability to evade vaccination more readily, the incubation time or duration of the illness hasn’t changed.
“Obviously we have to be open-minded, we have to be humble, there might be new data that results in a change in policy, but I think the 14-day [quarantine] should be fine for now.”
However, Alberta did strengthen its quarantine rules, because the variants are more easily spread through households.
“If cases choose to stay home during their isolation periods [rather than other isolation options], their household contacts will need to stay at home as well in quarantine, until 14 days have passed from the end of the case’s isolation period, for a total of 24 days,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, during a news conference last week.
“Given how easily this variant is spreading in homes, this enhancement is necessary to prevent spread in the community.”
WATCH | AstraZeneca vaccine can be used against coronavirus variant first found in South Africa, says WHO:
WHO’s expert advisory group says there is a ‘plausible expectation’ that the AstraZeneca vaccine will be effective against severe disease from the coronavirus variant found in South Africa, despite a small study that prompted concerns. 2:09
We’re answering your questions every night on The National. Last night, we asked our experts about the impact of stress — nearly one year into the pandemic.
A physician and psychiatrist talk about the impact that stress is having on mental and physical health a year into the COVID-19 pandemic and what the longer-term effects might be. 6:10
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tiny Mideast nation of Kuwait has banned the release of the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” which features the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is set in part in the 1990s Gulf War.
The video game, a first-person shooter, follows CIA operators fighting at times in the United States and also in the Middle East. Game-play trailers for the game show burning oilfields, a painful reminder for Kuwaitis who saw Iraqis set fire to the fields, causing vast ecological and economic damage. Iraqi troops damaged or set fire to over 700 wells.
There also are images of Saddam and Iraq’s old three-star flag in the footage released by developers ahead of the game’s launch. The game’s multiplayer section, a popular feature of the series, includes what appears to be a desert shootout in Kuwait called Scud after the Soviet missiles Saddam fired in the war. Another is called Babylon, after the ancient city in Iraq.
Activision acknowledged in a statement that the game “has not been approved for release in Kuwait,” but did not elaborate.
“All pre-orders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the original point of purchase,” the company said. “We remain hopeful that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”
Kuwait’s Media Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press over the decision.
“Call of Duty,” which first began in 2003 as a first-person shooter set in World War II, has expanded into an empire worth billions of dollars now owned by Microsoft. But it also has been controversial as its gameplay entered the realm of geopolitics. China and Russia both banned chapters in the franchise. In 2009, an entry in the gaming franchise allowed players to take part in a militant attack at a Russian airport, killing civilians.
But there have been other games recently that won praise for their handling of the Mideast. Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage” published last year won praise for its portrayal of Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age in the 9th century.
